Читать книгу The Story of Hawaii (Illustrated Edition) - Fowke Gerard - Страница 28

An old lava flow has pushed out into the ocean in a shape somewhat resembling "a leaf floating on the water," which is the meaning of the word. It forms a nearly level area of 12 or 13 acres, only a few feet above tide. Toward the outer end are numerous walls and inclosures, mostly in ruins and overgrown with trees and bushes. Some of them are clearly modern; others are ancient. Near the lighthouse are the remnants of a heiau; only a part of its walls can be traced.

A wall 3 feet high, beginning at a large stone at one corner, incloses a space 26 by 27 feet, outside measurement; the interior is filled with earth and small stones to a level with the top of the walls. At the end toward the ocean, is a platform 20 feet wide, terminating 50 feet from the sea. On this platform is a space 7 by 12 feet, outlined by large rocks. Halfway between the platform and the water is a wall which may be recent.

Near this inclosure is one hexagonal in outline, the walls 2 feet high, and the space inside, 11 by 17 feet, filled with earth to a foot above the top of the wall.

On top of the bluff, 350 feet above tide level, is a heiau the west wall of which was removed in making a deep cut for the railway. The inside dimensions are 70 feet east and west, 115 feet north and south. The interior area, originally irregular, was somewhat leveled, and covered with a pavement of cobblestones which were carried up from the beach, as were many of the large stones in the wall. The pavement has been torn up in cultivating the ground. The wall is from 4 to 6 feet high inside. This is a little more than the original height, as it was repaired and raised for use as a corral. Along the outside of the north wall, at the west end, is a heavy wall which, with the main wall, forms a "well," nearly filled with rocks. There are no supporting platforms outside, but along the north and east walls are revetments reaching halfway up the face. The southeast corner is rounded and braced or buttressed. These forms of support have been noticed in only one other place. There is a house site within, at the northeast corner. On the wall, placed there in adding to its height, were a broken taro pestle and a very dense siliceous rock, of high specific gravity, and filled with olivines. It weighs about 75 pounds. The ends have been chipped off to give it an ellipsoidal form, otherwise the wave-worn surface is unworked, except that one of its larger faces is rubbed smooth, almost polished, by use as a grinding stone, for which purpose it is excellently adapted by reason of its unusual abrasive quality.