EASTEIl ISLAND. 53 



EASTER ISLAND. 

 Plates 13, 16-49«. 



The Chart of Easter Island (PL 13), is taken from the U. S. Hydrographic 

 Chart No. 1119, which is based upon Chilian surveys made in 1870, with 

 important additions and corrections by the U. S. S. "Mohican" in command 

 of Commander B. F. Day, U. S. N., in 1S86, during her visit to Easter Island 

 on behalf of the Smithsonian. Before that time the island had been 

 visited by a German gunboat, the " Hyilne," under Captain Lieutenant 

 Geiseler' (1882). 



To Paymaster Thomson, U. S. N., and Dr. Geo. H. Cooke, surgeon, U. S. N., 

 of the " Mohican," we owe an e.xcellent account of Easter Island fully 

 illustrated.'^ At the time of the visit of the " Mohican " its officers were 

 fortunate enoua-h to find still at Easter Island Mr. A. A. Salmon, who had 

 resided for many years on the island, and to whom much of the infor- 

 mation obtained by Paymaster Thomson is due. Mr. Salmon was thor- 

 oughly familiar with the traditions, customs, and language of the natives, 

 and to him we owe the preservation of some of the wooden tablets upon 

 wdiich are cut the written language giving us the traditions and legends 

 of the Easter Islanders. Besides the translations of some tablets given by 

 Paymaster Thomson (1. c. pp. 517—526), there is an important pamphlet 

 on the " lie de Paques," by Mgr. Janssen, Bishop of Axieri, published in 

 Paris in 1893 from notes left by the bishop, giving among other things an 

 account of the signs carved on the wooden tablets. 



During the short time at our disposal I could not hope to add anything 

 of importance to the knowledge of Easter Island beyond that published by 

 the officers of the " Mohican," whose material was supplied by so able and 

 competent a coadjutor as Mr. Salmon. I may add from my own impressions 

 while on the spot that everything seems to point to the immediate ancestors 

 of the present inhabitants as the workers who carved the stone images of 

 the island. 



One gets a general impression of the sudden collapse of all work on the 

 island owing to some great catastrophe. The number of images left half fin- 

 ished in the quarries and workshops and in all stages of preparation imply a 



1 Die Oster Insel. Bericht von Kapitan-Iieutenant Geiseler, Berlin, 1883. Captain Geiseler also 

 owes the information regarding the natives contained in his pamphlet to Mr. Salmon. 



2 Report U. S. Nat. Museum for the year ending 1889 (June ;iO). 1891, Plates 13-60. 



