SUNDRY NOTICES OF THE ISLAND. 319 



"These records or blocks, they say, were extremely numerous in former 

 times; but a great many were destroyed during their frequent wars, when each 

 party would, in their anger, injure the valuables of the opposing party. Some 

 of the natives, however, have told me, with what truth 1 know not, (for the 

 natives of all these islands cannot be depended upon for the truth) that soon 

 after the Catholic missions were established on their island, the missionaries 

 persuaded many of their people to consume by fire all the blocks in their pos- 

 session, stating to them that they were but heathen records, and that the pos- 

 session of them would have a tendency to attach them to their heathenism, and 

 prevent their thorough conversion to the new religion, and the consequent 

 saving of their souls. Others of the natives deny this statement altogether, 

 and are very strenuous in saying that it is false. I may here mention that the 

 latter are Catholics, and are living with the Bishop. Their statements should 

 be taken with some allowance. Those who make the charge, on the other 

 hand, are employed by Mr. Brander, a merchant and planter here, and are not 

 subject to the control of the Catholics. 



"Mr. De Greno, the Swede before spoken of, tells me that when he first 

 landed on the island, the natives showed him and his friends quite a number of 

 the records, and they seemed to attach a great value to them ; for some three or 

 four months after, when he was about leaving, and desired to take one or more 

 of them away with him, he found it impossible to get one by any means, and 

 indeed, many of the natives denied having any. The captain of the sunken ship, 

 however, managed to get two or three of them, which he has taken to Europe. 



"Mr. Calligan, mate of an American vessel from your port, which vessel was 

 lately wrecked on Easter Island, where he and his friends built a boat from the 

 remains of the wreck, and came down in it to Tahiti, (and who now commands 

 a small schooner sailing among the islands here) also managed to get one of the 

 blocks, which, he has told me, (he is absent just at the present writing) he has 

 sent to his wife, somewhere in California I think. When he returns, I will try 

 to find out where, and inform you, so that you may have an opportunity to see 

 and probably obtain it, or at least to obtain a photographic representation of 

 its characters. 



"Mr. Parker, a merchant of this place, informs me that some three or four 

 years ago, when nearly three hundred of the Easter Island natives were brought 

 to Tahiti, (as laborers for a term of years, which are now expiring) they had a 

 number of blocks in their possession which they tried to sell; but they charged 

 such a high price for them that no one bought them. He says that they seemed 

 to think that they were very valuable, but they could not bring any one else to 

 their way of thinking. Mr. Parker says that he thought (not understanding 

 their language) that they were mere bits of wood on which they had tried their 

 skill at carving, and that the characters were merely ornamental, and that he 

 did not sufficiently admire such ornaments to cause him to invest any money in 

 it at any rate, as much as they demanded. Had he known that they were por- 

 tions of their records, inscribed in an ancient and peculiar langauge, he would 

 have brought all he could get at any price. Although I was present here, my- 

 self, in Papeete, at the time, these blocks entirely escaped my notice, nor did 

 any one give me the slightest hint of their presence. Had I had Mr Parker s 

 opportunity, it is quite probable that I should have laid this matter before the 

 scientific world years ago. It is barely possible that there may be some of these 

 blocks now in the possession of some one in Tahiti Easter Island natives or 

 others; and I am making inquiries for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, one 



or more of them for you. f 



" In reference to my translation of the inscriptions, I am sorry to inform you 

 that I was cruelly disappointed in my interpreter. On the day on which he 

 was brought to my residence by his countryman, who had recommended him as 



