Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-25

stairs. completely shut out from the
world by the great, towering rampant or
rock which entirely inclosed us. l had
never felt so far removed from the world
as then. Outside, of course, the limitless
ocean ran beyond the barrier reef but
one could follow it unto the dim, far-off
distance with his vision, within the cup
the glance fell upon the rocky wall on
every hand 1t was almost like being in
a prison for all it's tropic loneliness.
Beneath the trees and quite invisible
from above, paved road or path, barely
wide enough for four to walk abreast
upon, extended straight across the island
to the hillock in the middle while small
er paths seemed to follow the course of
the walls on either side. The ground
was gently rolling. and the road, though
overgrown in places and badly broken,
was in much better condition than the
broader path on the top of the wall. /
suppose the fact that it was sheltered
protected 1t. We passed along it for a
mile and a half without much difficulty,
as usual seeing and hearing nothing. eX-
cept the wind in the palms and the birds
in the thicket We went in silence main
ly. We had so far progressed in good
comradeship that talking, unless we had
something special to say, was not neces-
Sary.
Finally we landed at the foot of the
hillock. AS L had observed from the wall
it was grass grown and tree clad. In
deed. we should have been hard put to it
to have assembled it dense was the
vegetation, had it not been for the fact
that the path was continued around the
hill constantly mounting. Where 1t ran
the somewhat shallow earth had been cut
away ON the hillside and the rock sur
face laid bare. OF course, this path was
frightfully overgrown and rendered fur
ther impossible by the trunks of trees
which had fallen across it, some from
their freshness probably cast there by
the storm Of the night before. We man.
aged it. however, and our Identified
ton Of the place Of the treasure depended
upon our reaching the mound We were
compelled to climb it or give up the
search.
We assembled with the utmost care, /
cautioned my little mistress that she
must on no account move recklessly. A
broken leg or sprained ankle would place
us at terrible disadvantage and be a
most serious hardship, and she must
avoid the possibility at all costs l as
sure you l was equally careful of my
self too. 1t was intensely hot under the
thick shade of the trees, where the breeze
had no chance to penetrate, and l was
sweating nightly when l finally drew
my little mistress, her face believed as
we'll as my own, up the last steep ascent
and stood upon the crest
We could now see why the top of the
hill had seemed level when we first look
ed at it from the wall. Indeed, the coral
rock rose in sharp escarpment eight or
ten feet above the highest tree tops, max
ing a sort of tableland or platform This
level, probably artificial. had been paved
with the huge, dark gray rock of the
stairs and statues and pathways. / may
say in passing that in all our eXplOra-
ton of the island, which, however. was
not very thorough or complete, owing to
the shortness of our stay upon 1t, we
saw no quarry whence this rock could
have been taken, and the only way of
accounting for its presence was that 1t
had been brought there across the seas
by the makers of the monuments and
stairs, whoever they might have been.
vessels and adequate means Of land
transportation, to say nothing Of a most
considerable engineering ability to ac-
complish these mighty works.
Well the level top of the hillock was
in shape parallelogram in extent per-
haps an acre and a half. It was the
most curious place 1 have ever seen. In
the middle of 1t. with it's four sides paral-
| led to the sides of the plateau, was a
huge stone platform or altar perhaps one
hundred feet long by seventy feet wide.
Completely surrounding this altar, but
some distance away from it, SO as to
make an aisle perhaps ten feet in width.
rose line of huge statues, carved, like
those at the foot of the stairs, into the
semblance of mOnStrouS human faces
| Not one of them was like another There
was variation in each, as there is varia-
| ton in human faces. All were ugly. but
! ali were lifelike and were singulariy
enough Europeans. Yet that a European