492 CARL SKOTTSBERG 



climatic figures for Easter Island we cannot expect it ever to have been in- 

 habited by anything like the tropical rain forest found in Tahiti, Hawaii or 

 other high volcanic islands. I mentioned above that Easter has no sheltered 

 valleys and no running water. Still, even if we consider the much spoken- 

 of porosity of the soil and rock, the strong sunshine and the frequent winds, 

 the water supply ought to be sufficient to permit trees to grow just as on the 

 dry lee sides of the Hawaiian Islands where the precipitation is much smaller. 

 And I have been led to believe that some kind of forest once existed in Easter 

 Island, formed by SopJwra; and other species, exterminated long ago, may also 

 have occurred. No native tradition tells us anything about these forests, 

 but we can safely conclude that the toromiro must have been plentiful. The 

 natives used much wood, not only for the construction of canoes, paddle oars, 

 frame work for their houses and some other necessary things, but they also 

 manufactured small wooden statues and many other ornaments famous for their 

 artistic value, and these must have existed by thousands. The toromiro is a 

 small tree, and with a population once amounting to several thousand the 

 supply gradually became exhausted. Cultivated fields and enclosures spread 

 all over the place, crowding out the indigenous vegetation, paper mulberry, 

 Cordyhne, Sapiiidus, bananas, cane, taro, sweet potato etc. were introd- 

 uced by the natives, and some weeds accompanied them. Many more have 

 been introduced later, when communications with Tahiti and with Chile were 

 established; some have become naturalized and form an important feature in 

 the present-day grassland. 



I suppose that, when the first settlers arrived, many hundred years ago, 

 Easter Island bore a kind of savanna forest, a parklike formation with scat- 

 tered, stunted Sophora trees and a grass cover. I do not know to what extent 

 this vegetation occupied the soil or where it was replaced by purer grassland, 

 but it is quite possible that the flat, rocky and stony plains were devoid of 

 trees and the savanna confined to the hillsides. There is sufficient rainfall, 

 ground water has been found at no great depth, and the evaporation ratio is 

 favorable. And we have ample proofs that trees can grow in the island with 

 little or no shelter. Several kinds of conifers, Pandaniis, Casnarina, eucalypts, 

 Melia azedaracJi, Albhzia jiilibrissin and many more have been tried and found 

 to do quite well. The climate is not a »grassland climate » in the sense of 

 SCHIMPER. 



A savanna of the kind supposed to have existed in Easter Island is com- 

 mon in Hawaii, where the timber line on the high volcanoes is formed by 

 Sopliora chrysopJiylla and where considerable stretches of grassland composed 

 of species of Aira, Eragrostis, Fcstuca, KylUuga, Paiiicnm, Paspahini, Sporo- 

 boliis and other genera occur, many places presenting a most striking likeness 

 with Easter. While botanizing over the low lawa country south of Hilo in 

 Hawaii I was quite struck with the great similarity with the basaltic flats in 

 Easter Island. Corresponding associations have been established in both places. 

 In Hawaii, some other trees occur in the lower Sophora region, such as Acacia 

 koa and Metrosidcros polymoip/ia. 



The present leading community in Easter Island is a bunch grass forma- 



