EASTER ISLAND—METRAUX 449 
who formed a society, which existed not only on Easter Island but 
also on other Polynesian islands. In childhood they were taught in 
special schools to memorize and to recite the lore of their tribe. 
Everywhere in Polynesia the chanters use such an “orator staff.” 
Sometimes, as in New Zealand, the staffs are provided with notches, 
which are supposed to help in reciting genealogical tables. In the 
Marquesas, the chanters held, while chanting, a bundle made of string 
wound about with knotted ends hanging down, which was thought of 
as containing the substance of the chant though the connection be- 
tween the words and the contents of the bundle was loose. The bun- 
dles symbolized the chants and were in consequence of paramount 
importance. They were solemnly given to the young people after 
they had been initiated into the lore of their ancestors. 
These facts, I concluded, give us the best clue in the problem of 
the Easter Island tablets. To its chanters as to the chanters of other 
islands, the “orator staffs” were the accessories and the symbols of 
their function. Originally, the designs on the staffs or tablets might 
have been mnemonic, but later on they lost their exact significance 
in the minds of the natives and were looked upon merely as simple 
ornaments or magic symbols. It may be added that even now we 
can observe on Easter Island a slight relation that has been preserved 
between design and chant. The natives are in the habit of chanting 
when they make string figures or cat’s cradles. This interpretation 
of the tablets may not contain the whole truth about them. I offer 
it rather as the hypothesis which best fits the facts available today, 
and which harmonizes also with what we know of an underlying 
tendency in Polynesian civilization. 
But these are not all the questions that have been raised by Easter 
Island. Some observers have found in the well-carved and well- 
fitted stones of its sanctuaries likenesses and relations to the ancient 
remains in Peru, and to account for them have said that there must 
have been intercourse between these two parts of the world at some 
period of history. But close study has revealed that between the 
Peruvian and the island ruins the resemblances do not go beyond 
the general fact of an exact fitting of the stones. The plan and the 
structure of the Peruvian buildings are entirely different. In Peru 
the walls are all of carved stone blocks, whereas in Easter Island 
they consist of slabs set on edge outside with rubble behind. The 
only conspicuous architectural achievement of the Easter Islanders 
was to select the slabs and to dress their corners so that no gap would 
appear on the surface and impair the general appearance. This they 
could naturally have learned to do without crossing the Pacific in 
frail canoes and making the long journey inland to the site of the 
wonderful ruins in Peru. Moreover, these are certainly far older than 
the Easter Island sanctuaries. Thus it seems clear that we must 
