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73 - Roughing It by Mark Twain · Roughing It

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  Speaker 1: This is chapter seventy three of Roughing It. This is
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  Speaker 1: Roughing It by Mark Twain, Chapter seventy three. At noon,
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  Speaker 1: we hired a kanaka to take us down to the
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  Speaker 1: ancient ruins at Honuanan in his canoe. Price two dollars,
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  Speaker 1: reasonable enough for a sea voyage of eight miles counting
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  Speaker 1: both ways. The native canoe is an irresponsible looking contrivance.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot think of anything to liken it to but
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  Speaker 1: a boy's sled runner hollowed out, and that does not
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  Speaker 1: quite convey the correct idea. It is about fifteen feet long,
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  Speaker 1: high and pointed at both ends, is a foot and
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  Speaker 1: a half or two feet deep, and is so narrow
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  Speaker 1: that if you wedged a fat man into it you
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  Speaker 1: might not get him out again. It sits on top
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  Speaker 1: of the water like a duck, but it has an
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  Speaker 1: outrigger and does not upset easily if you keep still.
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  Speaker 1: This outrigger is formed of two long bent sticks like
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  Speaker 1: plow handles, which project from one side and to their
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  Speaker 1: outer ends. Is bound a curved beam composed of an
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  Speaker 1: extremely light wood, which skims along the surface of the water,
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  Speaker 1: and thus saves you from an upset on that side,
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  Speaker 1: while the outrigger's weight is not so easily lifted as
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  Speaker 1: to make an upset on the other side. A thing
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  Speaker 1: to be greatly feared. Still, until one gets used to
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  Speaker 1: sitting perched upon this knife blade, he is apt to
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  Speaker 1: reason within himself that it would be more comfortable if
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  Speaker 1: there were just an outrigger or so on the other side. Also,
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  Speaker 1: I had the bow seat, and billings sat amidships and
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  Speaker 1: faced the kanaka, who occupied the stern of the craft,
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  Speaker 1: and did the paddling. With the first stroke, the trim
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  Speaker 1: shell of things shot out from the shore like an arrow.
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  Speaker 1: There was not much to see while we were on
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  Speaker 1: the shallow water of the reef. It was pastime to
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  Speaker 1: look down into the limpid depths, at the large bunches
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  Speaker 1: of branching coral, the unique shrubbery of the sea. We
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  Speaker 1: lost that though, when we got out into the dead
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  Speaker 1: blue water of the deep, but we had the picture
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  Speaker 1: of the surf then dashing angrily against the crag bound
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  Speaker 1: shore and sending a foaming spray high into the air.
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  Speaker 1: There was interest in this beetling border, too, for it
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  Speaker 1: was honeycombed with quaint caves and arches and tunnels, and
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  Speaker 1: had a rude semblance of the dilapidated architecture of ruined
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  Speaker 1: keeps and castles rising out of the restless sea. When
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  Speaker 1: this novelty ceased to be a novelty, we turned our
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  Speaker 1: eyes shoreward and gazed at the long mountain with its
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  Speaker 1: rich green forests stretching up into the curtaining clouds, and
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  Speaker 1: at the specks of houses in the rearward distance, and
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  Speaker 1: a diminished schooner riding sleepily at anchor. And when these
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  Speaker 1: grew tiresome, we dashed boldly into the midst of a
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  Speaker 1: school of huge, beastly porpoises, engaged at their eternal game
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  Speaker 1: of arching over a wave and disappearing, and then doing
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  Speaker 1: it over again, and keeping it up. All was circling
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  Speaker 1: over in that way, like so many well submerged wheels.
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  Speaker 1: But the porpoises wheeled themselves away, and then we were
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  Speaker 1: thrown upon our own resources. It did not take many
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  Speaker 1: minutes to discover that the sun was blazing like a bonfire,
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  Speaker 1: and that the weather was of a melting temperature. It
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  Speaker 1: had a drowsing effect too. In one place, we came
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  Speaker 1: upon a large company of naked natives of both sexes
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  Speaker 1: and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of
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  Speaker 1: surf bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards out to sea, taking a short board with him,
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  Speaker 1: then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious
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  Speaker 1: billow to come along. At the right moment, he would
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  Speaker 1: fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon
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  Speaker 1: a board, and here he would come whizzing by like
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  Speaker 1: a bomb shell. It did not seem that a lightning
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  Speaker 1: express train could s joot along at a more hair
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  Speaker 1: lifting speed. I tried surf bathing once subsequently, but made
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  Speaker 1: a failure of it. I got the board placed right
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  Speaker 1: and at the right moment, too, but missed the connection myself.
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  Speaker 1: The board struck the shore in three quarters of a
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  Speaker 1: second without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about
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  Speaker 1: the same time with a couple of barrels of water
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  Speaker 1: in me. None but natives ever mastered the art of
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  Speaker 1: surf bathing thoroughly. At the end of an hour, we
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  Speaker 1: had made the four miles and landed on a level
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  Speaker 1: point of land. Upon which was a wide extent of
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  Speaker 1: old ruins, with many a tall cocoanut tree growing among them.
