474 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1880. 



usually laid with the head towards the sea. Succeeding generations 

 substituted tappa or native cloth for the sedge mat, and the present 

 people are sufficiently civilized to prefer rude coffins when the material 

 can be obtained. Cemeteries were located by the missionaries near the 

 churches at Vailur and Mateveri, and strong efforts made to discourage 

 the burial of converted natives with their heathen ancestors, but they 

 were never able to overcome their aversion to promiscuous interment. 



BOATS. 



Hofn Matua is said to have landed upon the island with three hun- 

 dred followers m two canoes, which are described in the traditions as 

 90 feet in length and (i feet deep (draught of water). From the descrip- 

 tion given of these boats and the representations found of them among 

 the mural paintings and sculptures in certain caves, the canoes of the 

 original settlers were quite similar to the Fiji war-canoes. They were 

 constructed of many pieces of wood neatly fitted together and field in 

 place by thongs or lashings; high and sharp at both ends and bal- 

 anced by an outrigger or smaller canoe. Such boats are in use at the 

 present time in many of the Polynesian islands and are quite capable 

 of making long voyages at sea. The boats built by succeeding gener- 

 ations were few in number and small in size, on account of the scarcity 

 of material to be found on the island. Many of the early navigators 

 refer to the scarcity of boats belonging to the natives. Captain Cook 

 saw several canoes, 10 or 12 feet long, built of pieces 4 or 5 inches 

 wide, and not more than 2 or 3 feet long, but th.e majority of his 

 native visitors swam off to his ship. Captain Beechey saw three canoes 

 on the beach, but they were not launched. Yon Kotzebue saw three 

 canoes each containing two men. At the time of our visit the only 

 boats on the island were two large ones, belonging to Messrs. Salmon 

 and Brander. built of material obtained from the wrecks on the coast. 

 There are no canoes in use at the present time, but we found two very 

 old ones in a cave on the west coast, having long ago passed their days 

 of usefulness ou the water and now serving as burial cases. They 

 were a patchwork of several kinds of wood sewed together, and though 

 in an advanced stage of dry-rot the material was sufficiently well pre- 

 served to prove that it never grew ou Easter Island, but had been ob- 

 tained from the drift-wood on the beach. 



WEAPONS AND "WAR. 



The native weapons in offensive and defensive operations were lim- 

 ited to obsidian-pointed spears, short clubs, and the throwing-stones, 

 but these were handled with remarkable skill and dexterity. The his- 

 tory of the simple weapons in the hands of people who became pre- 

 eminent in their use has been repeated in all ages and countries, and 

 is fully exemplified in these islanders; though their primitive spear, 



