The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-02-22
a LOST CONTINENT.
Submerged Lands in the South Pacific and
the Destruction OF Their Natives.


ISan Francisco Chronicle
Captain william Churchill, before the
Academy of Sciences, sought to show by the
7, cJrds OF dsep-sea sounoings and from arch
geological remains that the Pacific islands
are only the remnants OF q submerged CONT.
nent, whose mountain peaks and lofty
heights are all that remain above the surface
OF the ocean. He d welt at length on the SUD-
iect of = Polynesien autecsdsnt civilization
as revealed through ancient implements,
statues and sculptured stone slabs found on
few of the groups, more notably the Fejees.
The studies OF zoophytes and coral forma-
tons taken from depth OF , 900 fathoms
and more also confirmed this belief OF the
sui sidence OF the prehistoric continent. On
? tcairn's Island and also on Tahiti and Tor
ga-Tabu had been found remains whio,
showed the existence of a long forgotten
tribe. at Tonga Tabu monster triiith9n
is 10 be seen. II Is composed OF gray
volcanic stone, with neatly dressed edges.
Ii is ten by twelve feet qaare, and stands
twenty feet out OF the ground 1t is sur
mounted by huge kava bowl. He described
the implements and metals ia use by the
natives OF several OF the groups before the
advent Of the white voysgeTs, and said that
iron and steel were unknown to them before
their discovery by civilized persons.
Captain Churchill described the mono
lithic statues of stone aud sculpiured wood
lOuuU Ou Id5tcJ 4Siuhu. lie LuJuOllbus
were found Standing in rows Of five or six,
only a few feet apart. They were hswn
from volcanic rock and were either very
crude in workmanship or else they have sdf
Tered from The ravages OF time. One row OF
these statues was quite we'll preserved. Each
of them was ten feet high. and they repre-
sented human heads and bodies, with kind
CT cap or other head covering on the top
These were the same statues seen and de-
scribed by Captain Cook in his
works on travel and discovery.
a finely ulpturpd hand of q
dancing girl aid sons polished wooden
slabs on which were Numerous hier0glyph-
ical figures III long rows, had been discovered
"a AIS aDc ent al q half-ruiDed stoDe house on
Easter Island. This was the only rslic of
rative written language ever found In the
Pocif C Islands
The depopulstion of many of the Pllyne-
sis IA is ands through the ravages of disease
and tad hunting Was commented upon
Prior 10 this era of decay there bad been a
long period of over population, durlng which
the practice OF 'swermipg," as he termed it,
was often reeorted 10 in order that the re
naming people might be able 10 fnd sub
sistence ON their limited territory. he
pointed to wellverifed tales of the selection
and sending forth of certain undesirable
members OF the tribes from their homes in
canoes to drift about in mid-ocean until
they persisted or reached some less crowded
island, where they might find an abiding
place. The masses of people crowded TO.
gether on these small islands must, the
speaker argued, have ne FROM a larger ter
ritory than that winch they lately inhab'
tied. Where could they have gone bat into
the soap