e now known to have long
occupied both Korea and Japan, from which advanced Asiatic lands they
may have found little difficulty in spreading over the Polynesian world,
just as in the extreme west they were able to range over Scandinavia,
Great Britain and Ireland. To Neolithic man, still perhaps represented
by some of the more light-coloured and more regular-featured Polynesian
groups, may therefore not unreasonably be attributed these astonishing
remains, which assume so many different forms according to the nature of
the locality, but seem generally so out of proportion with the present
restricted areas on which they stand. With the gradual subsidence of
these areas their culture would necessarily degenerate, although echoes
of sublime theogonies and philosophies are still heard in the oral
traditions and folklore of many Polynesian groups. In the islet of Lele,
close to Kusaie, at the eastern extremity of Micronesia, the ruins
present the appearance of a citadel with cyclopean ramparts built of
large basaltic blocks. There are also numerous canals, and what look
like artificial harbours constructed amid the shallow lagoons.

In Ponape the remains are of a somewhat similar character, but on a much
larger scale, and with this difference, that while those of Lele all
stand on the land, those of Ponape are built in the water. The whole
island is strewn with natural basaltic prisms, some of great size: and
of this material, brought by boats or rafts from a distance of 30 m. and
put together without any mortar, but sustained by their own weight, are
built all the massive walls and other structures on the east side of the
island. The walls of the main building near the entrance of Metalanim
harbour form a massive quadrangle 200 ft. on all sides, with inner
courts, vault and raised platform with walls 20 to 40 ft. high and from
8 to 18 ft. thick. Some of the blocks are 25 ft. long and 8 ft. in
circumference, and many of them weigh from 3 to 4 tons. There are also
numerous canals from 30 to 100 ft. wide, while a large number of islets,
mainly artificial, covering an area of 9 sq. m., have all been built up
out of the shallow waters of the lagoon round about the entrance of the
harbour, with high sea-walls composed of the same huge basaltic prisms.
In, some places the walls of this "Pacific Venice" are now submerged to
some depth, as if the land had subsided since the construction of these
extensive works. Elsewhere huge breakw