472 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



or fiber thrown up at the end of the groove. This is blown into a flame, 

 and dried grass added to it until the lire i.s sufficiently established. 

 The difficulty of preserving suitable material in a perfectly dry state 

 led to the custom of keeping up a perpetual fire in each community. 

 These vestal tires were kept up by persons appointed for that purpose, 

 though it does not appear that they were vestal virgins. Caves afford- 

 ing ample protection from the weather were selected for the location of 

 these permanent fires, and although they had no religious significance, 

 the flames were as carefully watched and attended as the celestial fire 

 of the followers of Zoroaster. 



OANNFBALISM. 



The traditions abound with instances of authropophagism, and in all 

 Polynesia there were no more confirmed cannibals than these islanders. 

 The practice is said to have originated with a band of natives who were 

 defeated in war and besieged in their stronghold until reduced to the 

 borders of starvation. From this time the loathsome custom of devour- 

 ing prisoners, captured in war, grew in popular favor. Cannibalism may 

 have originated in a spirit of revenge, but it grew beyond those limits, 

 and not only were prisoners of war and enemies slain in battle eaten, 

 but every unfortunate against whom trivial charges were made met that 

 fate. lustances are related in the legends of children being devoured 

 by their parents, not from any other motive than to satisfy the crav- 

 ings of their depraved and vitiated appetites. Cannibalism was prac- 

 ticed until a comparatively recent period. Several of the older natives 

 acknowledge that they had frequently eaten human flesh in their youth, 

 and described the process of cooking and preparing "long-pig" for the 

 feast. 



GOVERNMENT. 



The ancient government of Easter Island was an arbitrary monarchy. 

 The supreme authority was vested in a king and was hereditary in 

 his family. The person of the king was held sacred. Clan fights and 

 internecine struggles were common, but the royal person and family 

 were unmolested. The king reigned over the entire island and was not 

 disturbed by the defeat or the victory of any of the clans. The island 

 was divided into districts having distinct names and governed by chiefs, 

 all of whom acknowledged the Supremacy of the king. The title of 

 chief was also hereditary, and descended from father to son, but the 

 king reserved the right to remove or put to death any of them and of 

 naming a successor from the people of the clan. 



There was no confederation, each clan being independent of all the 

 rest, except as the powerful are naturally dominant over the weak. The 

 chiefs wore peculiar feather hats to denote their rank, and they pre- 

 sided at feasts and councils in the absence of the king. Other grades 

 of rank were recognized, such as that required by feats of valor, public 



