A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1Cook, James
History
A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1
Cook, James
Antarctica; Oceania -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800; Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800
Nor are we better acquainted with their religion. The gigantic statues, so
often mentioned, are not, in my opinion, looked upon as idols by the
present inhabitants, whatever they might have been in the days of the
Dutch; at least I saw nothing that could induce me to think so. On the
contrary, I rather suppose that they are burying-places for certain tribes
or families. I, as well as some others, saw a human skeleton lying in one
of the platforms, just covered with stones. Some of these platforms of
masonry are thirty or forty feet long, twelve or sixteen broad, and from
three to twelve in height; which last in some measure depends on the nature
of the ground; for they are generally at the brink of the bank facing the
sea, so that this face may be ten or twelve feet or more high, and the
other may not be above three or four. They are built, or rather faced, with
hewn stones, of a very large size; and the workmanship is not inferior to
the best plain piece of masonry we have in England. They use no sort of
cement, yet the joints are exceedingly close, and the stones morticed and
tenanted one into another, in a very artful manner. The side-walls are not
perpendicular, but inclining a little inwards, in the same manner that
breast-works, &c. are built in Europe; yet had not all this care, pains,
and sagacity, been able to preserve these curious structures from the
ravages of all-devouring time.
The statues, or at least many of them, are erected on these platforms,
which serve as foundations. They are, as near as we could judge, about half
length, ending in a sort of stump at the bottom, on which they stand. The
workmanship is rude, but not bad; nor are the features of the face ill
formed, the nose and chin in particular; but the ears are long beyond
proportion; and, as to the bodies, there is hardly any thing like a human
figure about them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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