TE PITO TE HENUA, OR EASTER ISLAND. 497 



LATFORMS AND IMAGES. 



la order to form an estimate of the magnitude of the work performed 

 by the image-makers, every one on the island was carefully counted, and 

 the list shows a total of five hundred and fifty- five images (Plates XXV 

 and XXVI). Of this number forty are standing inside of the crater aud 

 nearly as many more on the outside of Rami Boraka(Plate XXVII), at 

 the foot of the slope where they were placed as finished and ready for 

 removal to the different platforms for which they were designed; some 

 finished statues lie scattered over the plains (Plate XXVIII) as though 

 they were being dragged toward a particular locality but were suddenly 

 abandoned. The large majority of the images, however, are lying near 

 the platforms all around the coast, all more or less mutilated and some 

 reduced to a mere shapeless fragment. Not one stands in its original 

 position upon a platform. The largest image is in one of the work- 

 shops in an unfinished state and measures 70 feet in length ; the small- 

 est was found in one of the caves and is a little short of 3 feet in length. 

 One of the largest images that has been in position lies near the plat- 

 form which it ornamented, near Ovahe; it is 32 feet long and weighs 

 50 tons. 



Images representing females were found. One at Anakena is called 

 " Viri-viri Moai-a-Taka" and is apparently as perfect as the day it was 

 finished; another, on the plain west of liana Roraka is called "Moai 

 Pntu," and is in a fair state of preservation. The natives have names 

 for every one of the images. The designation of images and platforms 

 as obtained from the guides during the exploration was afterwards 

 checked off in company with other individuals without confusion in the 

 record. The coarse gray trachytic lava of which the images were made, 

 is found only in the vicinity of Rana Roraka and was selected because 

 the conglomerate character of the material made it easily worked with 

 the rude stone implements that constituted the only tools possessed by 

 the natives. The disintegration of the material when exposed to the 

 action of the elements is about equivalent to that of sandstone under 

 similar conditions, and admits of an estimate in regard to the proba- 

 ble age. The traditions in regard to the images are numerous, but 

 relate principally to impossible occurrences, such as being endowed 

 with power to walk about in the darkness, assisting certain elans by 

 subtle means in contests, and delivering oracular judgments. The 

 legends state that a son of Kin- Mahuta Ariiki, named Tro Kaiho, 

 designed the first image, but it is difficult t<> arrive at an estimation of 

 the period. The journals of the early navigators throw but little light 

 upon the subject. The workshops must have been in operation at the 

 time of Captain Cook's visit, but unfortunately his exploration of the 

 island was not directed towards I lie crater of Rana Roraka. 



Although the images range in size from the colossus of Til feet down 



to the pigmy of 3 feet, thej are clearly all of the same type and general 

 II. .Mis. L'L'l. pf, 2 33 



