The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-22
When Hawaii Was PeopIed by Giants
Scientist Makes Amazing Discoveries in Island Catacombs Which
Are Older Than Those of Rome.
-------
Berryn S F.


which are found in all directions out
side the walls of Rome and elsewhere,
and which served as places of worship
and refuge for the living and a final
resting place for the dead; but it is not
generally known that within our own
Hawaiian territory an ancient, prim-
tive people similarly obtained secur-
fly for their departed. The excava-
lions, passages and galleries about
Rome were followed out of dry, porous
lava rock which served its purpose
well. Nature, which always smiles up
on subequatorial native and induces
inertia, furnished the lava formation
with ready made passages, galleries
and playhouses of all shapes and
dimensions.
BY far the greater number of cata-
combs about Rome are subsequent to
the middle of the second century, while
4 those of the Hawaiian Islands ante
? date them by many centuries and, I'M
like those of Rome, still remain a seal
ed storehouse Of vast information
awaiting scientific inspection and re-
search. These islands resemble in part
large sponge of lava and volcanic
Stag, and so frequent are the caves and
volcano bubbles that one might search
carefully for many weeks or months
without finding even a suggestion of
ancient habitation. If you wish a cor
rect impression Of these islands and
cannot spare the time for an ocean
voyage of six days, just make the
ascent of Mount Hamilton some clear
night and look at the moon through
the big telescope at Lick observatory
You will then see the extinct craters
and lava beds as they would appear
above the Hawaiian Islands.
METHOD OF BURIAL
Several different methods of burial
were practiced, depending upon station.
The funeral rites of high chief diff
fered widely from those of the common
people; human sacrifices being offered
that he might enter the other world
with attendance suitable to his rank.
His cleansed bones, entirely freed from
the flesh and neatly covered with
"kapa' and red feathers, were eventu- |
ally concealed in some secret and in |
accessible cave by a trusty attendant |
selected before death and sworn to !
secrecy. The bones were carried to
the selected place of concealment by !
night when the attendants had fallen /
asleep and after the "Kuni" sorcerers !
.dad avenged the chiefs death, usually !
Supposed to be due to evil spirits. The !
COMMON people also were buried in
caves, or subterranean caverns, by .
night and frequently we find the body
,embalmed by means of salt or some {
drying process, the upper part of the !;
body being bent forward to the knees,
with the head, hands and knees bound
together by means of a cord, the body
wrapped in coarse mating, or kappa.
and then placed in some open cave and
surrounded by household effects, i'm
plements of war, canoes, treasure
chests, articles of food, etc. The cave
was then carefully concealed from
view by means of loose stones, which
were in turn concealed and protected
by means of a thick growth of Ian
tana," which bristles with poisonous
thorns, and which, when dry and brit
tle penetrate the flesh like needles.
break off and cause painful wounds. /,
During the first few days after death I.
ghosts are supposed to haunt burial
caves and battlefields and to endeavor
to strangle their enemies, but grad
uallv become weaker. To look upon I
certain of these was supposed to cause
instant DEATH and I have met natives
even today who believe that they have
seen the spirit of some departed chief
marching by night with his ghost1y at
tendants. Nightmare supposedly re-
suits from a ghost. sitting upon the
sleeper. This superstitious dread made
the native of early times mere IN
FAINT in the hands of the priestcraft ana
medicine men, who were believed TO pc
descended from the gods and to be IN
alliance with the invisible powers, and
it is little wonder that these ancient
burial places, through either fear or
nS and that an I
endless storehouse of information con-
corning an early age OF stone ana wood
has remained a closed volume in the
Ieorld's history-a volume smeared with
sAnod that lies under our very feet ana
calls no to us for recognition We OF
tbe limited States, who have taken pos
session of this tropical fairyland' Ut
tIe understand what lies hidden be-
meath nor are we making any organ
ICED attempt at investigation.
The fact that Captain Cook discov-
cred these islands in IT'S means as III :.
tie 10 the cave hunting enthusiast as
their later discovery by the Taft party
and finally by w. j. Bryan. Inc us
rovery of human bones under ahcieh1
coral beds and lava flows, as wen %
certain cave discoveries, leads uS -
conclude that emigration to these IS Il
+
A n and even long before this perlod
there must have been human haoita- :,
ION, these pioneers having been ex-
nelIed from distant islands Oh the :
south or southwest, or driven 10 ;,
+boir course by ''konas" or southe[y -
so1as which frequently blow Tor u
months at time. h
A Japanese fishing junk, when nad =
boon blown out of it's course IN TINS .
1vav. was wrecked upon the lsiahu u
oahu in 1882, with four men on - +
-a;ians Kadu. a native of the caro-
inc Islands, drifted 1,5oo miles due Tue
a l, 70 the Marshall islands, where ne
vas rescued by Kotzebue in 1871 Ihese
and many other recorded instances 90 a
-ra 7itions show the chances OF mgr" ;,
ion from west to east. - g
Plant and animal life. as we see H. =
9fe also in support of this eonc.uslon, =
and again. the natives of all OF tnss Z