S^t. 17, 1874] 



NATURE 



399 



be enrolled in the list of those who have fallen in the 

 cause of scientific investigation. 



Dr. Anstie was a student of King's College, and took 

 his doctor's degree at the University of London in 185S, 

 since which time he has devoted much of his leisure 

 to thn investigation of therapeutical and pathological 

 problems. His work on ''Stimulants and Narcotics," 

 published in 1S64, first brought him into notice as an 

 upholder of the value of alcohol as a nutritive agent, in 

 contradistinction to the opinion of M. Lallemand, that its 

 action is simply stimulant. In conjunction with Dr. 

 Burdon-Sandcrson he was one of the first in this country 

 to direct attention to the Sphygmograph of his friend 

 Prof. Marey, of Paris. Sanitary reform was another sub- 

 ject to which Dr. Anstie paid much attention, and with 

 great success. His article on " Neuralgia" in Reynolds' 

 " System of Medicine," and his important work on the 

 same subject, made him well known as a physician, as 

 did his papers in the Practitioner, of which he was the 

 editor. 



Dr. Anstie was physician to Westminster Hospital, 

 where he was also lecturer on IMedicine. The new 

 physiological laboratory of that institution, which is to be 

 opened next month, owes much to his energy ; and no 

 one, more than himself, looked forward to the oppor- 

 tunities it will afford for original investigation. Dr. 

 Anstie's loss will be felt by a large circle of friends, whom 

 he had an unusual power in making and retaining, on 

 account of the genuineness and force of his character. 



HIEROGLYPHIC TABLETS AND SCULPTURE 



IN EASTER ISLAND 

 T7ARLY last spring mention was made in Nature 

 -'--' (vol. ix. p. 351) of some photographs of inscribed 

 tablets from Easter Island, which the Academy of Sciences 

 at San Francisco had shortly before received from Mr. 

 Croft, of Papeeti, Tahiti. 



Up to that time only three tablets were known for 

 certain to have been discovered in the island. From in- 

 formation, however, which has recently been received, it 

 appears that there are now no less than five tablets at the 

 Roman Catholic Mission in Tahiti ; and one, obtained 

 last year by the mate of a vessel wrecked on the island, 

 is said to have been taken to San Francisco. Two others 

 are in the National Museum at Santiago de Chili ;"'■■ and 

 casts from these, made under Mr. E. Reed's directions, 

 were sent to England and Germany in 1873. This, how- 

 ever, is not all. Natives who are in the employ of planters 

 at Papeeti inform Mr. Croft that incised tablets were for- 

 merly very numerous in Easter Island, but many were 

 destroyed in intestine wars. Some are said to have con- 

 tained descriptionsof land and boundaries ; others, direc- 

 tions for planting and fishing ; many were connected with 

 religion and mythology ; and, more important than all, a 

 few "contained the ancient history of the island, and its 

 kings or ruling chiefs :" these, it was feared, might all have 

 been destroyed, not by the natives themselves, but by 

 direction of Roman Catholic priests, who, as in America 

 at the time of the Spanish conquest, persuaded their first 

 converts to burn and destroy a large number of records 

 without discrimination. It is known, however, that a few 

 remain in possession of the islanders, who are said to 

 attach the greatest possible value to them. 



Should no others prove to be historical, it is almost 

 certain that one, at least, of those at Santiago, of which 

 we have the plaster casts, answers this description. The 

 tiblet alluded to is fully described in the Joiinial of t/u- 

 Antliropoliigiidl Institute^ where plates will be found of 

 the hieroglyphics. 



