THE MYSTERY OF EASTER ISLAND 



631 



as easier to repair in case of accident, 

 where coral reefs and other unseen dan- 

 gers abound; but the building of wooden 

 walls had practically ceased. 



The west country was visited and an 

 expedition made to Dundee and Aber- 

 deen; but even there, the old home of 

 whalers, ships are now built of steel. 

 Finally we fixed on Whitstable, from 

 which place such vessels still ply round 

 the coast. 



THE SHIP IS CHRISTENED THE "MANA" 



The keel was laid in the autumn. The 

 following spring we took up our abode 

 there to watch over her, and in May she 

 first took the water, being christened by 

 the writer in approved fashion: "I name 

 this ship Mana, and may the blessing of 

 God go with her and all who sail in her" — 

 a ceremony not to be performed without 

 a lump in the throat. 



The choice of a name had been difficult. 

 We had wished to give her one borne by 

 some ship of Dr. Scoresby, the Arctic 

 explorer, a friend of my husband's family, 

 whose name he received ; but none of 

 them proved to be suitable. 



The object was to find something which 

 was both simple and uncommon. All ap- 

 pellations that were easy to grasp seemed 

 to have been already adopted, while those 

 that were unique lent themselves to error. 



"How would it do in a cable?" was the 

 regulation test. Finally we hit on Mana, 

 which is a word well known to anthropol- 

 ogists and has the advantage of being 

 familiar throughout the South Seas. 



We generally translated it, somewhat 

 freely, as ''good luck." It means, more 

 strictly, supernatural power. A Poly- 

 nesian would, for instance, describe the 

 common idea of the effect of a horseshoe 

 by saying that the shoe had "mana." 

 From a scientific standpoint, mana is 

 probably the simplest form of religious 

 conception. 



EASTER ISLAND SIGHTED AETER A VOYAGE 

 OE 13 MONTHS 



Easter Island at last ! It was in the 

 misty dawn of a Sunday in March that 

 we first saw our destination, just one 

 week in the year earlier than the Easter 

 Day it was sighted in 1722 by Roggeveen 

 and his company of Dutchmen. We had 



been twenty days at sea since leaving Juan 

 Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe's Island), 

 giving a wide berth to the few dangerous 

 rocks which constitute Sala y Gomez and 

 steering directly into the sunset. 



It was thirteen months since we had 

 left Southampton, out of which time we 

 had been 147 days under way, and here 

 at last was our goal. As we approached 

 the southern coast we gazed in almost 

 awed silence at the long gray mass of 

 land, broken into three great curves and 

 diversified by giant molehills. The whole 

 looked an alarmingly big land in which to 

 find hidden caves. 



The hush was broken by the despairing 

 voice of Bailey, the ship's cook. "I don't 

 know how I am to make a fire on that 

 island ; there is no wood !" He spoke the 

 truth; not a vestige of timber or even 

 brushwood was to be seen. 



THE EIRST MEAE ON EASTER ISLAND 



We swung round the western headland, 

 with its group of islets, and dropped 

 anchor in Cooks Bay. A few hundred 

 yards from the shore is the village of 

 Hanga Roa, the native name for Cooks 

 Bay. This is the only part of the island 

 which is inhabited, the 250 natives, all 

 that remain of the population, having 

 been gathered together here in order to 

 secure the safety of the live stock, to 

 which the rest of the island is devoted. 



The yacht was soon surrounded by six 

 or seven boat-loads of natives, clad in 

 nondescript European garments, but 

 wearing head-coverings of native straw, 

 somewhat resembling in appearance the 

 high hat of civilization. 



The manager, Mr. Edmunds, shortly 

 appeared, and to our relief, for we had 

 not been sure how he would view such 

 an invasion, gave us a very kind welcome. 

 He is English and was, to all intent, at 

 the time of our arrival, the only white 

 man on the island ; a French carpenter, 

 who lived at Hanga Roa with a native 

 wife, being always included in the village 

 community. 



Mr. Edmunds' house is at Mataveri, a 

 spot about two miles to the south of the 

 village, surrounded by almost the only 

 trees on the island ; immediately behind it 

 rises the swelling mass of the volcano 

 Rano Kao (see map, page 630). 



The first meal on Easter Island, taken 



