654 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Far from being an island of mystery, 

 Guam is a very important cable and naval 

 station belonging to the United States 

 since 1898.* But the typhoon season was 

 beginning, and we soon sailed on again 

 for San Francisco, being fortunate in 

 getting safely out of the port of San 

 Luis d'Apra, thickly dotted as it was with 

 coral heads and reefs and open toward 

 the heavy gales from the southwest. 



A glimpse of the dear home land was 

 very welcome, but after a month's stay in 

 San Francisco the Carnegie was again on 

 her way November 1, 19 16, en route for 

 Easter Island. 



EASTER ISLAND, THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY 

 0E THE PACIFIC 



Easter Island, or Rapanui, is located in 

 the eastern part of the South Pacific 

 Ocean, about 1,400 miles east of Pitcairn 

 and about 2,000 miles west of Chile. It 

 contains about 50 square miles, and has 

 been aptly described as a heap of stones 

 and lava. 



It has no harbors, no trees except a 

 few fig trees, and no running water. 

 Cisterns, wells, and a few springs of fresh 

 water on the beach, uncovered at low tide 

 and fed from the lakes in the extinct 

 craters, furnish the water supply. Some 

 of its volcanic peaks reach an altitude of 

 1,800 feet. 



The climate is almost ideal, being moist 

 and temperate, the southeast trade wind 

 blowing for a major part of the year. 

 Bananas, sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, 

 sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, pine- 

 apples, corn, and tomatoes are grown in 

 small quantities. More than three- fourths 

 of the island is pasturage land, the rest 

 being covered with broken lava. 



The 200 natives are a mixed race, being 

 of Polynesian descent, but in later years 

 they have been much changed by mixture 

 with white whalers and traders. There 

 seems little organization among them, as 

 they have no chiefs and all live in the 

 same village as one large family. 



The Chilean Governor, an old French- 

 man and a Greek sailor, who is manager 

 of the ranch, were the only white people 

 on the island. The live stock consisted 



* See "Our Smallest Possession — Guam," by 

 William E. Safford, in The Geographic for 

 May, 1905. 



of 4,000 eat tlt\ 8,000 sheep, and 400 

 horses. There are no exports except 

 hides; tvery five years selected animals 

 are killed for their hides and the meat is 

 thrown away, The island belongs to 

 Chile, hut communication with the main- 

 land is very irregular, a vessel being sent 

 out usually once a year. However, often 

 two years pass without new supplies. 



When we arrived no ship had reached 

 the island from Chile for more than a 

 year and a half, and the general store 

 contained only one tin of kerosene and 

 six tins of sardines. Clothing of any de- 

 scription and soap were at a high pre- 

 mium. The requests for the latter finally 

 became overwhelming, some women even 

 coming to us with American or English 

 gold in outstretched hands, begging for a 

 cake. 



In order to satisfy as many needs as 

 possible and as chickens were plentiful, 

 though very small, a fair and satisfactory 

 rate of exchange was finally adopted. All 

 who had chickens could get soap at the 

 rate of two chickens for one cake of this 

 important article. We built a coop on 

 the quarter-deck and had fried chicken 

 for many weeks after leaving the island. 



TRADING WITH THE NATIVES 



Small images, made to imitate the huge 

 statues for which the island is famous, 

 and other curios were traded for any 

 articles of clothing which could be spared. 

 Some of the trades were : one good image 

 for two pots of paint ; one image not quite 

 so old for one pair of old trousers; native 

 carrying camera on horseback one day 

 for one small piece of rope to tie his horse ; 

 one collection of ancient obsidian spear 

 points and war hatchets for one old suit 

 of clothes; one small collection of spear 

 points for six cigarettes ; one small image 

 for one shirt, and the shirt must be that 

 worn by the trader, as the native thus feels 

 sure he is getting a good article. One 

 man on board had to change shirts three 

 times in an afternoon. 



The islanders take great care of their 

 boats, using them to obtain fish for food 

 and to catch porpoises for the oil used in 

 their lamps. A feature of the New Year's 

 Day celebration was a boat-race. The 

 entry of the crafty old Greek sailor 

 reached the finish line nearly a quarter of 



