but narrowed in
gradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, six feet
wide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the sea were not more than
seven or eight feet high, and were proportionally wide. The entrance to
the temple is by a narrow passage between two high walls.... The upper
terrace within the area was spacious, and much better finished than the
lower ones. It was paved with flat smooth stones, brought from a
distance. At the south end was a kind of inner court, which might be
called the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol
used to stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities....
On the outside, near the entrance to the inner court, was the place of
the _rere_ (altar) on which human and other sacrifices were offered. The
remains of one of the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the
natives, and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men and
animals, the mouldering remains of those numerous offerings once
presented there. About the centre of the terrace was the spot where the
king's sacred house stood, in which he resided during the season of
strict _tabu_, and at the north end, the place occupied by the houses of
priests, who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons
permitted to dwell within the sacred enclosures. Holes were seen on the
walls, all around this, as well as the lower terraces, where wooden
idols of varied size and shape formerly stood, casting their hideous
stare in every direction."[98]

[98] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 96-98. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op.
cit._ pp. 45 _sq._

From this somewhat indistinct description we gather that the temple was
a large oblong area enclosed by high stone walls and open to the sky,
and that at some place within the enclosure there rose a structure in a
series of terraces, of which the uppermost was paved with flat stones
and supported the king's house, while the houses of the priests stood in
another part of the sacred enclosure. If this interpretation is correct,
we may infer that the temple resembled a Tahitian _morai_, which was a
walled enclosure enclosing a sort of stepped and truncated pyramid built
of stone.[99] The inference is confirmed by the language used by Captain
King in speaking of the temple which he describes, for he calls it a
_morai_,[100] and the same term is applied to the sacred edifices in
Hawaii by other voyagers.[101]

[99] See above, pp. 278 _sqq.