Some of the older natives of Easter Island are said still 

 to possess the art of engraving tablets, and to be able 



* 1 wo more are reported to have beeti taken by a surveying ship to Russia 

 a few years ago, and another to Germany. 



t Journ. Anthro. Inst., Jan. 1874. Triibner and Co. 



to interpret them. But whether this refers to the ancient 

 signs, or only to those which Senor G. de la Rosa found 

 were used by the chiefs a hundred years ago, is at present 

 doubtful. Dr. Philippi, of the University of Santiago, 

 on the authority of Pere Einaud, one of the French 

 missionaries, says that the natives do not attach any 

 meaning to the signs. Probably expert wood-carvers 

 like the Easter Islanders would from time to time have 

 replaced decayed tablets and multiplied others. They 

 may also, very possibly, know from the general appear- 

 ance of the hieroglyphics what they refer to, and yet not 

 understand individual signs. 



Before showing that it may prove an easy task for any- 

 one acquainted with the Pacific to interpret the signs, pro- 

 vided he has some knowledge of the traditions of the Easter 

 Islanders, it will be necessary to mention the legend of 

 their origin as ascertained by Commodore Powell and 

 Senor Gana from the missionaries on the spot (in 1S6S 

 and 1870). It is briefly this : that their ancestors arrived 

 in two boats many years ago, each boat being under the 

 command of a chief ; and there is a distinct tradition that 

 they had been expelled from Oparo, or Rapa-ili, an island 

 1,600 miles to the west. 



Now there is a drift-current from that direction, that 

 carries wood and other waifs to the shores of Easter 

 Island ; so that it is physically possible for a canoe or 

 other vessel to have arrived by its aid. It is worth men- 

 tioning that the current turns round Easter Island, and 

 then goes northwards. 



Oparo, also, bears silent witness to the truth of the 

 story. Though little more than seven miles in length, 

 several of its hills arc capped with stone forts; and there 

 are platforms and stone houses as in Easter Island, as 

 well as a fortress or temple in five stages (like the ruin of 

 Pollanarrua, in Ceylon). It need scarcely be added that 

 there are traditions of tierce wars and feuds in the island.* 

 Unfortunately, little more than this is known about its 

 antiquities and legends. 



Passing by, with the bare mention, several symbolic prac- 

 tices of the Easter Islanders^ — for example, the enormous 

 trouble that was taken by them to crown the great statues 

 with huge tiaras of red tufa ; the erection of effigies of 

 their chiefs on platforms of squared stone, the masonry 

 of which. Cook said, was " equal to any in England ; " 

 the peculiar form of the huts, like inverted boats ; their 

 moon-shaped shields, used only in dances (some with faces 

 carved on the cusps, like the eagles' heads on the Phry- 

 gian peltas) ; the bi-fronted stafis or batons, which were 

 held in the hands of the chiefs ; and tattoo marks like 

 those in Burmah and India, — all of which may possibly, 

 by and by, aid us in discovering the land from which 

 the mysterious chiefs of Easter Island originally came, — 

 passing by these, we will confine our attention to the 

 symbols which appear more immediately to relate to the 

 arrival of vessels from Oparo, and seem to establish the 

 tradition on an historical basis. 



Few who have visited the Cnidus Shed at the British 

 Museum can have failed to notice the emblematic carving 

 on the back of one of the statues from Easter Island, at 

 present deposited there. It was found under cover in the 

 range of stone houses called "Taura Renga,"in the centre 

 of a chamber lined with wall slabs, and partly excavated 

 from the cliff. The bas-reliefs faced the entrance, a small 

 square door, with stone pots and lintel, in a rubble wall 

 about 5 ft. in thickness. On the back of the head of the 

 statue there is a bird, over which is a solar crown ; and 

 on either side a rapa, or steering paddle, with a human 

 face on the spade-like blade.f A third but very much 

 smaller rapa is carved on the back of the right ear of the 

 statue, whilst four ovals are incised on the left. The lobes 

 of both ears are greatly lengthened. 



* Captaui Vine Hall, who spent a few hours there a'year or two ago, gives 

 the above particulars. 



t There are wooden rap.-i3 in Eastei Island, which arc used only in the 

 native dances. 



