examination of a wonderful series of heiau3 or stone tecqple platforms 
rectangular in form* ranging in size from a few feet to sixty feet in 
length by half as wide,^ had been built on the rugged higher points of 
the island. The floors of these were smooth exoept where a raised 
A 
platform two or throe feet wide had been built across one of the long 
sides to a height of twelve or fifteen inches* At regular intervals 
along the back: of this were erected roughly rectangular blocks of stone 
a foot or more wide by three or four feet high. These continued around 
one to throe sides of the platform*more often on the side toward the open 
sea. Usually one block in the center was larger than the others, with 
smaller stones ranged on either side. At times two or more stones, one 
of them often water worn, apparently brought from a rough boaoh below. 
occupied the center of thoaa ^pla&for a o . 
That these man made platforms were ancient templos is attested 
by the discovery on the visit of Captain King of crude stone idols that 
lay prostrate^ whore they had fallen from the erect border stones, a 
number of these were destroyed by the mistaken Christian zeal of a royal 
edict, but fortunately a few have been preserved in museums. Careful 
search by our party yielded only a fragment of one of human form, and a 
second in form of a fish (perhaps a shark). Others, of which there were 
probably many, had been taken as ourios by men who have landed for casual 
Inspection from time to time. 
