GREAT MORAI OF PAPARA. 41 



" Great Moral of Papara," so ably described and 

 delineated by Captain Cook, when it was in the 

 zenith of its popularity. This morai is not,, cor- 

 rectly speaking, in the district of Papara ; but 

 on a spot named Mahiatea, in the district of 

 Tevauta. It is now much ruined and diminished 

 in height ; and vast quantities of the coral-blocks 

 of which it is composed, are scattered on the 

 surrounding soil, and occasionally carried away 

 by the natives for other and more useful purposes. 

 Nevertheless, what remains of the edifice is 

 strongly expressive of its original gigantic and 

 not unornamental structure; and while it excites 

 our wonder, as a monument of the almost in- 

 credible energy a naturally-indolent people can 

 display when stimulated by superstitious zeal, it 

 equally claims our regret that so interesting an 

 antiquity should suffer from other devastations 

 than those of time. Its height, though abridged, 

 is yet above forty feet; the base retains its 

 original size and form, and the summit its 

 pyramidal character ; the compartments between 

 the terraces are alternately composed of square, 

 and apparently hewn, blocks of coral, and paral- 

 lel horizontal rows of globular stones, resembling 

 cannon-balls. 



Unlike the impressive grove of Tamanu and 

 Casuarina trees that surrounds the great morai 



