NOTES ON A VISIT TO RASTER ISLAND 5 



is the native name for a mountain which contains water. R. Kao forms the 

 broad southwestern promontory. The greatest height of the rim was found by 

 the writer to be 316 m., as the result of three aneroid observations (differences 

 in temperature duly considered) at different occasions. Agassiz has i 327 feet 

 or 403 m.; the Chilean map, 400 m. The crater lake measures, according to 

 CooKK, 2085 feet across (634 m.); this figure may be the result of a careful 

 observation, but seems too small. Its surface was found by me to be 120 m. 

 above sea level; THOMSON and CooKE (Smiths. Inst. Ann. Rep. 1897, Wash- 

 ington 1899), say, respectivel}-, that it is 700 and 600 feet below the crater 

 rim, thus according to their figures for the latter corresponding to a height of 

 190 or 160 ni.; taking 316 m. as the starting point we get 106 or 134 m. I 

 am sorry that we were unable to examine the thickness of the peat that 

 covers the sheet of water save for some irregular pools, which do not appear 

 to have decreased much in size since the photographs of the Albatross Ex- 

 pedition were taken. No reliable figure for the depth of the lake has been 

 obtained; according to CoOKE, Mr. SALMON tried to sound, but at a depth 

 of 300 feet the line broke without having reached the bottom. I need not tell 

 that according to the belief of the islanders, the pool in Rano Kao belongs to 

 the category of famous lakes without a bottom. 



The lake is partly surrounded by stands of a very robust bullrush, an 

 endemic variety of the widespread Scirpus riparius, called pasclialis by Dr. 

 KCKENTHAL. 



The country XE of Rano Kao is hilly, one of the cones being known as 

 Punapau (Plate i), the seat of the hat quarry. The northwestern corner of the 

 island is occupied by the highest mountain, the Terevaka (Plate 2), non seldom 

 veiled by a bank of clouds. This name is not mentioned in Mrs. RoUTLEDGE's 

 book, where the entire high land in question is called Rano Aroi. But the 

 latter name only applies to the crater on the southeast slope of the mountain. 

 On the Chilean map appears Cerro Terevaka, separated from Rano Aroi (or 

 Roi) by a shallow depression, and both names were recognized by the native 

 Juan Tepano, who accompanied us to this place. The top of Terevaka did 

 not present any marked signs of being a crater; the height was found to be 

 530 m., which I believe is nearer to the truth that the figure 770 put down on 

 the Chilean map. I had expected to find some notable difference in the flora 

 of the highland, but was rather disappointed. The cryptogams, mosses and 

 lichens, however, played a much greater part here than in the lowlands, where 

 they are of a very slight importance. Rano Aroi is a very modest and shallow 

 rano and cannot at all be compared with the grand R. Kao. The height was 

 found to be 425 m. The lake is overgrown with vegetation. There is a gap 

 in the east wall through which, after prolonged rains, the water flows down 

 to another pool, which empties itself into a long, narrow fissure, crossed by 

 the track from La Perouse Bay to Hanga Roa. This fissure does not seem to 

 have been eroded by water but suggests a volcanic origin. 



The land along the north coast, from the hills backing Anakena Cove to 

 Katiki, is a rather flat basaltic plain, with occasional outcrops of hard rock 

 and strewn with innumerable sharp-edged stones, partly hidden by the coarse 

 grass and making walking disagreeable, more so for a person in a state of ill- 



