452 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



this flow had ceased, there was a heavy deposit of mud, covering deeply 

 both bill and dale. This condensed earth, after the lapse of centuries, 

 has formed a soil tbat produces a natural grass affording an excellent 

 pasturage for flocks and herds. The expiring energy of the volcanic 

 power appears to have been directed, long after the formation of this 

 soil, to sprinkling thickly the entire surface of the island with stones 

 and small bowlders, thus providing the means of attraction and hold- 

 ing the moisture, nature's substitute, as it were, for trees. The natives 

 have distinct names for the following varieties: Black and red tufa 

 with volcauic cinder and pumice are called " Maea-Hane-haue," " maea" 

 being the generic term applied to all stone. A soft gray tufa is ground 

 down with the juice of the sugar-cane and used as a paint. This is 

 known as " Kiri-kiri Teu." Hard slates, black, red, and gray, are used 

 for stone axes and called " Maea-Toke." Granite used for the same 

 purpose is known as "Maea Nevhive. The hardest and finest stone im- 

 plements are made of the flinty beach pebble known as "Maea-Reug- 

 rengo." The hard cellular stones from which the majority of the 

 platforms are built are called " Maea-Pupura." The material from which 

 images were constructed is called " Maea-Matariki," aud the obsidian 

 from which spear-heads were made is known as " Maea-Mataa." 



VARIOUS NAMES OF THE ISLAND. 



Previous to the general recognition of the name bestowed by Admi- 

 ral Roggeveen in commemoration of the day upon which the land was 

 discovered, it had not been regularly christened by either of the earlier 

 navigators who claimed to have sighted it. The Spaniards afterwards 

 gave it the name of San Carlos, but the Dutchman's title of Easter Is- 

 land was preferred by the chart-makers and was adopted by the world 

 in general. 



The island is known to the natives as "Te Pito te Henua," the lit- 

 eral interpretation of the words signifying the " navel and uterus." This 

 singular name was given to the land, according to the ancient tradi- 

 tions, by Hotu Metua immediately after its discovery, and has been 

 handed down through succeeding generations unchanged. To the 

 simple minded Polynesian this name is suggestive, appropriate, and 

 beautiful. The child of nature recognizing the volcanic origin of the 

 island can see in the great volcano, Rana Roraka, a resemblance to the 

 human "te pito" in relation to its shape and gently sloping sides sur- 

 rounding the shallow crater. The same association of ideas would 

 picture the majestic volcano, Rana Kao, at the southwest end, as " te 

 henua," in whose womb was conceived the embryo and whose vitals 

 brought forth the rocks and earth from which the island was formed. 

 "Kiti te eirauga" is stated by an English writer of some note to be 

 the native name for the island, but we could not find any authority for 

 it, nor did the natives with whom we came in contact recognize tbe 

 name. 



