{"id":"01KG8AM40M4C0D25962NQGDKR3","cid":"bafkreiewjsr245kre6kac3sn7ojhyvsvfkivfy5qvjhgpm6d6koeqo3au4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7008,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":6942,"text":"of the earth, the existence of which was yesterday unknown, a stronger\r\nfeeling of awe came over me than if I had stood musing at the mighty\r\nbase of the Pyramid of Cheops. There are no inscriptions, no sculpture,\r\nno clue, by which to conjecture its history; nothing but the dumb\r\nstones. How many generations of the majestic trees which overshadow them\r\nhave grown and flourished and decayed since first they were erected!\r\n\r\nThese remains naturally suggest many interesting reflections. They\r\nestablish the great age of the island, an opinion which the builders\r\nof theories concerning, the creation of the various groups in the South\r\nSeas are not always inclined to admit. For my own part, I think it\r\njust as probable that human beings were living in the valleys of the\r\nMarquesas three thousand years ago as that they were inhabiting the land\r\nof Egypt. The origin of the island of Nukuheva cannot be imputed to the\r\ncoral insect; for indefatigable as that wonderful creature is, it would\r\nbe hardly muscular enough to pile rocks one upon the other more than\r\nthree thousand feet above the level of the sea. That the land may have\r\nbeen thrown up by a submarine volcano is as possible as anything else.\r\nNo one can make an affidavit to the contrary, and therefore I still say\r\nnothing against the supposition: indeed, were geologists to assert that\r\nthe whole continent of America had in like manner been formed by the\r\nsimultaneous explosion of a train of Etnas laid under the water all the\r\nway from the North Pole to the parallel of Cape Horn, I am the last man\r\nin the world to contradict them.\r\n\r\nI have already mentioned that the dwellings of the islanders were almost\r\ninvariably built upon massive stone foundations, which they call pi-pis.\r\nThe dimensions of these, however, as well as of the stones composing\r\nthem, are comparatively small: but there are other and larger erections\r\nof a similar description comprising the ‘morais’, or burying grounds,\r\nand festival-places, in nearly all the valleys of the island. Some of\r\nthese piles are so extensive, and so great a degree of labour and skill\r\nmust have been requisite in constructing them, that I can scarcely\r\nbelieve they were built by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. If\r\nindeed they were, the race has sadly deteriorated in their knowledge of\r\nthe mechanic arts. To say nothing of their habitual indolence, by what\r\ncontrivance within the reach of so simple a people could such enormous\r\nmasses have been moved or fixed in their places? and how could they with\r\ntheir rude implements have chiselled and hammered them into shape?\r\n\r\nAll of these larger pi-pis--like that of the Hoolah Hoolah ground in the\r\nTypee valley--bore incontestible marks of great age; and I am disposed\r\nto believe that their erection may be ascribed to the same race of men\r\nwho were the builders of the still more ancient remains I have just\r\ndescribed.\r\n\r\nAccording to Kory-Kory’s account, the pi-pi upon which stands the Hoolah\r\nHoolah ground was built a great many moons ago, under the direction of\r\nMonoo, a great chief and warrior, and, as it would appear, master-mason\r\namong the Typees. It was erected for the express purpose to which it is\r\nat present devoted, in the incredibly short period of one sun; and was\r\ndedicated to the immortal wooden idols by a grand festival, which lasted\r\nten days and nights.\r\n\r\nAmong the smaller pi-pis, upon which stand the dwelling-houses of the\r\nnatives, I never observed any which intimated a recent erection. There\r\nare in every part of the valley a great many of these massive stone\r\nfoundations which have no houses upon them. This is vastly convenient,\r\nfor whenever an enterprising islander chooses to emigrate a few hundred\r\nyards from the place where he was born, all he has to do in order to\r\nestablish himself in some new locality, is to select one of the many\r\nunappropriated pi-pis, and without further ceremony pitch his bamboo\r\ntent upon it.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1KKRF4W20PAGWA82S1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40MM0GVFTP9H0KRW5MK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4K2BMDE7AV5DAA9VJFA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.644Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.817Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}