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  Speaker 1: Here was the ancient City of Refuge, a vast enclosure
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  Speaker 1: whose stone walls were twenty feet thick at the base
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  Speaker 1: and fifteen feet high, an oblong square a thousand and
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  Speaker 1: forty feet one way, and a fraction under seven hundred
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  Speaker 1: the other. Within this enclosure, in early times has been
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  Speaker 1: three rude temples, each two hundred and ten feet long
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  Speaker 1: by one hundred wide and thirteen high. In those days,
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  Speaker 1: if a man killed another anywhere on the island, the
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  Speaker 1: relatives were privileged to take the murderer's life, and then
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  Speaker 1: a chase for life and liberty began, the outlawed criminal
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  Speaker 1: flying through pathless forests and over mountain and plain, with
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  Speaker 1: his hopes fixed upon the protecting walls of the City
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  Speaker 1: of Refuge, and the avenger of blood following hotly after him.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes the race was kept up to the very gates
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  Speaker 1: of the temple, and the panting pair sped through long
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  Speaker 1: files of excited natives, who watched the contest with flashing
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  Speaker 1: eye and dilated nostril, encouraging the hunted refugee with sharp
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  Speaker 1: inspiring ejaculations and sending up a ringing shout of exaltation
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  Speaker 1: when the saving gates closed upon him, and the cheated
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  Speaker 1: pursuer sank exhausted at the threshold. But sometimes the flying
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  Speaker 1: criminal fell under the hand of the avenger at the
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  Speaker 1: very door, when one more brave stride, one more or
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  Speaker 1: brief second of time would have brought his feet upon
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  Speaker 1: the sacred ground and barred him against all harm. Where
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  Speaker 1: did these isolated pagans get this idea of a city
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  Speaker 1: of refuge, this ancient Oriental custom? The old Sanctuary was
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  Speaker 1: sacred to all, even to rebels in arms and invading armies.
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  Speaker 1: Once within its walls and confession made to the priest
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  Speaker 1: and absolution obtained, the wretch, with a price upon his head,
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  Speaker 1: could go forth without fear and without danger. He was taboo,
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  Speaker 1: and to harm him was death. The routed rebels in
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  Speaker 1: the lost battle for Idolatry fled to this place to
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  Speaker 1: claim sanctuary, and many were thus saved. Close to the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the great Enclosure as a round structure of stone,
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  Speaker 1: some six or eight feet high, with a level top
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  Speaker 1: about ten or twelve feet in diameter, this was the
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  Speaker 1: place of execution. A high palisade of cocoanut piles shut
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  Speaker 1: out the cruel scenes from the vulgar multitude. Here criminals
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  Speaker 1: were killed, the flesh stripped from the bones and burned,
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  Speaker 1: and the bones secreted in holes in the body of
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  Speaker 1: the structure. If the man had been guilty of a
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  Speaker 1: high crime, the entire corpse was burned. The walls of
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  Speaker 1: the temple are a study the same food for speculation
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  Speaker 1: that is offered the visitor to the pyramids of Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: He will find here the mystery of how they were
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  Speaker 1: constructed by the people unacquainted with science and mechanics. The
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  Speaker 1: natives have no invention of their own for hoisting heavy weights.
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  Speaker 1: They had no beasts of burden, and they had never
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  Speaker 1: even shown any knowledge of the properties of the lever. Yet,
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  Speaker 1: some of the lava blocks quarried out, brought over rough
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  Speaker 1: broken ground, and built into this wall six or seven
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  Speaker 1: feet from the ground, are of prodigious size and would
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  Speaker 1: weigh tons. How did they transport and how raise them?
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  Speaker 1: Both The inner and outer surfaces of the walls present
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  Speaker 1: a smooth front and are very creditable specimens of masonry.
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  Speaker 1: The blocks are of all manner of shapes and sizes,
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  Speaker 1: but yet are fitted together with the neatest exactness. The
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  Speaker 1: gradual narrowing of the wall from the base upward is
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  Speaker 1: accurately preserved. No cement was used, but the edifice is
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  Speaker 1: firm and compact, and is capable of resisting storm and
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  Speaker 1: decay for centuries. Who built this temple, and how was
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  Speaker 1: it built? And when? Are mysteries that may never be unraveled.
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  Speaker 1: Outside of these ancient walls lies a sort of coffin
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  Speaker 1: shaped stone eleven feet four inches long and three feet square.
