498 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



characteristics. The head is long, the eyes close under the heavy 

 brows, the nose long, low-bridged, and expanded at the nostrils, the 

 upper lip short and the lips pouting. The aspect is slightly upwards, 

 and the expression is firm and profoundly solemn. Careful investiga- 

 tion failed to detect the slightest evidence that the sockets had ever 

 been fitted with artificial eyes, made of bone and obsidian, such as are 

 placed in the wooden images. 



The head was in all cases cut flat on top to accommodate the red 

 tufa crowns with which they were ornamented, but the images standing 

 on the outside of the crater had flatter heads and bodies than those 

 found around the coast. The images represent the human body only 

 from the head to the hips, where it is cut squarely off to afford a good 

 polygon of support when standing, The artists seem to have exhausted 

 their talents in executing the features, very little work being done 

 below the shoulders, and the arms being merely cut in low relief. The 

 ears are only rectangular projections, but the lobes are represented 

 longer in the older statues than in those of more recent date. 



The images were designed as effigies of distinguished persons and 

 intended as monuments to perpetuate their memory. They were never 

 regarded as idols, and were not venerated or worshiped in any manner. 

 The natives had their tutelary genii, gods, and goddesses, but they were 

 represented by small wooden or stone idols, which bore no relation to t he 

 images that ornamented the burial platforms. The image-makers were a 

 privileged class, and the profession descended from father to son. Some 

 of the natives still claim a descent from the image-makers, and refer to 

 their ancestors with as much pride as to the royal family. One of our 

 guides never missed an opportunity of stating that one of his fore- 

 fathers was Unrautahui, the distinguished image-maker. 



The work of carving the image into shape and detaching it from the 

 rock of which it was a part, did not consume a great deal of time, but 

 the chief difficulty was, in the absence of mechanical contrivances, to 

 launch it safely down the slope of the mountain and transport it to a 

 distant point. It was lowered to the plain by a system of chocks and 

 wedges, and the rest was a dead drag accomplished by main strength. A 

 roadway was constructed, over which the images w T ere dragged by means 

 of ropes made of indigenous hemp, and sea- weed and grass made excellent 

 lubricants. The platforms were all built with sloping terraces in the 

 rear, and up this incline a temporary road-way was constructed of a 

 suitable height, upon which the statue could be rolled until the base 

 was over its proper resting-place. The earth was then dug away to 

 allow the image to settle down into position, the ropes being used to 

 steady it iu the mean time. It was a work of great magnitude, but we 

 can clearly see how it was accomplished with a large force of able bodied 

 men. 



The crowns, or head ornaments, were made of red vesicular tufa, quar- 

 ried in the Teraai Hills, where many finished specimens are still standing. 



