The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-09-11
PACIFIC SEA ISLANDS.
Remains Of a Civilization Of Ro.
mote Antiquity.
Mysterious Ruins Found in Places Inhab-
tied at This Day by Tattooed Saw
ages-A Great Field for Lovers
of Archaeology.

Modern science, which has brought to
light buried Troy, revealed the place OF
ancient Babylon, untombed the mummy
of the Pharaoh of Moses, and constructed
somewhat Of history for the Aztecs
and the mound-builders, stands baffled
before the mysterious ruins of the Pa
cific Sea islands, writes correspondent
Of the Chicago News.
Kusaie, otherwise known as Strong Is
land, of the Caroline archipelago, with
circumference of fifty miles, is covered
with massive ruins of remote date.
They bear the outlines of Notifications,
and are built of stones ten feet long,
duly squared on six sides, of geologi-
cal formation not met with on the is
land.
Ascension Island, known also as
Panape, is larger than Kusaie, possesses
similar ruins, but much larger. In one
place there remains wall 800 feet long
and 80 feet high, forming court.
Little Easter Island, on the eastern
outskirts of Polynesia, has no running
water, no trees, nothing to attract in
habitants. Yet this island is peopled
by Polynesians of the fair type, such
as are found far away in the Society ISL
ands, and is covered with remains Of a
prehistoric civilization of which every
record but that of stone has perished
At the southwest end of the island
there are to be found the ruins of nearly
hundred stone houses, built in regu-
lar lines and facing the sea. The walls
of these houses are five feet thick and
over five feet high, built of layers of
nat stones and lined inside with fiat
slabs. Internally the houses measure
about forty feet long by thirteen feet
wide, and they are rooted over with
slabs overlapping like tiles. The in
side walls are painted in three colors--
red, black and white-with figures of
birds and mystic beasts and faces, and
geometrical figures. In one of these
houses was found curious stone statue,
eight feet high, and weighing about
four tons, which is now in the British
Museum.
The sea-cliffs near this ancient settle
ment are carved into grotesque shapes
not unlike the paintings on the walls,
and the coast is marked with hundreds
of these strange sculptures.
Again, on each headland of the island
there is an enormous stone platform,
built of hewn blocks of great size fitted
together without cement They are
built on sloping ground, presenting on
the seaward side Wallace twenty or
thirty feet high and two or three hun
dred feet long, and on the landward side
wall OF about three feet in height ris-
ing from leveled terrace.
Upon these platforms are stone pedes-
tails which have supported images, and
ON so.ne broken figures remain. On one
platform fifteen images were found, in
size ranging from three to thirty-five
feet in height. They are of human
shape, representing the upper part OF
the body only, with arms and hands
close to the sides. The heads are cut
dat to allow Of crowns being placed on
them, which crowns seem to have been
made, not OF the same material as the
statues, but of red tufa. This has been
traced to an extinct crater within few
miles Of the houses, and on the brink OF
this crater large number of crowns
were found, finished and ready for re.
moval before some strange fate depeo.
| pACu VIC 2oioh0 ~ GaOSO duCA0Ab WUE-
shippers.
i The images themselves are made OF
gray lava, which is only found at quite
another crater at the other end of the
island. At thiscrater-called Otouli-
there are several finished and partly
: finished images, just as they were left
by the workmen. The head of one
of these measures twenty feet from
the nape OF the neck to the
crown. The faces of the images
have well-defined features, with thin
lips, broad noses, expanded nostrils,
and a general disdainful expression. 1t
is believed, from the appearance of the
eye-sockets, that obsidian eyeballs were
intended to be inserted. The ears are
very carefully carved, and are promi.
nent.
There are also, in different parts OF
the island, wooden tablets covered wi th
curious carvings and strange hero.
glyphics, which no one can explain.
At Oparo, OF Rapaiti, Captain Vine
Hall found a temple, or castle, in five
stages, surrounded by walls which in
close stone houses, and also square plat
forms of stone ON the sides of one of
the hills, similar to those on Easter
island. This isle is 1000 miles from
Panape, but the inhabitants of the lat
Ter say their ancestors came from Oparo.
Who were these ancient peopleP The
ruins present an antiquity equal to that
Of the prehistoric civilizations of Amer
lea The present inhabitants are SIM
ply tattooed savages. The ancient race
possessed intelligence far beyond any
thing now found in the Pacific; had
ideas Of architecture. sculpture, paint
ing and engineering and an elaborate
religion. Archeologists and ethnolo-
gists have given US no light yet. The
mystery Of the Pacific awaits solution.
The True Gentleman OF Leisure.
We hear great deal about gen tlemen