TE PITO TE HENUA, OK EASTER ISLAND. 513 



diameter and circular in shape. This is believed to have been the 

 theater of the native ceremonies, and perhaps the spot where the feasts 

 were held. We made excavations in the center and around the sides, 

 but without a " find." 



Platform No. 111. — ('ailed "Ahutupai." lias been pretty thoroughly 

 demolished. Six images in a bad condition lie on the top of the pile. 



Platform No. 112. — Called "Ahnrikiriki." Situated on the extreme 

 southwestern end of the island, and remarkable from its position on the 

 face of a perpendicular cliff nearly 1,000 feet high and midway between 

 the sea and the top. Sixteen small images are lying on this platform 

 and many of them seem to be in excellent condition. We could find no 

 way of reaching the narrow ledge upon which this platform stands. No 

 road leads down from the top; it can not be approached from either side, 

 and from below it is a straight up and down wall against which the sea 

 dashes continually. It is hardly probable that the images were lowered 

 from the top by ropes, and the natural conclusion is, that a roadway 

 once existed, which has been undermined by the waves and has fallen 

 into the sea. 



Platform No. 113. — Called "Kaokaoe." This was originally a large 

 structure, but has been completely demolished by Mr. Brander to obtain 

 material for the construction of stone-fences about his place. 



LANGUAGE. 



The principal feature of interest, connected with Easter Island, is the 

 written language by which the ancient traditions and legends were per- 

 petuated. The existence of the incised tablets was not known until the 

 missionaries settled upon the island. Numerous specimens were found 

 in the possession of the natives, but no especial attention appears to 

 have been directed towards them. Several persons, belonging to vessels 

 that were wrecked at Easter Island, report having seen these tablets, but 

 they were so highly prized by the natives, that they could not be induced 

 to part with them. The three hundred islanders who emigrated to 

 Tahiti had in their possession a number of these tablets ; they created 

 some attention on account of the remarkable skill with which the figures 

 were executed, but they were highly prized by the owners and no effort 

 was made to secure them because their real value was not discovered. 

 The Chilian corvette ()" Him/ins visited Easter Island in January, 1870, 

 and Captain Cana secured three tablets, t wo of which are on deposit in 

 the national museum at Santiago de Chili and the third was sent to 

 France, but does not appeared to have reached its destination. Paper 

 impressions and casts were taken from the Chilian tablets for the 

 various museums of Europe. Those sent to the English Ethnological 

 Society created some interest after a time, bill others sent to Berlin 

 were regarded as stamps for marking native cloth (Mit theilungen, duly, 

 1ST 1 ). Seven of these tablets are now in the possession of Tepano 

 Jansser, bishop of Axieri, all in excellent state of preservation. 



il. Mis. 224, pt. 2 ;;.; 



