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The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, May 12, 1883, SUPPLEMENT, Image 6

Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016412/1883-05-12/ed-1/seq-6/

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A MYSTPRY HP THE PACipllV
Far away in the-South Pacific
Ocean, stretching from the -coast of"
Asia for thousands of miles to the
cast, thcrocxtends a vast jscrics of
arctiiRelogoes." "and 'island" groups,
partly," without' doubt, the "rehiains
of a former continent now merged
beneath the waves. Here is the far
famed Coral Sea, with'its countless
islets and calm lagoons; and 'here
arc numberless volcanic islands, rich
in luxuriant vegetation, where nature
seems to have been specially prodigal
of her gifts, but which. arc ever the
sport of the terrible subterranean
forces that act with such fearful
potency1 throughout all this -region.
Till comparatively recent times little
was known for certain with respect
to the islands of the Pacific. Mendi
na arid other pioneers of exploration
had, it is true, slicd some light on
the subject;1 but 'tlie tales of early
travellers.were'.mixcd'upwith many
wild' improbabilities' and exaggera
tions. Dim' stories, floated about of
the1 savage 'natures of tlie South Sea
Islanders', 'att'd . of ' the explbits of.
Dampicr or of tlie Spanish bucca
neers. Tales, too, of the fabulous
wealth to be. derived from trading in
the Pacific found reatty listeners
everywhere ; and the public credulity,
6n;thcsubject wastoo clearly shown
in thejhistory of the 'South 'Sea .Bub
bled Of late years,' through the
discoveries of gallant' explorers, we
have learned more' of the true facts
of the case, and many old illusions
have been dispelled; But, as has
' been so often said, truth is stranger
than fiction ; and the facts to which
wc arc about to draw attention will
yield in their wonderful nature to
none of tlie strange and fantastic
tales with which sea captains were
formerly wont to astonish the credu
lous at home. ' In the. far East,
forming, as it' were, the outpost of
the South Sea groups, is a solitary
volcanic island, called Easter Island.
It is. 1800 miles cast of Pitcairn, the
next' island in the series, and. with
the exception of Salas-y-Gomez, a
small rock without inhabitants or
vegetation', there is no land between,
it and South America, -which lies
more than 2000 miles to tlie cast.
Easter Island is only 11 miles by 4,
broad,- yet in this small space is'
crowded, pejchapst tlie .most wonder
ful and mysterious 'cblle'ction of re
mains of a-j pre-historic people to be
found on the earth. Attthe south
west end are nearly a hundred houses,
builttOf stone,, with walls 5 feet in
thickness., riieiinsido of the walls
issued with .upright slabs of stonei
painted iulblack,i white and red, with
figures of1 animals and1 birds, and
with ptuer designs. The houses are
roofed in with overlapping slabs of
stone. In some of the houses num
bers of .univalve shells have been
found. Near these wonderful ruins
the rocks 'are carved into fantastic
shapes of faces, most . of the sculp
tures being . now almost overgrown
with bush and', underwood. The.
present inhabitants know nothing
whatever1 of these houses' 'which,'"
existing as they do in such large
numbers, seem to point inevitably to,
a, former race. of natives of far higher j
uimibuuuu. u c can uuuuisuum mat
a former race may havc erected the
houses and! carved the, sculptures
mentioned above, wonderful as they
are compared, with the huts of the
existing natives. "What follows is,
however, more difficult of explana
tion. On nearly-cvery promontory
are erected huge stone platforms,
facing the sea, and presenting a front
sometimes nearly 300 feet long, and
'from 20 to 30 reet high, The stones
composing these platforms are. often
6 feet longj and are fitted together
without cement. The top of tlio
platform is generally about 30 feet
broad, and the structures being
built on sloping ground, the wall
facing the interior of the island is
only about a -yard high. Another
terrace, 100 feet broad, is levelled
landward, and. ends also in a, wall
of stone. On these immense plat
forms are great pedestals of stone,
ou which once stood gigantic statues,
which, however, are now all thrown
down and partially mutilated, with
the exception of those on the plat
form near the crater of. Otouli,
which are still erect. Some of
those images were 37 feet high; but
the average height was about 16 or
17 feet, other statues being much
smaller. The heads of these sculp
tured images ore, flat, and were
formerly capped by crowns of red
tufta, a stone that is found only at a
crater called Tcrano Hau, near which
have, been found a number, of crowns
ready for removal to tlie statues.
The faces, nre;squar.ts , and are, said
to be of n-disdainful, expression, the
lips thin,, and the eye sockets re
markably deep, perhaps to' admit of
the insertion of eyeballs formed of
obsidian, which, is ..also found on the
island. Captain Gook, who during
his second voyage visited Easter
Island, (remarks that the shade of
one of these statues was sufficient to
shelter all liis party nearly thirty
persons. He believed them to be
burying places for certain tribes or
families. But whatever may have
been tho original intention of the
; sculptors, the present natives can
I have had nothing to do with the
. executibn of thss.e" wonderful monu
ments,. They possess, however,
, small wooden carved figures, but
totaUyjdifferenJ. in. features ,f roiu .the,
stone images. We are forced to the
conclusion that the houses, plat
forms and statues are all relics of a
remote -age. The, natives have a
tradition that they formerly migrated
to their present abode " from one of
the islands of the" Low Archipelago,
but, this throws little light on the
subject. iHow in any age could a
people furnished only with a stone
chisel for the . Polynesians are still
in the, stone epoch havo carved
such. statues. by. hundreds and built
such, .enormous platforms ? ,. And tho.
