[22]. The body was no doubt supported by staves, though they were dispensed with in the model, being unnecessary for the wooden figure.
[23]. The sole possible exception was probably due to some flaw in the stone.
[24]. The farthest outstanding figure to the left in fig. 46.
[25]. An island was reported in lat. 27° by an English buccaneer named Davis in 1687. It was, he said, five hundred miles from the coast of Chile, low and sandy, and some twelve leagues to the west of it was seen “a long tract of pretty high land.” The description in no way applies to Easter, with which it has sometimes been identified. The probability seems to be that Davis was out of his reckoning, as was by no means unusual in the case of the early mariners, and it has been suggested that the island he saw was Crescent Island, the high ground in the distance being the Gambier group. The latitude of Easter Island is 27° 8′ S., that of Crescent Island is 23° 20′ S.
[26]. Precisely the same habit obtains to-day among the Akikuyu in East Africa.
[27]. For Roggeveen’s description of the Island see Voyage of Gonzalez, Hakluyt Society, Series II., vol. xiii., pp. 3 to 26.
A statement of the evidence re Davis Island is given in the introduction to the same volume.
[28]. Voyage of Gonzalez, p. 27 seq.
[29]. A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, by James Cook, 1st ed., 4to, 1777, pp. 276–96.
A Voyage Round the World, George Forster, 4to, 1777. Vol. i., pp. 551–602.