ot confidently say that it was erected for the sake
of honouring or propitiating the spirits of the departed. The monument
in question is situated near the eastern extremity of Tongataboo, at a
distance of three or four hundred yards from the beach and facing
towards the island of Eua. The land on which it stands was the private
property of the Tooitongas, whose megalithic tombs are situated some
eight or nine miles away to the west. In the intervening country, which
is perfectly flat and partly covered with forest, partly under
cultivation, there are said to be no other monuments or ruins. It is
remarkable that this imposing monument, which naturally impresses the
observer by its resemblance to the trilithons or gate-like structures of
Stonehenge, should have apparently escaped the observation of Europeans
down to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not mentioned by
Cook and Mariner, nor even by those who, like the first missionaries and
Dumont d'Urville, described in some detail the tombs of the Tooitongas
not many miles off. Perhaps the solitariness of the surrounding country
may partly account for their ignorance and silence; for there are said
to be few inhabitants in this part of the island and none at all in the
immediate neighbourhood of the monument. It seems to have been first
discovered by Mr. Philip Hervey of Sydney in 1850 or 1851, but his
description of it was not published for some ten years. In August 1852
it was seen by Dr. Charles Forbes, Surgeon of H.M.S. _Calliope_, and his
description of it was published by the Society of Antiquaries of London
in the following year. In 1865 it was seen and briefly described by Mr.
Foljambe of H.M.S. _Curacoa_. Some twenty years later the passengers of
the s.s. _Wairarapa_, on a yachting cruise from New Zealand, visited the
spot and published an account of the structure. Still later Sir Basil
Thomson examined the monument and discussed its history.[179]

[179] See the letter of Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia, or
Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity_, xxxv. (London,
1853) p. 496 (with a woodcut); _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of London_ [First Series], iii. 19; _id._ Second
Series, i. 287; letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by Kenneth R. H.
Mackenzie, in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
London_, Second Series, ii. 75-77; Julius L. Brenchley,
_Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curacoa" among