Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/208

184 Fred was particularly interested in reading about a curious monument of former days that is to be seen in Tonga, and of which the natives have no tradition. It reminded him of the monuments of Easter Island, and he made the following note on the subject:

"It stands on a grassy lawn in the interior of the island, and is so surrounded by tropical growths that it is concealed from view until the visitor is close upon it. It consists of three huge stones, two of them upright like pillars, and the third resting upon them. This upper stone is eighteen feet long, twelve feet wide, and fifteen feet above the ground; resting upon it is, or was, an immense bowl of hewn stone, which is supposed to have been connected with some of the religious ceremonies of the people who erected this monument. But how they put the three stones in their places is an unfathomable mystery."

Fred also wanted to see a famous cavern in one of the Tonga Islands which can only be reached by diving into the sea, as the mouth is completely under water at all times. A young Tongan found it while diving after a turtle, and he afterwards utilized it as the place of concealment of the girl with whom he had fallen in love, and who was the daughter of a chief whose displeasure he had incurred. He persuaded her to flee with him and follow him into the water; these women swim like dolphins, and she dived after him and rose into the cave, which is beautifully lighted by the phosphorescent rays from the water, very much as is the famous Blue Grotto near Naples.

Here she remained for months, everybody wondering what had become of her, and also wondering why the young man absented himself so frequently, and always returned with wet hair. He carried her fruit and fish to eat and a supply of mats for carpeting the stone floor at one side of the cavern. One day his companions followed him, and dived where they had seen him disappear. Thus they found the cave; but what became of its inmates is not clearly recorded in the history of Tonga.