Easter Island. 



81 



These fetish paddles are only 24 inches long, with a blade at each 

 end, and are painted a bright red. 



The baskets and mats of the Easter Islanders were made of 

 bullrushes. The mats are used to sleep upon. 



Mr. Thompson secured two inscribed tablets of wood inscribed 

 with hieroglyphics. These give to the island an especial interest 

 as showing that the image and platform makers possessed a writ- 

 ten language. These tablets are in a good state of preservation, 

 and were supposed to be the only perfect ones to be found on the 

 island The larger one is believed, from its shape, to have 

 formed at one time a section of the side of a canoe. These tab- 

 lets were common on the island until a few years ago, when Cath- 

 olic missionaries, through excessive zeal, had them destroyed. 

 The characters carry their signification in the image they repre- 

 sent, and the manner of reading them is to begin at the left hand 

 lower corner on the particular side which will bring the figures 

 erect. Finishing the lower line with the figures turned toward the 

 reading, and going to the next line above, the reading is continued 

 from right to left. In order to have the images face the same 

 way it is necessary, in reading a new line, to turn successively 

 the right side of the tablet to the left. Arriving at the top of the 



first lace of the tablet, the 

 reading is continued just 

 over the edge to the nearest 

 line at the top on the other 

 face. The tablets vary in 

 size from a few inches to 

 four or five feet in length. 

 The hieroglyphic characters 

 are about half an inch in 

 height, and are beautifully 

 engraved in regular lines. 

 The engraving is supposed 

 to have been done with 

 sharks' teeth. The native 

 traditions about these tab- 

 lets are very doubtful, sim- 

 ply asserting that the first 

 king possessed the know- 

 ledge of this language, and 

 brought with him to the 

 island sixty-seven tablets 

 containing allegories prov- 

 erbs and traditions, relating 

 to the land from which he came. A certain number of youths 

 from each clan were instructed in the reading of these tablets, 

 and once a year the people assemble to hear them recited. This 

 was regarded as their most important fete day. These tablets 

 are of undoubted antiquity. Some of the oldest platforms and 



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