WHO BUILT THOSE FORTS? 357 



whom, with the .exception of his percentage, he received small 

 pay, and yet from the time of his return to Europe he has been 

 living at Baden-Baden, and other fashionable German spas. 



The following account of Easter Island will, I am sure, be 

 read with interest, bearing as it does on the ruins of Kusaie 

 and Ponape just described : This lonely outpost of Polynesia, 

 in 27 8' S. latitude and 109 24' W. longitude, and only 2400 

 miles from the coast of South America, is about 11 miles long 

 and 4 wide, and in shape something like a cocked-hat, being- 

 higher at both ends than towards the centre. It is entirely 

 volcanic, with many large extinct craters, one towards the 

 centre of the island being over 1000 feet high. There is no 

 running water, but several springs near the shore, and deep 

 pools in some of the craters. There are no trees, the tallest 

 vegetation being bushes of Hybiscus, Edicardsia, and Brousso. 

 nettia, 10 or 12 feet high. Decayed trunks of trees are, how- 

 ever, found, and the paddles and other wooden articles in 

 possession of the natives show that formerly there must have 

 been wood in abundance. The natives are fair Polynesians 

 resembling those of Tahiti and the Marquesas ; but they are 

 said to be cannibals occasionally. Both sexes are tattooed, but 

 the women more elaborately. Their weapons are clubs, spears, 

 lances, and double-headed paddles, which seem to be peculiar 

 to them. Their houses are long and low, like a canoe bottom 

 upwards, with a small opening at the side of about 20 inches, 

 serving for door and window. 



This island is celebrated for its wonderful remains of some 

 prehistoric people, consisting of stone houses, sculptured 

 stones, and colossal stone images. At the extreme south-west 

 end of the island are a great number (eighty or a hundred) 

 stone houses built in regular lines, with doors facing the sea. 

 The walls are 5 feet thick by 5| feet high, built of layers of 



