276 



EASTER ISLAND. 



ered with flat slabs, and is of the same dimen- 

 sions as the passage. It is carefully built of 

 stone, squared and dressed; it ends abruptly 

 and squarely. Outside the hall, and at right 

 angles to it, are smaller chambers that do not 

 communicate with it, each of which has a 

 separate door from the outside. The upright 

 slabs that lined the hall, and those of the roof, 

 are painted in red, black, and white, with all 

 kinds of devices and figures ; some like the 

 geometric figures of the Mexicans, some birds, 

 rapaa, faces, eronie (a curious mythic animal, 

 like a monkey with a bird's head), and m?ha- 

 nus, or double-headed penguins. Symbolic fig- 

 ures of phallic nature, rude tracings of horses, 

 sheep, and ships with rigging were found in a 

 few. These were very new, and misled some 

 to the idea that all were equally new. 



The sculptured stones are on the brink of 

 the sea-cliffs at the Te Rama Kao, at the place 

 where the last lava-flow issued, and overlook 

 the sea, which is directly under them. They 

 are very numerous, even to hundreds ; they are 

 almost always on platforms (but all have been 

 thrown down), except in the crater atOtuiti and 

 outside of it, where they are at the east only, 

 and in groups, not in rows, and here even very- 

 many are prostrate. The vervain-bushes and 

 grass much obscure them. They are made of 

 but one material, a gray, compact, trachytic 

 lava, found at Otuiti, where there is a distinct 

 slide evidently built for their removal, and 

 where imperfect images are still to be found. 

 They are human trunks, terminating at the 

 hips the arms close to the side, the hands 

 sculptured in very low relief on the haunches. 

 They are flatter than the natural body. The 

 largest measured was 37 feet high. The usual 

 size is 15 or 18 ; the small ones are 5 or 4 high. 

 These are more boulder - shaped. The head 

 is very flat ; the top of the forehead is cut off 

 level so as to allow a crown to be put on. This 

 was not done till the image was on its pedes- 

 tal on the platform. In the giant images at 

 Otuiti, outside the crater, the head seems to 

 project before the line of the trunk, which 

 was not noticed in the others. The face and 

 neck of these measure full 20 feet to the col- 

 lar-bone. They are in the best preservation. 

 Those inside the crater are large, but weath- 

 er-worn, apparently the oldest in the island; 

 many are prostrate. They differ a little in 

 profile from those in the other parts of the isl- 

 and ; the face is square, massive, and sternly 

 disdainful in expression; the aspect always up- 

 ward. The peculiar feature is the extreme 

 shortness of the upper lip, or the up-thrust of 

 the lower one. The eye-sockets are deep, close 

 under the brows, and, as far as Dr. Palmer could 

 make out, eyeballs of obsidian were inserted 

 in them ; but he was not fortunate enough to 

 find any. The nose is broad, the nostrils ex- 

 panded, the profile varying somewhat in dif- 

 ferent images. The ears are always sculpt- 

 ured with very long, pendent lobes. The beau- 

 tifully perfect statue now in the British Mu- 



seum is elaborately traced over the back and 

 head with rapas and birds, two of which much 

 resemble the apteryx. It was colored red and 

 white when found, but the pigment was 

 washed off in its transit. Its height is 8 feet, 

 its weight 4 tons. It was buried waist-deep in 

 the ground, and had no crown. Its face, like 

 those of the rest, was turned from the sea. It 

 was the only one under cover ; the house in 

 which it was found was a small circular one 

 20 feet across, into which two small, dark 

 chambers opened. The crowns were always 

 made of the same red vesicular tufa found in 

 the Te Rama Kao, upon the outside slope of 

 which as many as thirty were waiting for re- 

 moval to their several platforms. The largest 

 measured was 10$- feet in diameter, but they 

 varied much in size, at Anakena to only 2 feet 

 across. In shape they were short, truncated 

 cones, or nearly cylindrical. Some of the very 

 large images have such small tops to the head 

 that it would seem difficult to fit them with a 

 crown. 



The implement used for carving these statues 

 was a long boulder-pebble from the shore, like 

 a rolling-phi or huge incisor. The chisel-edge 

 was produced by chipping it, and rubbing it 

 down afterward with obsidian. On many of 

 the statues little projections were left; these 

 were portions harder than the chisels. 



Cremation stones and pillars were also found, 

 having apparently served the purpose of al- 

 tars ; one pillar at least occurred for each plat- 

 form, and human bones and skulls were found, 

 apparently those of victims. Modern wooden 

 gods were numerous when Father Eugene and 

 the French missionaries took up their residence 

 on the island in ISGS-'GS. They were gener- 

 ally male figures, about a foot in length, made 

 of solid, dark wood ; the profile, differing much 

 from that of the colossal images, was strongly 

 aquiline. These figures are well carved. The 

 female figures are flatter, larger, and ruder in 

 execution. Besides these idols there are fig- 

 ures representing lizards, sharks, fowls, and 

 nondescript animals. The natives still carve 

 these lares, but do not worship them, and ap- 

 pear to have lost all knowledge of their an- 

 cient religion and its symbolisms, as well as of 

 their early history, though, as at the Hawai- 

 an, Samoan, and other Polynesian groups, va- 

 rious traditions of emigration from the West 

 remain. 



The native inhabitants are the easternmost 

 tribe of the pure brown Polynesian race, which 

 in the area of its ocean habitat is the most 

 widely diffused of any aboriginal race of men. 

 They speak a language almost identical with 

 that which is spoken in New Zealand, Samoa, 

 the Lagoon Islands, and Hawaii, five thou- 

 sand miles distant to the west and north. Cap- 

 tain Cook, on his second voyage (1774), re- 

 marked of them that " in color, features, and 

 language, they bear such an affinity to the 

 people of the more western isles that there can 

 be no doubt of their having been descended 



