172 
A VOYAGE TO 
[ North Coast 
cember some t ^ ,n g' s near them which appertained, without doubt, to another 
people, and their construction was much superior to that on any 
part of Terra Australis hitherto discovered ; but their substance of 
bark spoke in the affirmative. The same degree of doubt was 
attached to a small monument found on the same island. Under a 
shed of bark were set up two cylindrical pieces of stone, about 
eighteen inches long ; which seemed to have been taken from the 
shore, where they had been made smooth from rolling in the surf, 
and formed into a shape something like a nine pin. Round each of 
them were drawn two black circles, one towards each end ; and 
between them were four oval black patches, at equal distances round 
the stone, made apparently with charcoal. The spaces between the 
oval marks were covered with white down and feathers, stuck on 
with the yolk of a turtle’s egg, as I judged by the gluten and by the 
shell lying near the place. Of the intention in setting up these 
stones under a shed, no person could form a reasonable conjecture ; 
the first idea was, that it had some relation to the dead, and we dug 
underneath to satisfy our curiosity ; but nothing was found. This 
simple monument is represented in the annexed plate, with two of 
the ducks near it : the land in the back ground is Vanderlin’s Island. 
Indications of some foreign people having visited this group 
were almost as numerous, and as widely extended as those left by 
the natives. Besides pieces of earthen jars and trees cut with axes, 
we found remnants of bamboo lattice work, palm leaves sewed with 
cotton thread into the form of such hats as are worn by the Chinese 
and the remains of blue cotton trowsers, of the fashion called moor- 
mans. A wooden anchor of one fluke, and three boats rudders of 
violet wood were also found ; but what puzzled me most was a 
collection of stones piled together in a line, resembling a low wall, 
with short lines running perpendicularly at the back, dividing the 
space behind into compartments. In each of these were the remains 
of a charcoal fire, and all the wood near at hand, had been cut down. 
Mr. Brown saw on another island a similar construction, with not 
