17- Director's Rc[>orl for icjig. 



scientists. I'\ the purchase of a(i<iilii uial instrunieiUs and furni- 

 ture, the pilot* Ji^raphic laboratory is adecpiately e(|uippe(l for scien- 

 tific purjx)ses. 



EXTRACTS FKUM KEl'Uirrs ()V CLKATORS AND 

 LIBRARIAN. 



From the annual reports of members of the staff, transmitted 

 to the Trustees, the following material has been taken: 



EtHiXOLUGV 



A skeleton was found by Mr. j. 1 ledemann near Kilauea on a 

 site which he had thought might have marked the place where part 

 of Keoua's army was destroyed by showers of volcanic ash during 

 the eruptions of 1789-90. To quote from Mr. Stokes: 



The skeleton was found in a reclining position under a shelter of de- 

 tached boulders, protected from the direct rain and partly imbedded in the 

 surface soil wash. In that position it overlooked Kilauea crater towards the 

 tire-pit, Halemaumau. The bones were not in a good state of preservation, 

 yet not too far gone to identify them as formerly belonging to a middle-aged 

 female native. Tlie method of preparation had also been according to native 

 custom. Fragments of gourd had been found by Mr. Hedemann in the shel- 

 ter, scattered by the surface wash, and probably belonged witli the skeleton. 

 Xo other implements were fovmd. 



While women and children accompanied the army of Keoua, I do not 

 believe that the interment dated back to his time. The condition of the bones 

 did not suggest a period of more than 60 years and a search in the neighbor- 

 hood of the spot revealed no trace of other skeletons. 



A survey of the vicinity suggested to me a possible solution of the 

 problem of a native interment so distant from former habitations. In the 

 talus nearby, there were (and probably always have been) many more suit- 

 able places for the hiding of a body, than that containing the skeleton, but I 

 found a landmark wliich seemed to have a direct bearing on Halemaumau 

 and the shelter, whereby the shelter could continue to be found with Hale- 

 maumau in its present position. The site of the cache would seem there- 

 fore to have been chosen with care and not by hapliazard. The date of 

 the concentration of Kilauea's activity in Halemaumau does not appear to 

 I)e more than 70 or 80 years ago. 



In former days, bodies of dead devotees of Pele, and perhaps others, 

 were disposed of by being thrown into the molten lava of the volcano, but 

 \hf custom fell into disuse after the advent of the missionaries. 



So putting the few clues together, — mature native female, native prep- 

 aration of the body, deposition many miles distant from habitations, site 

 landmarked with reference to Halemaumau, situation overlooking the fire-pit 

 with skeleton similarly placed, and the fact that the body was not thrown 

 into Halemaumau — would suggest that the skeleton was that of another 

 devotee of Pele, more recent than the days of the tabu, who wished her last 



f >-M 



