TE I'lTi) TE 1IENI'\. OB EASTEE ISLAM). 



By Paymaster William J. Thomson, U. S. Navy. 



THE DISCOVERY OF EASTER ISLAND. 



The honor of the discovery of Easter Island is contested by several 

 of the earlier voyagers in the Pacific. Spanish writers claim that the 

 island was sighted by Mendana in 15GG, but the account is by no means 

 authenticated, and the records preserved are not sufficiently accurate to 

 determine the exact track sailed over by that ancient mariner. Captain 

 Davis is credited by Capt. William Dampier with being the first to sighi 

 the island, and Lionel Wafer, who cruised with that bold navigator, 

 on board of the Batchelor's Delight, gives the following account of the 

 discovery in the year 1687: 



Bound in the southward, in latitude 12 degrees 30 minutes aud about L50 leagues 

 off the coast, experienced a shock of earthquake, that was afterwards found to cor- 

 respond with the destruction of Callao by earthquake. Having recovered from our 

 fright we kept on to the southward. We steered south-and-by-east-half-easterly, 

 until we came to latitude 27 degrees 20 minutes south, when about t wo hours before 

 day we fell in with a small low, sandy island and heard a great roaring noise, like that 

 of the sea beating upon the shore, right ahead of the ship. Whereupon the sailors, 

 fearing to fall foul upon the shore before day, desired the captain to put the ship 

 about, and to stand off until the day appeared ; to which the captain gave his consent. 

 So we plied off till day and then stood in again with the land, which proved to be a 

 small flat island, without any guard of rocks. We stood in within a quarter of a 

 mile of the shore and could see it plainly, for it was a clear morning, not foggy or 

 hazy. To the -vest ward about 12 leagues, by judgment, we saw a range of high land, 

 which we took to be islands, for there were several partitions in the prospect. 



This land seemed to reach about 14 or 16 leagues in a range, and there came great 

 flocks of fowls. I and many more of our men would have made this land and have 

 gone ashore on it, but the captain would not permit us. The small island bears from 

 Copiapd almost due easl 500 leagues, and from the Galapagos, under the line, 600 

 leagues. 



Unfortunately, none of the voyagers on board of the Batchelor's De- 

 light were permitted to land upon this unknown island, nor is mention 

 made in the narratives of monoliths or unusual structures that might 

 have been observed from the short distance in which it is claimed they 

 approached the shore. The apparent inaccuracy in the description of 

 the appearance of the land may have been due to the peculiar bearing 

 of the vessel, but it gives foundation to the claim of Admiral Rogge- 



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