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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPITTC MAGAZINE 



TWO STATUES ON THE} SlyOPKS OF RANO RARAKU 



The image in the foreground shows clearly one of the remarkable 

 features of these statues — the lobe of the ear — which, in general, is 

 depicted as a fleshy rope. 



here with Mr. Edmunds, remains a last- 

 ing memory. It was a large, plain room 

 with uncarpeted floor, scrupulously or- 

 derly ; a dinner table, a few chairs, and 

 two small book-cases comprised the fur- 

 niture. 



The door on to the veranda was open, 

 for the night was hot, and the roar of 

 breakers could be heard on the beach, 

 while near at hand conversation was ac- 

 companied by a never-ceasing drone of 

 mosquitoes. 



The light of the unshaded lamp was 

 reflected from the clean, rough-dried 

 cloth of the table round which we sat, and 

 lit up our host's features, the keen brown 



face of a man who 

 had lived for some 

 thirty years or more, 

 most of it in the open 

 air and under a tropi- 

 cal sun. 



He was telling us 

 of events which one 

 hardly thought existed 

 outside magazines and 

 books of adventure, 

 but doing it SO quietly 

 that, with closed eyes, 

 it might have been 

 fancied that the enter- 

 tainment was at some 

 London restaurant 

 and we were still at 

 the stage of discussing 

 the latest play. 



"This house," said 

 our host, "was built 

 some fifty years ago 

 by Bornier, who was 

 the first to exploit the 

 island. He was mur- 

 dered by the natives. 

 They seized the mo- 

 ment when he was 

 descending from a lad- 

 der ; one spoke to him 

 and another struck him 

 down. They buried 

 him on the hillock 

 near the cliff, just out- 

 side the plantation. 

 You will see his grave 

 when the grass is not 

 so long; it is marked 

 by a circle of stones. 

 "A French warship 

 arrived almost immediately afterwards, 

 the natives explained that he had been 

 killed by a fall from his horse, and this 

 is the version still given in some of the 

 accounts of the island ; but murder will 

 always out. 



"After that another manager had trou- 

 ble; it was over sheep-stealing. There 

 were three or four white men here at the 

 time, and they all rode down to the village 

 to teach the natives a lesson; but the 

 ponies turned restive at the sound of gun- 

 fire, and the rifles themselves were de- 

 fective ; so the boot was on the other foot, 

 and they had to retreat up here, followed 

 by the mob. For months they lived in 



