“New York, March 10th, 1685-6.”
Other accounts of his “travels” among the “Doegs” of the Tuscarora nation were published much earlier, but no other has been preserved. His veracity was never questioned. What shall be said of his statement? Were the remains of Prince Madog’s company represented in these “Doeg” Tuscaroras? He is very explicit in regard to the matter of language, and it is not easy to see how he could be mistaken. They understood his Welsh, not without needing explanation of some things “difficult therein.” He was able to converse with them and preach to them in Welsh; and yet, if he got an explanation of the existence of the Welsh language among these “Doegs,” or sought to know any thing in regard to their traditional history, he omits entirely to say so. Without meaning to doubt his veracity, one feels skeptical, and desires a more intelligent and complete account of these “travels.”
C.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS.
There are indications that the Pacific world had an important ancient history, and these multiply as our knowledge of that world increases. The wide diffusion of Malay dialects in the Pacific islands suggests the controlling influence by which that ancient history was directed. The ancient remains at Easter Island are known; two of the “great images” found there are now in the British Museum. All who have examined this island believe these remains “were the work of a former race,” and that it had formerly “an abundant population.” It is not generally known that antiquities more important than these exist on many of the other islands of the Pacific Ocean.
An educated and very intelligent gentleman, who has lived many years on one of these islands, and visited a considerable portion of Polynesia, finds that the Pacific has antiquities which deserve attention. He has sent me papers containing descriptions of some of them, taken from the diary of an intelligent and observant shipmaster, much of whose life as a mariner has been passed on the Pacific. These papers were prepared for publication in a newspaper at Sydney. The gentleman sending them says in his letter: “These researches are not very minute or accurate, but they indicate that there is a vast field ready for exploration in the Pacific, as well as in Central America and Egypt.”
The papers to which I refer begin with ruins observed in the island of Ascension or Fanipe, and describe “the great temple” at Metallanine. This was a large edifice, well built of stone, and connected with canals and earth-works. “Vaults, passages, and platforms, all of basaltic stones,” are mentioned; also, “below the pavement of the main quadrangle, on opposite sides, are two passages or gateways, each about ten feet square, pierced through the outer wall down to the waters of the canal.” Within the walls is a “central pyramidal chamber or temple,” with a tree growing on it. The whole ruin is now covered with trees and other vegetation.
Other ruins exist in the island, one or two of which are described. “Some are close upon the sea-shore, others are on the tops of solitary hills, and some are found on plateaus or cleared spaces far inland, but commanding views of the sea. One of the latter kind is a congeries of ruinous heaps of square stones, covering at least five or six acres. It is situated on a piece of table-land, surrounded by dense forest growths, and itself covered with low jungle. There is the appearance of a ditch, in the form of a cross, at the intersecting angles of which are tall mounds of ruin, of which the original form is now undistinguishable beyond the fact that the basements, constructed of large stones, indicate that the structures were square. The natives can not be induced to go near this place, although it abounds in wild pigeons, which they are extremely fond of hunting.”
These ruined structures were not built by barbarous people such as now inhabit the island of Ascension. There is no tradition relating to their origin or history among the present inhabitants, who, it is said, attribute them to “mauli,” evil spirits. The “great temple” was occupied for a time, “several generations ago,” according to the natives, by the shipwrecked crew of a Spanish buccaneer; and relics of these outlaws are still found in its vaults, which they used as storehouses.
On many low islands of the Marshall and Gilbert groups are curious pyramids, tall and slender, built of stones. The natives regard them with superstitious fear. The author of these papers, being a mariner, suggests that they are “landmarks or relics of ancient copper-colored voyagers of the Polynesian race during their great migrations.” Remarkable structures of this kind are found on Tapituea, one of the Kingsmill islands, and on Tinian, one of the Ladrones, where, also, remarkable Cyclopean structures are found. They are solid, truncated pyramidal columns, generally about twenty feet high and ten feet square at the base. The monuments on Tinian were seen by M. Arago, who accompanied Bougainville. According to his description they form two long colonnades, the two rows being thirty feet apart, and seeming to have once been connected by something like roofing. On Swallow’s Island, some twelve degrees eastward of Tapituea, is a pyramid similar in construction; and on the west side of this island is “a vast quadrangular inclosure of stone, containing several mounds, or probably edifices of some kind, of which the form and contents are not known by reason of their being buried under drift-sand and guano.”