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  Speaker 1: At the small end it would weigh a few thousand pounds,
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  Speaker 1: which the high chief, who held sway over this district
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  Speaker 1: many centuries ago, brought thither on his shoulder one day
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  Speaker 1: to use as a lounge. This circumstance is established by
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  Speaker 1: the most reliable traditions. He used to lie down on
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  Speaker 1: it in his indolent way and keep an eye on
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  Speaker 1: his subjects at work for him, and see that there
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  Speaker 1: was no soldiering done, and no doubt there was no
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  Speaker 1: any done to speak of, because he was a man
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  Speaker 1: of that sort of build that incites to attention to
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  Speaker 1: business on the part of an employee. He was fourteen
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  Speaker 1: or fifteen feet high when he stretched himself at full
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  Speaker 1: length on his lounge, his legs hung down over the end,
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  Speaker 1: and when he snored, he woke the dead. These facts
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  Speaker 1: are all attested by irrefricable tradition. On the other side
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  Speaker 1: of the temple is a monstrous seven ton rock eleven
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  Speaker 1: feet long, seven feet wide, and three feet thick. It
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  Speaker 1: is raised a foot or a foot and a half
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  Speaker 1: above the ground and rests upon half a dozen little
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  Speaker 1: stony pedestals. The same old fourteen footer are brought it
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  Speaker 1: down from the mountain merely for fun. He had his
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  Speaker 1: own notions about fun, and propped it up as we
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  Speaker 1: find it now, and as others may find it a
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  Speaker 1: century hence, for it would take a score of horses
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  Speaker 1: to budget from its position. They say that fifty or
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  Speaker 1: sixty years ago, the proud queen Kahumanu used to fly
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  Speaker 1: to this rock for safety whenever she had been making
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  Speaker 1: trouble with her fierce husband, and hide under it until
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  Speaker 1: his wrath was appeased. But these Kanakas will lie, and
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  Speaker 1: this statement is one of their ablest efforts. For Kahumanu
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  Speaker 1: was six feet high, and she was bulky. She was
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  Speaker 1: built like an ox, and she could no more have
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  Speaker 1: squeezed herself under that rock than she could have passed
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  Speaker 1: between the cylinders of a sugar mill. What could she
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  Speaker 1: gain by it? Even if she succeeded to be chased
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  Speaker 1: and abused by a savage husband, could not be otherwise
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  Speaker 1: than humiliating to her high spirit. Yet it could never
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  Speaker 1: make her feel so flat as an hour's repose under
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  Speaker 1: that rock wood. We walked a mile over a raised
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  Speaker 1: macadamized road of uniform width, a road paved with flat stones,
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  Speaker 1: and exhibiting in its every detail a considerable degree of
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  Speaker 1: engineering skill. Some say that that wise old pagan Kameamea
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  Speaker 1: the first, planned and built it, but others say it
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  Speaker 1: was built so long before his time that the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of who constructed it has passed out of the traditions.
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  Speaker 1: In either case, however, as the handiwork of an untaught
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  Speaker 1: and degraded race, it is a thing of pleasing interest.
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  Speaker 1: The stones are worn and smooth, and pushed apart in places,
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  Speaker 1: so that the road has the exact appearance of those
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  Speaker 1: ancient paved highways leading out of Rome which one sees
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  Speaker 1: in pictures. The object of our tramp was to visit
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  Speaker 1: a great natural curiosity at the base of the foothills,
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  Speaker 1: a congealed cascade of lava. Some old, forgotten volcanic eruption
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  Speaker 1: sent its broad river of fire down the mountain side here,
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  Speaker 1: and it poured down in a great torrent from an
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  Speaker 1: overhanging bluff some fifty feet high to the ground below.
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  Speaker 1: The flaming torrent cooled in the winds from the sea,
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  Speaker 1: and remains there to day, all seamed and frost and
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  Speaker 1: rippled in a petrified niagara. It is very picturesque, and
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  Speaker 1: withal so natural that one might almost imagine it still flowed.
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  Speaker 1: A smaller stre beam trickled over the cliff and built
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  Speaker 1: up an isolated pyramid about thirty feet high, which has
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  Speaker 1: the semblance of a mass of large, gnarled and knotted
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  Speaker 1: vines and roots and stems intricately twisted and woven together.
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  Speaker 1: We passed in behind the cascade and the pyramid, and
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  Speaker 1: found the bluff pierced by several cavernous tunnels, whose crooked
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  Speaker 1: courses we followed a long distance. Two of these winding
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  Speaker 1: tunnels stand as proof of nature's mining abilities. Their floors
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  Speaker 1: are level, they are seven feet wide, and their roofs
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  Speaker 1: are gently arched. Their height is not uniform. However, we
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  Speaker 1: pass through one a hundred feet long, which leads through
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  Speaker 1: a spur of the hill and opens out well up
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  Speaker 1: in the sheer wall of a precipice, whose foot rests
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  Speaker 1: in the waves of the sea. It is a commodious tunnel,
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  Speaker 1: except that there are occasional places in it where one
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  Speaker 1: must stoop to pass under. The roof is lava, of course,
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  Speaker 1: and is thickly studded with little lava pointed icicles an
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  Speaker 1: inch long, which hardened as they dripped. They project as
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  Speaker 1: closely together as the iron teeth of a corn sheller.
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  Speaker 1: And if one will stand up straight and walk any
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  Speaker 1: distance there, he can get his hair combed free of charge.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter seventy three.