nnett that none of the valleys contain "any _morais_ or
other buildings devoted to religious purposes, nor any public
idols";[112] and by _morais_ he probably means stepped pyramids like
those of Tahiti and Tonga. However, in the valley of Taipii (Typee), in
Nukahiva, a megalithic monument, built in terraces, was seen by Melville
in 1842. He describes it as follows:

[112] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 322.

"One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon
a scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of
the Druids. At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all
sides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step by
step, for a considerable distance up the hillside. These terraces cannot
be less than one hundred yards in length and twenty in width. Their
magnitude, however, is less striking than the immense size of the blocks
composing them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to
fifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are
quite smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation, they
bear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without cement, and
here and there show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower one
are somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have both a
quadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace
elevated several feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense
trees have taken root, and their broad boughs, stretching far over and
interlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun.
Overgrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from one to another,
is a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy embrace many of the stones lie
half-hidden, while in some places a thick growth of bushes entirely
covers them. There is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of
these terraces, and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation,
that a stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of
their existence.

"These structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity, and
Kory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters of scientific research,
gave me to understand that they were coeval with the creation of the
world; that the great gods themselves were the builders; and that they
would endure until time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's prompt
explanation, and his attributing the work to a divine orig