Chapter VIII
Index
Search
Contact us
rest of the mass, for there was no hollow within, consisted of round pebbles, which, from the regularity of their figure, seemed to have been wrought. Some of the coral stones were very large; we measured one of them and found it three feet and an half by two feet and an half. The foundation was of rock stones, which were also squared, and one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet four. Such a structure, raised without the assistance of iron tools to shape the stones or mortar to join them, struck us with atonishment; it seemed to be as compact and firm as it could have been made by any workman in Europe, except that the steps, which range along its greatest length, are not perfectly straight, but sink in a kind of hollow in the middle, so that the whole surface, from end to end, is not a right line but a curve. The quarry stones, as we saw no quarry in the neighborhood, must have been brought from a considerable distance, and there is no method of conveyance here but by hand; the coral must also have been fished from under the water, where, though it may be found in plenty, it lies at a considerable depth, never less than three feet. Both the rock stone and the coral could be squared only by tools made of the same substance, which must have been a work of incredible labor; but the polishing was more easily effected by means of the sharp coral sand which is found everywhere upon the seashore in great abundance. In the middle of the top stood the image of a bird carved in wood, and near it lay the broken one of a fish carved in stone. The whole of this pyramid made part of one side of a spacious area or square, nearly of equal sides, being three hundred and sixty feet by three hundred and fifty-four, which was walled in with stone, and paved with flat stones in its whole extent."
In this instance Hakesworth did not exaggerate the language used by his authorities. Banks used even stronger expressions. "A most enormous pile," he called the Marae; "its size and workmanship almost exceed belief." His measurement differed from that of Cook in regard to breadth. Cook made the base 267 by 87 feet. Banks made it 267 by 71 feet. Cook added that "at the top it is 250 feet by 8 feet." They agreed as to the number of steps but not precise
 |
Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 69, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-069.html