878 The American Naturalist. [October. 
The museum is indebted to the latter gentleman, and to Sur- 
geon Geo. H. Cooke, U. S. N., for information concerning the 
specimens and the people of the island. 
The largest figure collected is a torso and head (Fig. i) weigh- 
ing three tons, and standing over eight feet high, made of a 
porous volcanic rock, probably friable basalt lava, or tufa. The 
Easter Island Images in National Museum. 
face is very broad, with crude features. Large eye-sockets are cut 
out for the reception of pieces of obsidian representing eyes. The 
arms clasped over the breast are only outlined ; all the statues 
have only the face modeled, that part being worked out with the 
highest skill possessed by the artists. In detail, this is shown 
by the nose. The septum is wide, as in the Papuan nose, and the 
