EASTER ISLAND. 
325 
to England had been on shore twice; and his 
accounts, with those of others whom I have met 
with in the Pacific, were such as could not fail to 
excite a deep concern for their welfare. 
Two degrees farther from the equator, and rather 
more than twenty degrees nearer the American 
continent, an island is situated, which has attracted 
considerable notice from most of the navigators 
who have prosecuted their discoveries in the Pa¬ 
cific. It was discovered by Roggewein, on Easter 
day 1722, and called 
Easter Island. 
This is a small hilly island, bearing evident marks 
of volcanic origin, or of having been subject to the 
action of subterraneous fire. The hills are conical, 
and were by Kotzebue supposed to resemble those 
of Hawaii. Nothing can be more contradictory 
than the descriptions different voyagers have given 
of the appearance of this island. Some, as in 
Roggewein’s account, and that of La Perouse, 
representing it as rich and fertile ; others, as Fors¬ 
ter, describing it as parched and desolate. The 
population, which La Perouse estimated at about 
two thousand, is supposed by Kotzebue to have 
increased; by others they are said to have de¬ 
creased, and not to exceed 1,200. The inhabit¬ 
ants are evidently part of the race w T hich has spread 
itself extensively over the isles of the Pacific, and 
they evince that propensity to licentiousness and 
theft which mark the larger communities. 
The most remarkable objects in Easter Island 
are its monuments of stone-work and sculpture, 
which, though rude and imperfect, are superior to 
any found among the more numerous and civilized 
tribes inhabiting the South Sea Islands. These 
monuments consist in a number of terraces or plat- 
