526 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



TRANSLATION OF EASTER ISLAND TABLET. 



"Ate-a-renga-holan Hi poheraa." 



LOVE SONG. 



(Plates XLIV and XLV.) 



Katagi, Renga-a-inanu — hakaopa; 



Chiu ruuaraine a ita raetua. 

 Ka ketu te nairo hihi — O te hoa ! 



Eaha ton tiena — e te hoa — e ! 



Ita haga ta poapatu — O to hoa ! 



Kahii te riva foraui — O te hoa — e ! 

 An we ka tagi ati — u — a — iti iti. 



Eha ton tiena — e ta hoa — e. 



Ta hi tiena ita have. 

 Horoaita have. 

 • Horoa moni e fahiti ; 



Ita ori miro ; 

 Ana piri atn ; 

 Aua piri atu ; 

 Ana tagaatu. 



ENGLISH TRANSLATION. 

 NATIVE LOVE SONG, 



Who is sorrowing? It is Renga-a-mami Hakopa! 



A red branch descended from her father. 



Open thine eyelids, my true love. 



Where is your brother, my love ? 



At the feast in the Bay of Salutation 



We will meet under the feathers of your clau. 



She has long been yearning after you. 



Send your brother as a mediator of love between us, 



Your brother who is now at the house of my father. 



O, where is the messenger of love between us ? 



When the feast of dnft-wood is commemorated 



There we will meet in loving embrace. 



TRADITION IN REGARD TO THE ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDERS. 



The island was discovered by King Hotu-Matua, who came from the 

 land in the direction of the rising sun, with two large double canoes 

 and three hundred chosen followers. They brought with them pota- 

 toes, yams, bananas, tobacco, sugar-cane, and the seeds of various 

 plants, including the paper mulberry and the toromiro trees. The first 

 landing was made on the islet of Motn Nui, on the north coast, and 

 there the first food was cooked that had been tasted for one hundred 

 and twenty days. The next day the queen started in one of the canoes 

 to explore the coast to the northwest, while the other canoe, in charge of 

 the king, rounded the island to the southeast. At Anekena Bay the 



