_

[100] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5.

[101] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 89 _sq._;
A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 175.

Another ruined temple (_heiau_) seen by Ellis in Hawaii, is described by
him as built of immense blocks of lava, and measuring a hundred and
fifty feet long by seventy feet wide. At the north end was a smaller
enclosure, sixty feet long and ten wide, partitioned off by a high wall,
with but one narrow entrance. The places where the idols formerly stood
were apparent, though the idols had been removed. The spot where the
altar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of
earth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava.
The adjacent ground was strewn with bones of the ancient offerings.[102]
Another temple (_heiau_), in good preservation, visited by Ellis,
measured no less than two hundred and seventy feet in one direction by
two hundred and ten in another. The walls were thick and solid; on the
top of them the stones were piled in a series of small spires. The
temple was said to have been built by a queen of Hawaii about eleven
generations back.[103] Once more in one of the _puhonuas_ or cities of
refuge, which in Hawaii afforded an inviolable sanctuary to fugitives,
Ellis saw another temple (_heiau_), which he describes as "a compact
pile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, and ten feet
high. Many fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, of two or more tons
each, were seen in several parts of the wall, raised at least six feet
from the ground." Ellis was told that the city of refuge, of which this
temple formed part, had been built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii
about two hundred and fifty years before the time when the missionary
was writing.[104] From his descriptions we may infer that some at least
of the Hawaiian temples deserved to rank among megalithic structures,
and that the natives had definite traditions of the kings or queens by
whom the temples had been built.

[102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 116.

[103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 117 _sq._

[104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 169.

In the island of Oahu a temple (_heiau_) visited by the missionary
Stewart was forty yards long by twenty yards broad. The walls, of dark
stone, were perfectly regular and well built, about six feet high, three
feet wide at the level of the ground, and two feet wide at the top. It
was enclosed only on thr