Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-03-19
DR.. Edwards Letter.

the s'rangest slgi.,s of the is
lan6. 1t is so extraordinary that |
when | was told of it, | declined |
to believe, but now l have seen
It. Ii Is called the grove of the
BATS end certainly Is deserv-
ing of visit from all who come
tins way. In the grove are some
th.r:y large trees, and during
the day, each tree is covered as
thickly with flying foxes as a
goOseberry bush is with fruit.
These bats are about the size
o a 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, hred down.
ward, on the trees. At sunset,
they rise in an immense cloud,
countless thousands of them and
devastate the fruit trees. They
are fruit-eating animals, and ev-
cry plantation on the island SUI
fers from their ravages. At sun
rise they return to the grove,
some of them having flown for
| ty miles during the night, and
take their places in serted ranks
on the trees. The damage and
loss they cause on the island,
Is simply enormous, but no one
dare shoot or in any way injure
the bats, for they are tabu (sac-
red), and the Tongans believe
that the kingdom would fail if
the bats or the grove were to be
destroyed.
Not far from the grove of the
bats is another strange thing,
but it is strange from a differ
ent sense. The place is called
the burial place of the TUT Ton
CANA. They are supposed to be
the last resting places Of an an
cient sect, but these places were
built by people who had a better
kl"Wldege of mathematics than
lis possessed by the natives.
THEY were built by a people who
had mechanical appliances now
fanknown on the island, or any
where else in the South Seas.
There are two of these burial
places, the larger being about two
thousand feet square. Each con-
sists Of double terrace of large
coral limestone blocks, some Of
which measure as mucr as twen-
which measure as much as twen-
four feet thick. These immense
stones weighing many tons, en-
close an obllong space which Is
now overgrown with bushes and
Weeds. The terraces are of great
antiquity for they are covered
in many places with gigantic for
est trees. No one knows how
0ld they are or by what race
were constructed. They are one
the pacific ocean. l am OF the
Of the msolved mysteries of
belief that the same people
built these burial places that
u" he stone idol which | told
of in my letters from Tahiti.
T. But even more mysterious and
more suggestive of a vanished
race is whf.; is called the Ham
mga, situated some sixteen miles
out of NukaulOfa, other two that
stand about ten feet apart. The
stones are are about twenty fee
above ground a the top, and they
standabout ten feet part. The
upper stone is smOothed and
shaped, and lies in two large
sockets cut in the uprights. From
all appearance of these stones,
once formed a gateway but every
trace of other b'ildirg in the
place, has disappeared and there
is nothing to show why it was
built or who built it. The ma
tiv'. reverence the place but
have no legend regarding its orl-
gin. g..
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 tell
ing tins briefly of such as l have
described. The people are kind
and polite, as are all of the ma
tives Of the South Seas, and
when one takes a trip into the
interior they try to make things
pleasant for the visitor. Ev-
eryOne is treated as a guest, and
r. chief of the village uncere-
moniOusly turns some one out OF
his house and places the dOmi-
Il