EASTER ISLAND—METRAUX 451 
is possible that the Easter Islanders were among the early Polynesian 
emigrants who spread from central Polynesia toward the east, occupy- 
ing the Tuamotus, Mangareva, and the Marquesas. Very likely after 
a sojourn in the Marquesas some again sailed eastward and discovered 
Easter Island. At the time they left the Marquesas their culture, of 
course, had not yet developed the specific pattern which characterized 
it when the Europeans landed there in the eighteenth century. 
The genealogies of Mangareva, the nearest Polynesian island to 
Faster Island, date back to the twelfth century, but traditional history 
mentions early immigrants who settled on these islands and then left 
for other countries, leading a restless life. Similar traditions exist 
among the Marquesans. Hotu-matua, the discoverer of Easter Island, 
and his followers may well have represented a defeated tribe or a 
junior branch of the Marquesas or Mangareva. 
What remains today of their work is evidence of the beauty and 
greatness of their isolated civilization, revealing the vigor and audacity 
of these Polynesians who spread over what seem once to have been 
the happiest islands on earth. 
