36 Director's Annual 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 comparatively dry 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 1819, and that the sculptor hid it for preserva- 
tion during the general destruction of idols which followed. This 
concealment of images by their devoted attendants has been the 
means of preserving many valuable specimens to the present day. 
Seeking 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 prayers. ‘They describe several postures—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 Ellis? 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 broad 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] 
