The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-25
"DA SONS ISLAND"
In the Parkway Pacific No Longer
a Myth.

and along an underground shaft that
was lighted by means Of curious bor-
ings that ran upward through the
rock. Suddenly the passage took
sharp turn to the right, and we found
ourselves standing in an immense
cavern probably fifty feet in diameter
Around the sides a ledge extended for
about five feet, where an aperture
appeared leading into some other mys-
terious chamber.
To this doorway we proceeded. The
interior was pitch dark One of the
natives produced a lamp, several OF
which they had brought along, and,
lighting it, we entered the subterra-
mean chamber. For a moment we
could see nothing. 1t was utter dark
ness and in the gloom the little lamp
cracked and sputtered, threatening
every moment to go out. Presently it
flared up, and by it's light we saw that
we were standing in a room some eight
feet square, followed out of the solid
rock. The walls were smooth and hard,
as in the great cavern we had passed
through, and around the base was a
broad stone step followed out beneath.
STOPPING down one Of the natives be-
gan poking under it with a stick, and
out tumbled a mass of white bones,
rolling across the stone floor to where
we stood.
We looked in silence upon these gro
tesquely horrible caricatures of hu-
manity, and wondered for how many
countless centuries they had lain there.
The natives told us that there were
many more in another chamber to the
left, but the air was so sitting that
we did not attempt to go in.
After leaving the cave, they took US
tn
where they said the workshops of this
long dead people had been located, and
we fairly held our breath at the sight
that met our eyes,
WEIRD MONSTROUs IMAGES.
This side of the mountain was COM
posed of nothing but hard volcanic
rock, which rose in a series of ledges
of from ten to fifteen yards each to
peak several thousand feet high. Upon
each ledge was a number of gigantic
stCne heads. Some were cut off at the
neck, while in others the whole bust
was shown. They ranged in size from
ten to thirty feet high and were newn
out of solid volcanic rock. Some Of
the images were standing erect; others
thrown down upon curious platforms,
that looked as if they had been special
ly constructed to hold them, and upon
which they probably had once stood.
Others again were broken, and some
had tottereG so far over that they
seemed ready TO crash down upon those
below All the faces bore striking
resemblance, and the expression was
most sinister. In each case the head
was lorg. with protruding chin and ex-
panded nostrils, and all of them ap-
peared to be the faces of men.
We looked along the side Of the vol
cano and there, in the distance, could
see immense quarries from which the
great masses of stone had been taken.
There also had probably been the
workshops of this ancient people, and
around them in all stages OF COM
pletion were numbers of the great
heads The ancient scuIptors had
seemingly for some reason deserted the
spot in a great hurry, dropping their
tUCls in the middle of their labors, for
among the statues were many that
were completely finished and apparent
ly all ready for mounting, but they lay
there as if the toilers had been driven
away at the last moment, without hav-
ing time to place them on the platforms
above. We walked up to where they
were and gaZed upon them in awe
stricken anlazement
Immediately in front Of US was one
unfinished bust that must have meas
! ured at least forty feet, and could not
have weighed less than twenty tons.
Scattered around this were others of all
shapes and sizes.
Behind the workshops and some dis
tance away a second one of the series
of volcanoes rose in gentle slope to
height of some seven or eight hundred
feet, and from there jutted out in tre-
mendous cliffs at least fifteen hundred
feet higher. On the top of this cliff, the
natives told US, there wasa little table,
land, and it was here that the most
wonderful of the statues was located.
THE GREAT IMAGE.
We made the ascent and found our
selves standing on an artificially
leVelled peak that overlooked the entire
island. In fact, it was the crowning
point of the island. How much higher
the cliff had originally extended it is
impossible to say, but at this point it
had been levelled until it was as
smooth as a floor.
In the center of this pinnacle was a
pedestal some twenty feet long by ten
wide. and upon it was the most re-
markable Of all those mysterious
statues. 1t was the image of man
half sitting and half lying with his face
turned sideways, looking out over the
sea. The fore part of the body was
raised and rested upon the elbows, as if
the statue was on the point of getting
up. The legs, too, were bent at the
knees and doubled, so that the feet
rested fatty upon the pedestal.
In many places between the stones
the pedestal had commenced to crum-
BILE away, although the statue itself
was perfect, and here the natives had
sought to preserve it by filling the
openings with clay.
The strangest feature of it was its
striking resemblance to statues of AZ
tee origin. And here is another mys-
terry. Can it be possible that in the
dimly remote ages Of the past the AZ
tee and the inhabitants of the strange
! islands knew of the existence of each
/ other? 1t seems almost beyond belief,
yet in no other way can the similarity
of this statue and some of their own
/ be accounted for.
We spent several weeks upon the
island and regretted that we did not
have time to make il months, as the
whole place is full of the most remark
| able archaeological remains.