28 
THE TWO RACES WHICH PEOPLED POLYNESIA. 
older and more advanced race. The grand platforms, or 
terraces of stone of great dimensions may belong to the 
Polynesian, of wdiich there are similar ones found in Nu- 
kuhiva, rising step by step for a considerable distance up 
the hill side ; terraces which cannot be less than one hundred 
yards in length and twenty in breadth, whose magnitude is 
still less striking than the immense size of the blocks com- 
posing them ; some of which are of an oblong shape, and from 
ten to fifteen feet in length and five or six feet thick, their 
sides are quite smooth, but though square and of pretty 
regular formation, they bear no marks of the chisel upon 
them. 
In the Polynesian marae, or hei au,* there is a striking 
similarity to the temples of Mexico ; there is the same wall 
of stone enclosing the whole of the consecrated ground, and 
the same massive pyramidical structure, with the sacred 
grove on the summit of the high place ; and now that this 
massive form of building has ceased, it seems as though the 
remembrance of it is preserved by the natives of the Fiji 
islands in the extraordinary pyramidical-shaped buildings 
they erect, although made of the most perishable materials. 
But there are architectural remains of a more ancient 
character, and evincing greater advancement than even 
those alluded to. St. Julian states, on most of the groups 
there are evidences of a race much superior in civilization 
to those now inhabiting them. Some of the ruins of the old 
temples are sufficient to show that their extent must have 
been immense. 
Even as far west as New Caledonia, which is nearly in the 
meridian of New Zealand, there are evidences of ancient 
advancement which are very striking — paved roads and for- 
tifications, and even the remains of an aquaduct eight miles 
in length.fi When the natives were spoken to about those 
ruins, they replied, “We are not like our ancestors; we 
* The hei au , or temple, is literally “ for the wind.” Tu, the great Polynesian 
god, is the god of the wind. In all the sacrifices offered, it was only the spirit 
of the sacrifice which the god was supposed to consume ; it was a wangai hau , 
or feeding of the wind or god. 
f Cruise of the Faiun, p. 219, an extremely interesting little work. 
