Читать книгу The Story of Hawaii (Illustrated Edition) - Fowke Gerard - Страница 27

At the extreme northwest corner of the island of Hawaii is a heiau in excellent preservation, there being but few fallen stones. The ground around is entirely free of growth except for grass and a few weeds, which may explain its appearance of newness; it has a very modern aspect, though it seems to antedate the discovery. It measures 120 by 275 feet, longest east and west. The east wall is 11 feet high with a narrow terrace from end to end about midway the height. The north wall is 18 feet high. The south wall, which is in a somewhat irregular line, is 5 to 6 feet high. On the outside of the south wall, which forms one side of each, are two inclosures. One, near the east corner, measures 65 feet east and west and 15 feet wide, with its west wall at the edge of an opening which gives access to the interior of the heiau. The wall of this inclosure is 4 feet high. The other inclosure measures 21 feet east and west by 28 feet north and south, the west end flush with the west end of the temple. Its wall is 3 feet high.

The main west wall is 12 feet high. A platform 2 to 4 feet wide, probably a seat or bench, extends along the inside of the south wall. An interior wall 4 feet high, not straight but approximately parallel with the north wall, with a space 10 to 15 feet wide separating them, has one end against the east wall, the other end coming near enough to the west wall to leave only a narrow passageway.

The entire space inside is paved with large stones; on these, as a floor, are several walls whose purpose is not clear; they run in various directions. Near the west end are some small inclosures, also a raised platform in which are 13 "wells," said to be intended to "hold the blood of those offered up as a sacrifice." Possibly the bodies or bones of victims were placed in them, though it is more probable that they held posts or idols.

On the outside, 20 feet from the west wall, is a "sacrifice stone," 6 by 8 feet, averaging 15 inches thick. It is somewhat dished, with a natural depression 12 inches deep.

The heiau is about 200 yards from the ocean. Walls, like fallen fences, extend diagonally from the corners at the west end; the northern one terminates 200 yards away on an outcrop of lava; the southern one has about the same length and ends 50 feet from a similar wall that reaches in a rude semicircle, convex uphill, for 300 yards to the top of a cliff over the ocean. On the opposite side of a small cove within the farther end of this wall is a stone which is known to the natives as the "Shark" or the "Shark God." It is 8½ feet long, 32 inches across at the widest part, averages 14 inches thick, and has somewhat the shape of a coffin with narrowed ends. Lying just on the break of the slope, it inclines slightly down the bank. The end toward the water is carved in a fairly good representation of a turtle's head; on the opposite end are nine artificial cup-like depressions from 1½ to 3 inches in diameter with a depth rather less than half the width; three are on top, three on the end, three on the lower side. Like any long stone supported at the center with the ends free, it gives a metallic note when struck with a knife or other small piece of metal. It is already defaced by curious experimenters, and will probably be broken up some day in search of the "treasure" inside, or to "see where the music comes from."

For nearly a mile south of the heiau, covering the space between the ocean cliff and a line approximately parallel to it a fourth of a mile up the hill, are many inclosures and long walls. Low walls surround spaces 10 to 15 feet across, filled level with earth, which are either house sites or burial places. Some inclosures, still smaller, with no break in the wall, are supposed to be graves; and graves may also be marked by the many small piles of stones. Other stone heaps, some straight, some crescent-shaped, from 10 to 20 feet long, all the curved ones convex to the windward, were wind shelters. Some of them are known to be made by modern hunters as blinds in plover shooting.

In at least two places are long parallel rows of large stones placed singly, 1 foot to 3 feet apart, the rows separated by a space of from 4 to 6 feet. One set has a dozen or more rows.

Inside of one of the inclosures, directly up the hill from the old landing, is a large stone with an artificial depression of 2 gallons capacity. It was intended as a mortar for pounding nuts.