THE AUSTRAL AND LOW LSLAXDS 519 



the hi^h latitude, the bread-fruit does not flourish. The 

 population does not exceed 1000; it was at one time 

 very much larger, but of late has apparently been 

 stationary. Eapa or Oparo is an outlier to the S.E.- — a 

 very picturesque island about 7 miles long, with remark- 

 able needle-like peaks 2000 feet high. The crater of an 

 extinct volcano forms a good and fairly roomy harbour ; 

 the cKmate is delightful, and it is said that, in spite of its 

 unprotected situation, the island is at almost all seasons 

 free from dangerous surf Coal, or rather lignite, exists. 

 The population, at one time over 6000, sank to 110 a 

 few years ago, but it is now over 200. There seems 

 little doubt that Easter Island — which is known as Great 

 Eapa — was peopled from here. Little known before, the 

 island became important in 1867 as a coaling-station for 

 the steamers of a Panama -Australia line. It was 

 perhaps in consequence of this that it was visited by a 

 French frigate in the same year, the captain of which, 

 it is related, bought the island from the king for a gallon 

 of rum and a suit of clothes. The most remarkable 

 feature of Eapa is the existence of very curious buildings 

 on the summits of the highest hills. Their exact nature 

 seems to be uncertain, whether forts or onorais — the 

 Polynesian monuments to their illustrious dead. There 

 are terraces and walls constructed of well-shaped blocks, 

 weighing as much as two tons, and joined accurately by 

 cement. Whatever may have been their use or meaning, 

 they are evidently akin to the raised terraces in Easter 

 Island. 



The Paumotu, Tuamotu, or Low Archipelago forms a 

 cluster of about eighty islands, of which about sixty are 

 inhabited. Originally discovered by Quiros, they have 

 apparently been peopled from the Marquesas. They are 

 scattered over a vast area, the major axis of which is 