"difficulty is (immensely increased by.
the small size 'and complete isolation
of the-island." At' present, Easter
Island remains the greatest mystery
of the Pacific: one of the greatest
mysteries of the world. The riiins
of Ponap6, however, arc scarcely
more easily explained than those we
have been describing. Pouapc is
one, of tho Caroline Islands, and is
about 11 miles long by 12 in width.
On the. bank of a creek in the Meta
lanicn harbor stands a massive wall
300 feet in length and nbout"35 feet
high. It is built of basalt, the
stones being in some cases 25, feet
long. Oil passing through a gate
way in .this wallj a court, inclosed
by walls 80 feet high, is reached.
This court' is now almost hidden in
parts by luxuriant vegetation ; but
ou investigation a terrace 8 feet high
and 12 broad is found to run round
the inside of the. enclosing wall.
Low walls running1 northuul south
divide the court into three parte, in
the centre of each ,of, which is a
closed chamber 14 feet square, roofed
over with basaltic columns. The
labor of building these structures
must have been cjiprmous' for there
are no basaltic, rocks within 10 miles,
with au intervening country thickly
wooded and precipitous. Such au
exploit is evidently entirely out of
the power of the present savage in
habitants. The theory that the
buildings were the, work of Spanish
buccaneers is 'also untenable. "No
adequate explanation has yet been
offeree! ; but, as in the case of Easter
Island, we seem driven to the
hypothesis of an ancient civilisation
extending over some parts at least
of the Pacific, Admitting this, we
might suppose that Easter Island
was chosen, possibly expressly oh
account of its isolation, as the
sanctuary of the religion of some
confederacy or group of tribes, who
might by their joint labors have pro
duced tlie mighty structures which
now baffle the archaeologist. On
the same supposition, the buildings
at Ponap5 might be considered to
have been tlio temple of the gods of
some powerful nation. But nil this
is mere conjecture. If there ever
was such a civilisation, which way
did it spread? Was it from the West
or from the East? And in either
case, how can we account for it's,
spontaneous growth in such ah iso
lated region and under conditions so
unfavorable? These are questions
which we cannot hope' to answer;
probably they will always remain
unanswered The past history of
the South Seas is veiled in deep
obscurity. Could we but gain nn
insight into the remote past of this1
quarter of tlie globe, perhaps a
picture would be revealed by the
side of which'the tales of Montezuma
and the Incas of Peru would sluk
into insignificance. U h amber '
Journal.
"Time works wonders," as tho
womeii said when slie got- married
utter a 13 years' courtship.
, ' KftXoV-Ti'E HUMAN MONKEY:
v -Through the courtesy of Mr. Fn-
'rini, I hnvehada-piivftLointetvJew
with this curious little waif, which he
is now exhibiting nt the Royal Aquari
um, Westminster, auH "foY wliicu lie
claims the distinction of being tlie
long-sought-for "missing link" be- ,
tween man and the anthropoid apes.
Krao certainly presents some ab
normal peculiarities, but they are
scarcely of a suiliciently pronounced
type to justify the claim. She is, in
fact, n distinctly' human (Miiid, ap
parently about 7 years old. endowed
with an, average share. of intelligence,
and possessing the faculty of articu
late speech. Since her arrival, about
ten weeks ago, in London she has
acquired several English words whicli
she uses intelligently, and hot merely
parrot fashion, as has been stnted.
Thus, ou my suddenly producing iny
watch at the interview, she was at
tracted by the glitter; and cried but
c' ocki c' ock, that is, clock, clock
This, show considerable power of ge
neralization, accompanied by a some-
what defective articulation and it ap
pears that her phonetic system docs
nut yet embrace the; liquids I and 'r.
But in this and other respects' her
education is progressing favorably,
and she ,hus already so far .adapted
herself to civilized ways that the mere
threat to be sent back'tohcr own peo
ple is always snttlclerit to "suppress
any symptoms of- unruly conduct.
Physically Krao, presents several
peculiar features. The, head and low
forehead are covered down to iii'q
bushy eyebrows' with' the deep black,
lank, and lustreless hair,; character
istic of the' Mongoloid races.- The
whole body is-also overgrown with -a.
far less dense coutiug of soft, black
hair about a quarter of an inch long,
but nowhere close enough to conceal
the color of the skin,-- whicli fmny bo
described us of a dark olive-brown
shade. The nose is extremely short
and low, with excessively broad nos
trils, merging in the full, pouched
cheeks, into which she appears to
have the habit of stuffing her food,
monkey-fashion. Like those of the'
anthropoids, her feet are also pre
hensile, aiid the hands' so flexible
that they bend quite back over tlie
wrists. The thumb also doubles com
pletely back, and of the four fingers
nit the top joints bend at pleasure In
dependently inward. Prognathism
seems' to be very slightly developed,
and the beautiful round lilaclc eyes'
are very IargcUud perfectly- horizon
tal. Hence the expression is on the
whole fiir from unplcasitig. A. H.;
Kcane. Detroit JPrce Press;
A very raro silver coin has just
been unearthed near Brunn, Moravia.'
It hears on one side the portrait cii
relief 6t A'ttilla, Kiug of the, Huns,
with the inscription, "Attilla Rex.":
and on the; other the outlines of a
fortification', with the' word ''Aqiiil
ija." It, is supposed to date back .'to',
the time of Trojan, aud.b'crieo',.".
.about 1480 yewo old, -
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