PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 113 



brought us to " the Rope," a steep cliff, so called 

 from its being necessary to descend it by a rope. It 

 is situated at the eastern end of the island, and over- 

 looks a small sandy bay lined with rocks, which render 

 it dangerous for a boat to attempt to land there. 



At the foot of " the Rope " were found some 

 stone axes, and a hone, the manufacture of the abori- 

 gines, and upon the face of a large rock were some 

 characters very rudely engraved, which we copied ; 

 they appeared to have been executed by the Boun- 

 ty's people, though Adams did not recollect it. To 

 the left of " the Rope" is a peak of considerable 

 height, overlooking Bounty Bay. Upon this emi- 

 nence the mutineers, on their arrival, found four 

 images, about six feet in height, placed upon a plat- 

 form ; and, according to Adams's description, not 

 unlike the morais at Easter Island, excepting that 

 they were upon a much smaller scale. One of these 

 images, which had been preserved, was a rude repre- 

 sentation of the human figure to the hips, and was 

 hewn out of a piece of red lava. 



Near this supposed morai, we were told that hu- 

 man bones and stone hatchets were occasionally dug 

 up, but we could find only two bones, by which we 

 might judge of the stature of these aborigines. 

 These were an os femoris and a part of a cranium 

 of an unusual size and thickness. The hatchets, of 

 which we obtained several specimens, were made of 

 a compact basaltic lava, not unlike clinkstone, very 

 hard and capable of a fine polish. In shape they 

 resembled those used at Otaheite, and by all the 

 islanders of these seas that I have seen. A large 

 stone bowl was also found, similar to those used at 

 Otaheite, and two stone huts. That this island 



vol,. I. I 



