called horns, but
which were called by the natives Tate Ete (little men).

In the northern peninsula they visited a burying-place, the pavement of
which was extremely neat; upon it was raised a pyramid five feet high,
covered with the fruit of two plants peculiar to the country. Near the
pyramid, under a shed, was a small image of stone, of very rude
workmanship--the first specimen of stone-carving which had been seen
among the people. Continuing their voyage, they came to a district
belonging to Oberea, and were entertained at her house, which, though
small, was very neat. Not far from it they saw an enormous pile, which
they were told was the morai of Oamo and Oberea, literally their
burying-place and temple. It was a pile of stone-work, raised
pyramidically upon an oblong base or square two hundred and sixty-seven
feet long and eighty-seven wide. It was like the small mounds erected
for sun-dials, with steps leading on all sides to the summit. The steps
at the sides were broader than those at the ends, and it terminated in a
ridge like the roof of a house. There were eleven steps, each four feet
high, so that the height of the pile was forty-four feet; each course
was formed of white coral stone, neatly squared and polished; the rest
of the mass, for there was no hollow within, consisted of round pebbles.
Some of the coral stones were measured, and found to be three feet and
a half by two feet and a half. The foundation was of stones squared,
and one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet four inches.
It was surprising that such a structure should have been raised without
iron tools to shape the stones, or mortar to join them. The quarried
stones must have been brought from a considerable distance by hand, and
the coral must have been raised from under the water, where, though
there is an abundance, it is at a depth of never less than three feet.
To square these stones must have been a work of incredible labour,
though the polishing might have been more easily effected by means of
the sharp coral sand from the sea-shore. The whole pyramid was not
straight, but formed a slight curve, and made one side of a spacious
area or square of three hundred and sixty feet by three hundred and
fifty-four feet, enclosed by a stone wall, and paved throughout its
whole extent with flat stones. Several trees, called _etoa_ and
plantains, were growing through the pavement. On the top of the pyramid
stood the