494 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



crater, but nothing - was found of interest beyond a few broken stone 

 implements that had no doubt been used by the image-builders. 



M 



Pig. 13. 

 Buried Image: Crater of Rana Roraka. 



Fig. 14. 



[mage Standing Inside the Crater of 



Rana Roraka. 



December 27. — We made an early start and visited the image-builders' 

 workshops on the west side of Rana Roraka, which are much more ex- 

 tensive than those on the inside of the crater. These workshops com-. 

 mence well up on the side of the mountain and extend quite to the 

 summit by irregular terraces. In places these terraces extend one 

 above another with unfinished images upon each, and the configura- 

 tion of the land is such as to preclude all idea of launching the statues 

 by means of a slide. We were unable to arrive at any satisfactory 

 conclusion as to how the immense statues on the upper tier of works 

 could be moved to the plain below, passing over the underlying cavi- 

 ties where similar works had been quarried. We know the natives had 

 ropes made of hemp, two kinds of which are indigenous to the island, 

 but it is difficult to conjecture how these heavy weights were handled 

 without mechanital appliances. One hundred and titty-five images 

 were counted upon this slope in various stages, including those stand- 

 ing at the base of the mountain finished and complete, ready for removal 



