TE JHENUA, 01? I \.STEB ISLAND 487 



Camp .Mohican was formed a few hundred yards in the rear of plat- 

 form No. 7. We reached the spot jus' as the shades of night were ci 

 ing in. toot-sore and weary from the hard day's inarch. The camp was 

 noi more than 5 miles in a direct line from our starting point in the 

 morning, but we had traveled many times the distance in making a 

 thorough inspection of the ground. A narrow pathway follows the 

 coast line tor a part of the distance, which affords safe footing for 

 the natives ; everywhere else the ground is covered with volcanic rocks 

 of every conceivable size and shape, making the walking both difficult 

 and dangerous. The site for the camp was selected because of the prox- 

 imity of a water-hole, the only one to be found in this neighborhood* 

 it proved to be a shallow cave where the rain-water collected from the 

 drainage of the surrounding hills ; the fluid was full of both animal and 

 vegetable matter and decidedly unpleasant to taste and smell. A shel- 

 ter-tent was improvised by suspending a blanket: at the ends from board- 

 ing pikes planted in the ground, and altera hasty meal all hands sought 

 the much needed rest. About midnight ominous looking clouds rolled 

 up from the southeast, and it rained in heavy squalls until morning, Wet 

 and unrefresbed, we turned out at daylight to resume the march with 

 everything completely saturated from underclothing to note-books, but 

 with undaunted resolution to continue the work in spite of the ele- 

 ments. 



Platforms 7 and 8 are within a few hundred yards of each other and 

 close to the vilixe of the bluff, which is at this point 390 feet above the 

 sea level, from beneath these ancient piles many interesting speci- 

 mens of crania were obtained, together with obsidian spear-heads and 

 stone implements. An extensive settlement must have been located 

 here at a comparatively recent period. Narrow curbing stones indi- 

 cated the position of the houses. These stones had been squared, with 

 2 inch holes sunk in the upper face at short intervals to receive the 

 ends of the poles that supported the thatched roof. These dwellings 

 had been built upon terraces descending towards the sea, and though 

 they differed greatly in size, the same characteristics were preserved in 

 all cases. The Style of architecture must have been suggested by an 

 inverted canoe. The curbing walls of the house in the center of this 

 collection measured 124 feet in length, L2 feet wide in the center, and 

 converging to 15 inches at the ends. 



NATURAL CAVES. 



Among some outcropping rocks near by, a cave was accidentally dis- 

 covered, with a mouth so small that an entrance was effected with dif- 

 ficulty. Once inside, however, it branched out into spacious chambers 

 that could shelter thousands of people \\ ith comfort, it bore evident 

 of having been used in former years as a dwelling-place, and probably 

 had other entrances and extensions which we failed to penetrate for the 



