THE MYSTERY OF EASTER ISLAND 



645 









A GIANT IMAGE ON ITS BACK 



and the amount each could accomplish 

 gave the rather surprising result that a 

 statue might be roughed out within the 

 space of 15 days. 



The most notable part of the work was 

 the skill which kept the figure so perfect 

 in design and balance that it was subse- 

 quently able to maintain its equilibrium 

 in a standing position ; to this it is difficult 

 to pay too high a tribute. 



How shall we account for the vast 

 number of images to be found in the 

 quarry- ? A certain number had, no doubt, 

 been abandoned prior to the general cessa- 

 tion of the work ; in some cases a flaw 

 has been found in the rock, and it is evi- 

 dent that the original plan had to be 

 given up, although part of the stone was 

 sometimes used either for a smaller image 

 or for one cut at a different angle. 



In other instances the sculptors were 

 unlucky enough to come across, at im- 

 portant points, one or more of the hard 

 nodules with which their tools could not 

 deal, and as the work could not go down 

 to posterity with a large wart on its nose 

 or excrescense on its chin, it had to be 

 stopped. 



But when all these instances have been 

 subtracted, the amount of figures remain- 

 ing in the quarry is still startlingly large 

 when compared with the number which 

 have been taken out of it, and must have 



necessitated, if they were all in hand at 

 once, a number of workers out of all pro- 

 portion to any population which the island 

 ever, in all likelihood, maintained. 



The theory naturally suggests itself 

 that some of the images were merely 

 rock-carvings and were not intended to 

 be removed. It is one which needs to be 

 adopted with caution, for more than once, 

 where every appearance has pointed to 

 its being correct, a similar neighbor has 

 been found which was actually being re- 

 moved ; on the whole, however, many 

 students agree that there can be little 

 doubt that it is at any rate a partial solu- 

 tion of the problem. 



Some of the images are little more than 

 embossed carvings on the face of the rock 

 without surrounding alley- ways. Per- 

 haps the strongest evidence is afforded by 

 the size of some of the statues : the largest 

 is 66 feet in length, whereas 36 feet is the 

 extreme found outside the quarry. Tra- 

 dition, it is true, points out the ahu on the 

 south coast as the one for which this 

 monster was designed, but it is difficult 

 to believe the image-makers ever intended 

 to move such a mass. 



If this theory is correct, it would be 

 interesting to know whether the stage of 

 carving came first, and that of removal 

 followed, as the workmen became more 

 expert ; or whether it was the result of 



