186 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



During our few hours of liberty ashore we could not hope to 

 add anything of importance to the knowledge of Easter Island. 

 Anyone who is interested in learning more about this fascinating 

 place may look up the books referred to at the end of the chapter. 

 It was well that we had completed our scientific shore-work during 

 the first few days of our visit, and had brought all the equipment 

 aboard. The sudden departure only deprived us personally of 

 a chance to relax for a few more days in prowling around the 

 coasts. 



We were able to learn a great deal about these people in our short 

 stay. There were always from ten to twenty of them on board 

 during the day, and the whole village stood by as we did our 

 scientific work ashore. The population is now about three hun- 

 dred. Mr. Salmon, who lived during the latter part of the last 

 century, estimates that there were about 20,000 people on the 

 island in 1850. Slave-raids, small-pox, cannibalism, and emi- 

 gration to the islands of the South Pacific can easily account for 

 the decrease. For example, at one period about 5,000 natives 

 were carried off to work the guano-deposits on the Chinchas 

 Islands off the coast of Peru. Of them only two returned — and 

 these brought back the small-pox ! The last of cannibalism seems 

 to have been in 1864, at which time there were 1,500 people and 

 a Jesuit mission established on the island. At present the popu- 

 lation is slowly increasing, and emigration has ceased. 



As we have said before, there is a great mixture of races here, 

 but the average villagers may be described in the following words. 

 They are medium in stature — a great contrast to the ancient in- 

 habitants as described in Rogewein's narrative at the end of this 

 chapter. They are a lithe, wiry folk with brown eyes; black, 

 straight hair; prominent cheek-bones; straight noses; and thin 

 lips. There is no resemblance to the negro. Their skin is a 

 light brown and their bodies are kept clean. They have a gentle, 

 emotional, light-hearted disposition, and display no interest in 

 the history of their past. These amiable islanders see no reason 

 to work unless they are hungry at the moment. Mr. Edmunds 

 engages most of the men as sheep-shearers for a few days each 

 year, and employs some ten boys as shepherds. The others 



