The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-08-31

dropped to the ground, a distance of
about twenty feet. Under other cir
/ cumstances the fall would have seri-
| ously injured If not have killed him,
! but he was up again in a second and
fear must have lent him wings, for he
/ fairly flew to the boat. He distanced
ali the others and was the first one
! there. The first and second mates
very leisurely brought up the rear, as
! if they had not seen anything to be
| afraid of, and after some persuasion
! they got the men to 60 back and pick
| up their cocoanuts. The captain and
l had been watching them with
glasses from the ship, and when he
| observed the commo,ion ashore he
gave the carpenter the order to bring
| the red-hot poker from the galley to
fire our guns with-our two guns were
| trained on the landing-but he soon
saw that it must have been a false
alarm. They returned on beard about
noon. Mr.. Minott brought on board
a skull which probably had in lie be
| lOuged to some important parsonage,
for they had taken the trouble to fill
up the places of teeth missing by
wooden ones made to fit. The lower
jaw had dropped off through the pro-
cess of boiling, and that was tied up
through the nostrils with cocoa fibre
string. the eye sockets were filled
with clay-like putty and bits of
mother of pearl shell to represent eyes.
After dinner the captain and | and a
boats crew of seven men went ashore.
We found the reef extending about
quarter of mile from the land, and
the depth of water at the edge of the
reef dropped suddenly from three to
nineteen feet. Leaving one man as
bOatkeeper, we started to explore the
island. We were all armed-such
arms as we had-but the captain and
/ had each fine navy revolver. The
men were armed with fiint-lock mus
kets and cutlasses. The island is
about one mile long and three fOurths
of mile wide; lies about w NV and
L Sc, and is well covered with trees,
mostly cOcoanut and breadfruits; and
has besides a thick growth of bushes,
among which we found pathways
leading in all directions.
About the middle of the island we
came upon the remains of village of
about twenty huts, one of which was
very large, situated about the center. |
They are all built with a framework |
of poles and thatched with leaves or |
grass, much the same as the Hawai- |
ian native houses are, but their caves |
came quite to the ground, and the |
doorways are in the end.
On our way from the beach to the |
interior of the island, we observed un-
der foot and on all sides of us human |
skulls and skeletons lying in the |
grass; but when we came upon the |
village there was a scene of desolation
indeed. Scores of bodies were lying |
around and amongst the huts. The
captain thought that a war party |
from the mainland of New Guinea
had come off to this little island, sur
carried away captive those they did |
not kill; and this must have occurred |
about three months previously. The
largest house was closed in entirely,
and in front of it was large cocOannt
tree, and human bones were piled
around the base to the height of six
feet. This tree had a cocoanut fibre
string tied around it, which the cap
tain said was a taboo mark. We cut
a hole through one end of this large
house, and sent one of the men in, but
he came out again in a hurry-feeling
around in the dark, he had put his
hand on a corpse which still had some
flesh on it. We cat a hole in the other
end to admit the light, and we saw the
body lying on a table or shelf raised !
about two feet off the ground. We
also discovered a rude wooden carving
Of human figure about four feet
high, and came TO the conclusion that
the house was the abode of their god.
We brought this on board. The cap
tain and | then started across to the
north side Of the island, and Oh our
way through the bush we saw two
skulls quite different from any others
there, that might have belonged to
persons of the European race, and
Just before coming out on the beach
we came on body that was lying on
a sort of gridiron, made of green poles
by forked sticks driven in
the ground. 1t had been roasted un-
derneath, but the upper part was
bleached white by the weather. The
captain was standing at the head and
| at the feet and had just called his
to the fact that he
had been very careful to i'm
press upon the first and second mates
in the forenOon-the necessity
of all keeping together, and now here
we were separated by the whole width
of the island from the men. Just as |
had done speaking, bird perched on
a bush behind the captain which l
had been looking at some time, gave
a most unearthly screech, or yell,
which startled the captain consider
ably. 1t was very ill-favored bird
looked like a cross between an owl and
a magpie, and is called by the Aus
tralians a "laughing jackass." This
bird was the cause of the strange noise
which Mr.. Minott's boats crew had
heard in the forenoon. The captain
wondered that was not so frightened
as he was, and when told him l had
been looking at that bird for five
he was angry with me for
not telling him. / told him / had no
idea that such an ugly-looking bird
was so good warbler, and he passed
it off with a laugh. Coming out on
the beach we found the remains of a
vessel about 400 tons, nothing
but the keel and floor -timbers left,
but scattered along the beach were
parts of her frame.
From appearances, the heaviest
winds that blow are from the NV,