As to the meaning or use of
these structures we are entirely in the dark. The natives of these
groups know nothing concerning them, and the Polynesian builder in that
dark past was too busy clubbing and eating his neighbour to write
histories. Scientists are in doubt, as in the case of the great ruins at
Metalanim, whether they were built as sacrificial altars or as monuments
to ambitious chiefs, and there are no records to enlighten us. But these
relics are convincing proofs that the islands have been inhabited for
many hundreds of years, and we are left to conjecture regarding the
origin and history of the people.
The Dance of the Centipede, which Holman and Verslun witnessed in the
Long Gallery, can be seen to-day by any tourist who leaves the beaten
paths. Every missionary to the islands can tell of "devil dances" that
take place in secluded groves, and in which, to his great disgust, his
converts often take part. It takes time to turn the savage from his old
beliefs. Although the South Seas constitute the last fortress of
romance, and a mention of the coral atolls immediately conjures up a
vision of palms and rice-white beaches, the sensitive person senses the
dark and bloody past when the wizard men were the rulers, and death
stalked in the palm groves.
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