TB PITO TE HENUA, OR EASTER ISLAND. 527 



two canoes met and, attracted by the smooth sand-beach, Hotn-Matua 

 landed and named the island "Te-pito tc henna" or "the navel of the 

 deep." The queen landed, and immediately afterwards, gave birth to a 

 boy, who was named Tuumae-Keke. The landing place was named 

 Anekena in honor of the month of August, in which the island was dis- 

 covered. All the plants landed from the canoes were appropriated for 

 seed, and the people immediately began the cultivation of the ground. 

 For the first three months they subsisted entirely upon fish, turtle, 

 and the nuts of a creeping-plant found growing along the ground, 

 which was named " moki-oo-ne." After the lapse of a number of 

 unrecorded years, during which the island had been made to produce 

 an abundance of food, and the people had increased and multiplied in 

 numbers, Hotu-Matna at an advanced age was stricken with a mortal 

 illness. Before his end drew near, the chief men were summoned to 

 meet in council. The king nominated his eldest son as his successor 

 (Tnumae-Heke), and it was ordained that the descent of the kings 

 should always be through the eldest son. This important matter having 

 been settled, the island was divided up into districts and portioned out to 

 the children of the king as follows: ToTuumae-Heke, the eldest, were 

 given the royal establishment and lands extending from Anekena to 

 the northwest as far as Mouuga Tea-tea. To Mern, the second son, were 

 given the lands between Anekena and Hanga-roa. To Marama, the 

 third son, were given the lands between Akahanga and Vinapu. The 

 land lying to the northward and westward of Mounga Tea-tea was the 

 portion of the fourth son, Raa, and was called Hanga-Toe. To the 

 tilth son, Korona ronga, were allotted the lands between Anekena and 

 the crater of Rana-Roraku. To the sixth and thelastson weregiveuthe 

 lands on the east side of the island. His name was llotu-iti. 



The tradition here goes back before the advent of the people on the 

 island, and states that Hotu-Matna and his followers came from a group 

 of islands lying towards the rising sun, and the name of the land was 

 Marae-toe han, the literal meaning of which is "the burial place." In 

 this land, the climate was so intensely hot that the people sometimes 

 died from the effects of the heat, and at certain seasons plants and 

 growing things were scorched and shriveled up by the burning sun. 



The circumstances that led to the migration are related as follows: 

 Hotu-Matna succeeded his father, who was a powerful chief, but his 

 reign in the land of his birth, owing to a combination of circumstances 

 over which he had no control, was limited to a very lew years. His 

 brother, Machaa. tell in love with a maiden famed for her beauty and 

 grace, but a rival appeared upon the scene in the person of Oroi, the 

 powerful chief of a neighboring clan. After the manner of the sex in 

 all ages and climes, this dusky beauty trilled with the affections of her 

 suitors and proved tickle-minded. When pressed to make a choice 

 between the two, she announced that she would marry Oroi, provided 

 he would prove his love by making a pilgrimage around the island, 



