702 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



ance, particularly when the slanting rays of the rising or setting sun 

 shine upon them, and at that time especially, when they stand so 

 prominently forth, would readily suggest the human navel, from which 

 it may be inferred that i)ortion of the name of the island might be 

 derived. 



Ivegarding the other word, henna, the uterus ; can it be that they 

 meant to designate by this term the great volcano Eana Eoraka, in 

 whose womb was created, and from whose vitals Avas born that host of 

 monolithic images which once reared their colossal forms aloft, giant 

 genii guarding these rock-bound shores, and which to day, prone and 

 mutilated as they are, fill the mind of the voyager with wonder, awe, 

 and admiration? 



Hiti te ciranga, the name said to have been given to the island by 

 the English is, perhaps, a corruption of that above-mentioned, as is 

 certainly also the name Te Pito fenua, wrongly stated as signifying 

 "the land in the middle of the sea." The name Rapa Nui, signifying 

 Great Eapa, is modern, having been given to the island by the Tahiti- 

 ans twenty years since, to distinguish it from Ra2)a iti, Little Eapa, 

 otherwise called Oparo, an island Ij'ing 1,900 miles to the westward, in 

 the direction of the Society Group, which latter is 2,500 miles distant. 

 The name Easter was given the island by Roggeween, who discovered 

 it on Easter Sunday, 1721. It has also been called by various names, 

 such as Teapy and Waihu. 



It has often been subject of remark that this proijensity of giving 

 new, modern, European names to lands and islands, not only when 

 originally discovered, but often when merely revisited, may be con- 

 sidered as not only in questionable taste, but as leading to endless con- 

 fusion. The charts and Sailing Directions are replete with instances 

 of that sort, cases occurring when perhaps half a dozen modern and 

 strangely appearing names, each by a different navigator, are applied 

 to one small island or group of islands. The spelling of the native 

 names is also, in many instances, wide of the mark. These strictures 

 may be said to apply with special force to the island under considera- 

 tion, and, therefore, in these reports and on the corrected chart its 

 ancient name, as well as the native names of its mountains, bays, 

 and headlands, have been adhered to as closely as practicable, while 

 at the same time the greatest care has been exercised in spelling them 

 phoneticallj' as received from the natives. 



Since its discovery the island has been visited at successive times 

 by Cook and La Ferouse; by the H. M. S. Blossom in 1825, and Topane 

 in 1808; by the Chilean gunboat O^Higf/insin 1870 and 1875; by the 

 H. M. S. Sappho in 1882, and by the German gunboat Hywne in the 

 same year. 



The IT. S. S. Mohican arrived at the island December 18 and sailed 

 December 31, 1886. 



The distance to the nearest inhabited island to the westward, Pit- 



