“Yes; we might have saved ourselves all the trouble of fortifying that position,” the captain said.
“It gave us something to do, captain, and did us good in [pg 204]that way. Besides, parties of natives from the other islands may land here sometimes. Now let us go down and explore the crater.”
They descended the path and soon stood in the bottom of the crater. This they saw was a veritable graveyard. In the centre was a rough structure built of large stones sloping inwards, and forming a rough representation of a hut. They had evidently been placed there centuries before, for they were green with age; lichens and mosses grew upon them, and here and there small shrubs sprang up in the crevices. What had once been an entrance was closed with a great flat slab of rock. Round this central cairn were some eight or ten smaller ones.
These were evidently of comparatively recent origin, and one of them was surrounded by a hedge of spears, on some of which hung pieces of tattered cloth of native manufacture. Round the central hut were arranged four figureheads of ships; while in a circle stood a number of the hideous idols carried by many of the South Sea Islanders in their war-canoes.
“I should say that this accounts for the island being uninhabited,” Stephen said. “I suppose there are still traditions of this having been a volcano, and that the mountain and perhaps the whole island is sacred, and only used as a burial-place for some very great chiefs.”
He went across to the grave surrounded by spears.
“Here,” he said, “are a dozen skeletons piled together—sacrifices, I suppose, on the tomb of a chief. If it had not been for these spears and skeletons, I should have said, from the appearance of the cairns, that they must all be at least a hundred years old, perhaps a great deal more.”
“All the better,” the Peruvian said. “I hope it will be a hundred years before they come to bury anyone else here.”
“They must come here a good deal oftener than that,” [pg 205]Stephen said. “These gods of theirs are all new, or at any rate freshly painted. Besides, the place is evidently kept with some care; and I should think very likely the people of the other islands make pilgrimages here once a year or so to offer sacrifices to the god supposed to reside in that central cairn, and to keep his house in order. I think that we cannot do better than follow this path back and sees where it goes to. It may not extend beyond the crater; but if it continues through the forest down to the shore it will be evident that it has recently been visited, for things grow so fast in a climate like this that in a year a path would be completely blocked up by vegetation. Where is Jacopo?”
“There he is at the top of the crater; he did not come down with us, and no doubt considered that the place was likely to be haunted by spirits.”