Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-02-24
GROVE OF THE BATS.
DIR. EDWORDS VISITS GROVE OF
FLYING ZONES.
Also the Burial Place of the TUT
TOngans, an Ancient Sect, Built
i'm Substantial Manner by
Some Early Race.
Nukaulofa, Tonga, Feb. IL, 1909.

Nukaulofa, Tonga, FEB. IL, 1903.
Eleven miles from Nukaulofa is
one of the strangest sights of the
island. 1t is SO extraordinary that
when | was told of it / declined to
believe, but now l have seen it. 1t
is called the grove of the bats.
and certainly is deserving a visit
from all who come this way III
the grove are some thirty large
trees, and during the day each tree
is covered as thickly with flying
foxes as gooseberry bush is with
fruit. These bats are about the size
of cat, with heavy black fur, and
with heads exactly like those of
foxes. They have hooks on the
ends of their wings and all day long
they hang, head downward, on the
trees. At sunset they rise in an
immense cloud, countless thousands
of them, and fly away over the island
to devaste the fruit trees. They are
fruit eating animals, and every
plantation on the island sufferers
from their ravages. At sunrise
they return to the grove, some Of
them having flown forty miles dur
ing the night and take their places
damage and loss they cause on the
island is simply enormous, but no
one dare to shoot or in any way
injure the bats, for they are tabu
(sacred) and the Tongans believe
that the kingdom would fall If the
hats or the grove were to be destroy
ed
Not far from the grove of the bats
is another strange thing. but it is
strange from a different sense. The
place is called the burial place of
TUT Tongaps. They are supposed
to be the last resting places of
certain ancient sect, but these places
were built by some people who had
a better knowledge OF mathematics
than is possessed by the natives
They were built by a people who
had mechanical appliances now un-
known on the island, or anywhere
in the South Seas, for that matter.
There are two of these burial places,
the larger being about two thou
sand feet square. Each consists of
double terrace of large coral lime
stone blocks, some of which meas
ure as much as twenty feet long,
five feet wide and four feet thick.
These immense stones, weighing
many tons enclose an oblong space
which is overgrown with bushes
and weeds. The terraces are of
great antiquity, for they are covered
in many places with gigantic forest
trees. No one knows how old they
are, or by what race they were con-
structed. They are one of the un-
solved mysteries of the Pacific
ocean. | am of the belief that the
same people built these burial places
that erected the great stone idol
in the mountains of Tahiti.
But even more mysterious and
more suggestive of a vanished race
is what is called the "Haammage,"
situated some sixteen miles out of
Nukaulofa. This consists of three
immense stones, one laid across
the tops of the other two, which
stand upright. These upright stones
are about twenty feet above ground
at the top, and they stand about ten
feet apart. The upper stone is
smoothed and shaped and lies in
two large sockets cut in the up
rights. From all appearances these
stones once formed gateway, but
every trace of other building in the
vicinity has disappeared and there
Is nothing to show why it was built
or who built it. These people rev.
erence the place but they have no
legends regarding its origin.
There is so much of interest on
this island that were | to start to
write about it all | would consume
too much time, and | shall content
myself with briefly telling of such
as | have described. The people are
kindly and polite, as are the natives
of the South Seas, and when one
takes trip into the interior they
try their utmost to make things
pleasant for the visitor Everyone
Is treated as guest, and the chief
of the village visited uncerimoni-
ously turns family out of house
and home and places the domicile
at the service of the stranger. The
ousted family takes this as an honor
and all of the other natives flock
around with food and entertain-
ment. No pay is expected but it is
always good policy to give the chief
a present of either a gay handker-
chief or of some other trivial thing.
The man whose house has been
taken should also be remembered
with some slight gift.
| shall now go on to Samoa, the
beautiful land where Robert Louis
Stevenson ended his days.
Clarence T.. Edwords.