NOTES ON A VISIT TO EASTER ISLAND 



13 



suffice. Thus the importance of the tower with its lower apartment appears 

 to stand in no reasonable proportion to the vast amount of labour required to 

 build it. We should perhaps remember that the permanent dwelling-houses 

 were much more fragile. The tower suggests some kind of fortress, with a 

 chamber for stores or treasures: it would be easy to defend the entrance. 

 Speaking of the narrow entrances to the Orongo houses, Thomson remarks 

 (p. 483): »The low contracted entrances were used here as well as elsewhere 

 for defence. Factional fights were common, and it was necessary that every 

 house should be guarded against surprise and easily defended ». He adds: 

 » Another reason might be found for making the openings as small as possible, 

 in the absence of doors to shut out the storms». But, at least at Orongo, 

 there were plenty of slabs suitable for doors if wanted. 



2. Diagrams of old plantations; a seen from above; b three types of shelter, in section. 

 I = bananas, 2 = Melia azedarach, 3 = Andropogon halepensis. Scale i : 230. 



On the other hand, an enemy could pull down the roof over the occupants. 

 Also, we should expect to find a communication between the tower and the 

 underground chamber, which we have not found. So, after all, this theory may 

 not hold good. Perhaps prisoners were locked up in the towers, where they 

 could be easily guarded till the hour arrived to put them to death. But it is 

 also necessary to consider whether these buildings may not have had some 

 relation to unkown rites. Did they have a ritual purpose, we do not need to 

 wonder about their elaborate structure, as natives may invest any amount of 

 labour in connection with religious or other ritual buildings. 



There is a description and figure of a similar building in La Pi^ROUSE's 

 Voyage, reproduced by Stolfe in Ymer, 1883. He states that they are only 

 found on the top of Rano Raraku, which is, of course, a mistake. They were 

 oval in shape; close by was the underground chamber with its separate en- 

 trance. In several respects, especially concerning the ahu, there are great dis- 



