TE PITO TE HENUA OR EASTER ISLAND. 715 



being the case, it may readily be conceived that wlicii the mission was 

 removed from the island and the father was compelled to bid farewell 

 to his simple-minded, but loving- and faithful, Kapa Nui friend the part- 

 ing must have been a sad and ])ainful one. In the ten years which have 

 elapsed since that time Chief Mati has never forgotten his well-beloved 

 son, the priest, and whenever, which is only at very long intervals, a 

 white man arrives at the island Mati's first thought is to inquire the 

 tidings of his far-away friend. On the first occasion when my associate, 

 Dr. Whitaker, in company with Mr. Salmon, who had previously advised 

 the doctor on the subject, called on ^Nlati, the latter, now over fourscore 

 and ten, confident that the doctor came from the priest's country and 

 must necessarily know him, immediately began to inquire regarding 

 him; if he was well and happy; if he still loved and remembered him. 

 When the doctor, in order to humor and gratify the old man, wove a 

 harmless and ingenious, but fictitious, narrative about the priest, iu 

 which he highly commended Mati, the latter groaned dismally, con- 

 torted his face, and wept like a child. Seeing this, his poor old wife 

 approached her husband, laid her arm on his shoulder, looked up in his 

 face a moment, and then, after a series of mournful grimaces, bowed her 

 head on her arm and, in the abandon of grief, groaned and cried aloud. 

 Then everyone among the Kapa Nuiis present, taking the cue from the 

 old lady, lifted up their voices in chorus and for a time it fairly rained 

 salt tears. The groans were dismal and the cries pitiful, so that the 

 most callous might easily have been moved to compassion. 



On another occasion the doctor was asked to see a little girl who was 

 suflering with a cervical abscess. The usual crowd of men, women, 

 and children was present. Had the doctor informed them iu advance 

 of what he intended doing they never would have consented to the pro- 

 ceeding. Quietly seating liimself, he gently and unconcernedly drew 

 the child toward him and, placing her head between his knees, drew 

 from his pocket an abscess knife. That started the concert. The miu- 

 nte they saw it, ami divined that he was going to cut the child, groans 

 and lamentations and expressions of sympathy for the little one could 

 be heard on all sides. Quickly incising the abscess the puss spurted 

 and ran in a stream, whereupon the audience howled with renewed 

 energy, curiosity having produced a tem])orary lull, and for a time the 

 situation was interesting and entertaining to a degree. The child, who 

 had scarcely felt the blade, and scared by the din about her, must 

 needs pipe her little tune and join with the others. As soon as they 

 saw that the child had not been harmed and understood the object of 

 the apparent cruelty their demonstrations were just as pronounced in 

 the other direction and they manifested their delight and gratification 

 in expressions of joy, and peals of hysterical laughter, and were i)re- 

 pared to mount the doctor on a platform, so to speak, then and there. 



As with a^ll the natives throughout the South Sea islands, the Rapa 

 Nui is undeniably, and very decidedly, averse to hard work. He delights 



