..OUR.. ILLUSTRATIONS

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1, 6 July 1907, Page 27

..OUR.. ILLUSTRATIONS

RUINS ON PONAPE.

The disastrous hurricane in the Caroline Islands which resulted in the loss of oxer a hundred, livres calls attention to this comparatively little known archipelago. Ponape. or Ascension Island, is one of the most interesting of the group, principally on account of its cyclopean ruins, which are very similar to those at Eastern Island. Their origin is a mystery, and their use can only- be guessed at. Describing a great ruin at Ponape, the late Mr. F. J. Moss writes in "Through Atolls and Islands in Mie Great South Sea”:—"Before us rose a massive structure. 20 reet high and 170 feet broad, with walls of enormous thickness, formed of basaltic prisms, some of huge size, laid in alternate transverse rows, the larger in one direction ami the smaller in the other. It was the western wall on which we gazed in silent wonder, and through a great opening in the centre, evidently intended as an entrance, we could see the inner walls of the same height and character. The islet, like all through which we passed, was embanked with massive walls of the same style as the building. These careful embankments, the great walls, and the solemn silence, gave to the whole the appearance of a eity dead and deserted now, but with canals once crowded by canoes filled with devotees eager to attend the savage rites and sacrifices of which the ruined mass before us may lav? been the saered scene. That n. was built for a temple seemed dear to my mind.”