The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-02-25
LOST rONrINENr.
Submerged Lands in Il. 9 South Pacific aud
the Destruction OF Their Natives.
ISan Francisco Chroniele.l

Submerged Lands in south Pacific aud
the Destruction OF Their Natives.
ISan Francisco ChronieIe.f
Captain William Churchill, before the
Academy of Sciences sought to show by the
records of deep-sea soundings and from arch
geological remains that the Pacific islands
are only the remnants of a submerged CONT.
nent, whose mountain peaks and lofty
heights are all that remain above the surface
of the ccean. He dTet at length on the sub
ject of Polynesian autecsdant civilization
as revealed through ancient implements,
statues and sculptured stone slabs found on
few of tae groups, more notably the Fejees.
The stud les of z0ophyies and coral forma-
tons taken from depth of , 900 fathoms
and more also confirmed this belief OF the
sutsiden "a of the prehistoric continent. On
PItcaifl p Island and also on Tahiti aud Ton
sa T~hu ma been found remains which
sb, ID the existence of long.forgotten
tribe. c Tongs-Tabu monster trilithon
is to be seen. 1t is composed of gray
volcanic stone, with neatly dressed edges.
1t is ten by twelve feet SQUARE, and stands
twenty feet out of the ground. 1t is sur.
mounted by huge keva bowl. He described
the implements and metals in use the
natives of several of the groups before the
advent of the white voysgsrs, and SAID that
iron and steel were unknown to them before
their discovery by civilized persons
Captain Churchill described the mono
litbic statues OF stone aud scpiptured wood
found on Easter Island. The monoliths
were found standing in rows CT five or six,
only g few feet apart. They we're hewn
from volcanic rock, and were either very
rude in workmanship or else they have sdf-
cred fIc N the TaTages Of time. OOe row of
ip"e .iAlnes was quite well preserved. Each
of them was ten feet high. and they repre-
scented human heads and bodies, with kind
Of cap or other head covering on the top.
These were the sam statues seen and de-
scribed by Captain Cook in his
works on trav,l and discovery.
A finely fculptured hand of a
dancing girl aid s0ne polished wooden
slabs, on which were numerous heroglyph-
ical figures IN long ows, had been discovered
in an sDc ent and halt-ruiDed stone house on
Easter Island. This was the only relic OF
native written language ever found IN the
Pacific Islands.
The depopulation of many of the Polyne-
sian islands through the raysges of disease
and head hunting was commented upon.
Prior to this era of decay there had been
long period of over population, during which
the practice of "swarmiDg," as ne termed it,
was often TeeoTted to in efdsr that the re-
naming people might be able to find sub
sistencs on their limited territory. He
pointed to weli-verified 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 come from larger ter
ritory than that which they lately inhab-
tied. Where could they have gone but into
the sea?