36 Director's Aininal Report. 



down at the edges for about an inch, leaving the shape of a deep 

 flat-bodied fish, nine inches long. The material in both these 

 specimens is a very hard compact lava. 



Returning to the first subject. It is evident that the work 

 was done here from the fact that it is unfinished, apart from the 

 improbability of such a heavy .stone being transported in canoes. 

 The stone is comparatively soft and would not weather well, 

 though being buried in a comparativel}- dr}- soil, it might last in- 

 definitely. From its incomplete state and the fact of its burial, it 

 might be argued that it was being carved at the time of the aboli- 

 tion of the tabu in 1S19, and that the sculptor hid it for preserva- 

 tion during the general destrudlion of idols which followed. This 

 concealment of images by their devoted attendants has been the 

 means of preserving many valua]:)le specimens to the present day. 



vSeeking the significance of the figures — it is not yet under- 

 stood if the various Hawaiian petroglyphs are to be considered in 

 the light of a written language. The natives belonging to Moana- 

 lua now living had not seen the stone, and the best explanation 

 the oldest inhabitant could give was that the figures represented the 

 mythical giant lizard, "Moo", which was ever present in native 

 superstitions. The same suggestion has been made by natives from 

 other islands of this group, but only from appearances. 



A first glance at the figures would suggest two human beings 

 in the act of prayer, but the older natives consulted, do not associ- 

 ate this position with that taken by Hawaiians engaged in the old 

 forms of pra\-ers. They describe several po.stures — depending on 

 the nature of the prayer — standing, on hands and knees, on elbows 

 and knees with forehead resting on the hands, sitting with legs 

 and hands folded, also sitting with legs to one side and hands on 

 the ground. In all these positions, they say that the head should 

 be hung. The observant P^llis'^ when at Huahine, noted some of 

 the positions taken by the .southern Polynesians in prayer, and 

 remarked: "The petitioner did not address the god standing or 

 prostrate, but knelt on one knee, sat cross-legged, or in a crouch- 

 ing position, on a 1>road flat stone, leaning his back against an 

 upright basaltic column, at the extremity of a smooth pavement, 

 usually six or ten yards from the front of the idol." A little later 



^Polynesian Researches, London, 1830, vol. ii, p. 209. 



[126] 



