d did us good in that way.
Besides, parties of natives from the other islands may land here
sometimes. Now let us go down and explore the crater."

They descended the path and soon stood in the bottom of the crater. This
they saw was a veritable graveyard. In the centre was a rough structure
built of large stones sloping inwards, and forming a rough representation
of a hut. They had evidently been placed there centuries before, for they
were green with age; lichens and mosses grew upon them, and here and there
small shrubs sprang up in the crevices. What had once been an entrance was
closed with a great flat slab of rock. Round this central cairn were some
eight or ten smaller ones.

These were evidently of comparatively recent origin, and one of them was
surrounded by a hedge of spears, on some of which hung pieces of tattered
cloth of native manufacture. Round the central hut were arranged four
figureheads of ships; while in a circle stood a number of the hideous
idols carried by many of the South Sea Islanders in their war-canoes.

"I should say that this accounts for the island being uninhabited,"
Stephen said. "I suppose there are still traditions of this having been a
volcano, and that the mountain and perhaps the whole island is sacred, and
only used as a burial-place for some very great chiefs."

He went across to the grave surrounded by spears.

"Here," he said, "are a dozen skeletons piled together--sacrifices, I
suppose, on the tomb of a chief. If it had not been for these spears and
skeletons, I should have said, from the appearance of the cairns, that
they must all be at least a hundred years old, perhaps a great deal more."

"All the better," the Peruvian said. "I hope it will be a hundred years
before they come to bury anyone else here."

"They must come here a good deal oftener than that," Stephen said. "These
gods of theirs are all new, or at any rate freshly painted. Besides, the
place is evidently kept with some care; and I should think very likely the
people of the other islands make pilgrimages here once a year or so to
offer sacrifices to the god supposed to reside in that central cairn, and
to keep his house in order. I think that we cannot do better than follow
this path back and sees where it goes to. It may not extend beyond the
crater; but if it continues through the forest down to the shore it will
be evident that it has recently been visited, for things grow so fast in a
climate like t