X PROCEEDIXGS OF THE UEOLOaiCAL SOCIETY. ^Vol. Ixxiii, 



ScoRESBT KouTLEDGE, M.A., sfave an account of Easter 

 Island. He said that the Expedition, that he had had the 

 honour to command, was organized with the object of carrying 

 out a long-standing wish of various bodies interested in anthro- 

 pology. This wish was that Easter Island, and other islands 

 nearest to it, thougli far distant from it, should be thoroughly 

 examined, and that all information and material thereon found 

 should be carefully considered on the spot, or, if possible, be brought 

 back for comparative study. 



This jDrogramme necessitated a vessel being specially designed, 

 built, and equipped for the purpose. A schooner with auxiliary 

 motor 230 wer, the • Mana,' of 90 tons gross register, 78 feet 

 on the water-line, 20 feet beam, and drawing 10'5 feet aft, 

 was accordingly completed by the end of 1912, and she sailed 

 from Southampton in February 1913 with a company of twelve 

 all told, of whom four formed the scientific staff. After the 

 longest voyage ever made by a A^acht under canvas, she sailed 

 into Southampton again in June 1916, without having experienced 

 accident to man or material. 



The course taken was throuo^h the Mag^ellan Straits, and thence 

 through the labyrinth of Andean waterways that stretch north 

 therefrom, and are known as the Patagonian Channels. 



On reaching Juan Fernandez Island, the ' Mana ' had to put 

 back to Valparaiso because the geologist of the Expedition, the 

 late Mr. F. L. Corry, had contracted t^^phoid fever on the Chilean 

 coast. Mr. Corry never recovered sufficiently to allow him to 

 rejoin the Expedition. Hence no formal geological report on 

 the island could be submitted to the Meeting. It' was thought 

 best, therefore, to endeavour to convey the conditions existent on 

 Easter Island by means of a series of panoramic and other photo- 

 graphs, specially taken to illustrate geological features. As these 

 very largely consist of coast-sections, the opportunity was taken to 

 show, and explain, other pictures that were closely associated with 

 them. Such were the ruins of the village called Orongo, consisting 

 of peculiar canoe-shaped houses built of imbricated slabs of shale, 

 with the roof convex, both longitudinally and transversely, on its 

 exterior aspect, and covered with earth. They are romantically 

 situated on the rim of the volcano of Rano Kao, with an almost 

 sheer drop of 900 feet into the sea, or of 600 feet into the crater- 

 lake. At Orongo, too, are found certain large rocks, carved with 

 the syinbol of a bird-headed man, holding in his hand an e^^. A 

 cult, based on annually obtaining the first-laid q^^ of a certain 

 migratory sea-bird, was thus gradually brought to light, and 

 appears to be a unique form of worship. A brief outline only 

 could be given of some of the knowdedge obtained concerning the 

 peculiar routine associated with seeking, and taking, the sacred 

 egg, and of the j)art which it occupied in the former religious life 

 of the island. 



Proceeding along the coast, the Lecturer showed typical examples 



