LAVA STATUES 193 



150, while at the time of our visit the population 

 was not more than 100. 



When we arrived the weather was rough, and 

 we were unable to lower a boat, and but for the 

 fact that Lord Crawford had taken the mails 

 from Valparaiso for the inhabitants, we should 

 no doubt have sailed away without landing. 

 Fortunately, however, the people on shore saw 

 the yacht, and sent a surf-boat out to us, and by 

 this means we were able to go ashore. 



We were only there a very short time, and in 

 consequence were unable to see many of the 

 interesting caves and carvings which abound on 

 the island ; and this was especially unfortunate, 

 as practically nothing is known of the former 

 inhabitants, while the fauna and flora, such as 

 they are, have never been collected. 



There are now, I believe, two Easter Island 

 images in the British Museum. The images, 

 we judged, are on an average at least twenty 

 feet in height, while some of them are probably 

 considerably more. They have been hewn 

 out of the lava in one or more of the craters 

 on the island. In one of the smaller of these 

 craters, Major Wilbraham saw several statues in 

 an unfinished condition, the features being carved 

 on the surface of the lava. It would seem, 

 therefore, that the outline of the statue was first 

 carved, and that the block of lava was afterwards 

 cut out and carried by some unknown means 



