Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/161

Rh The foundation was of rock stone, likewise squared; the corner-stone measured 4 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 4 inches. The building made part of one side of a spacious area walled in with stone; the size of this, which seemed to be intended for a square, was 118 by 110 paces, and it was entirely paved with flat paving-stones. It is almost beyond belief that Indians could raise so large a structure without the assistance of iron tools to shape their stones or mortar to join them; which last appears almost essential, as most of them are round: but it is done, and almost as firmly as an European workman would have done it, though in some things they seem to have failed. The steps for instance, which range along its greatest length, are not straight; they bend downward in the middle, forming a small segment of a circle. Possibly the ground may have sunk a little under the immense weight of such a great pile; such a sinking, if it took place regularly, would have this effect. The labour of the work is prodigious, the quarried stones are but few, but they must have been brought by hand from some distance; at least we saw no signs of a quarry near it, though I looked carefully about me. The coral must have been fished up from under the water, where indeed it is most plentiful, but usually covered with at least three or four feet of water, and generally with much more. The labour of forming the blocks when obtained must also have been at least as great as that employed in getting them. The natives have not shown us any way by which they could square a stone except by means of another, which must be a most tedious process, and liable to many accidents through tools breaking. The stones are also polished as well and as truly as stones of the kind could be by the best workman in Europe; in that particular they excel, owing to the great plenty of a sharp coral sand which is admirably adapted to the purpose, and which is found everywhere upon the sea-shore in this neighbourhood.

About a hundred yards to the west of this building was another court or paved area, in which were several Ewhattas, a kind of altar raised on wooden pillars about seven feet