NOTES ON A VISIT TO EASTER ISLAND 



15 



vide fig. 3 b. This house was pointed out to us as the house of Ariki. The 

 ariki was the chief of the Miru clan, the authority on the script (i. e. the 

 »ariki-mau», vide R. p. 241; all Miru were also called ariki). Now, the same 

 design was found on a skull in the possession of the schoolmaster, Mr. I. VlVES, 

 and this skull was attributed to an ariki. Unfortunately, the owner did not 

 want to part with his treasure. The design is unlike the one figured by Mrs. 

 R. (fig. 96) of another Miru skull. 



The Bird Cult i? described, with full details, by Mrs. R. Special attention 

 is paid to the rock carvings. I sketched a couple of the »bird-men» (fig. 3 a). 

 Their meaning is not known with certainty. Mrs. R. believes them either to 

 represent one of the egg-gods (they were spoken of as »Make-make») or made 

 to immortalize the bird-men, the winners of the egg-race; she finds the latter 

 explanation more probable. I have not been able to form an independent 

 opinion. The same carvings are seen on a flat stone opposite Orongo, marking 

 the place where the path descends into the crater of Rano Kao. 



All that is left of prehistoric remains, at least of the large ones, will 

 remain on the island. Shortly before our visit a law was passed prohibiting the 

 removal of statues etc., so that we had to abandon our idea of bringing home 

 a small image presented to us by one of the residents. The »Mana» was just 

 in time to rescue the small but unique statue from Motu Nui. 



• . • WOOD CARVINGS 



The famous wooden statues as well as other pieces of carving are gone 

 from the island for ever. What is ofi"ered to passing visitors is not worth 

 mentioning. The art is gone. One old moai-miro, in a very much decayed 

 state, had been discovered in a cave after the departure of the »Mana». It was 

 presented to Bishop EDWARDS. In 1908, while staying at Valparaiso, a Swedish 

 captain, Mr. G. Karstrom, who had been shipwrecked on Easter Island many 

 years before, presented me with two beautiful wooden images, one of which 

 is in the Etnographical Museum in Stockholm; the other is owned by a private 

 person. 



HOUSEHOLD GOODS, WEAPONS, ETC. 



Very little of this kind is now to be encountered. Sticks used for net- 

 knitting are available, and so are baskets or rather bags made of bullrushes 

 (figured by THOMSON on Plate 51). There are still some people skilled in the 

 preparation of tapa cloth from the mahute and of strings from the hau-hau, 

 and we had samples made for the collection. Curiously enough, Geiseler 

 does not mention the latter plant, but states that all the cordage, fishing-nets 

 etc. were made from the bullrushes. 



It is generally stated that the islanders never possessed any earthen-ware. 

 Contrary to this, RUTLAND (Transactions New Zeal. Inst. 29, 1896) says that 



