FIG. 113.
Porotu acted as a hopu. He refused to be photographed, and the sketch was surreptitiously made whilst obtaining the account of his official experiences. He also assisted in carrying the remains of Ko Tori (p. 225).
Take and Manu
Two other ceremonies were mentioned in connection with Orongo and Motu Nui, but to obtain detailed information was very difficult. It finally transpired that of “také” no first-hand knowledge existed, as the rites had been abandoned thirty years before the coming of the missionaries. All that can be safely said is that those concerned went into retreat on Motu Nui, living, it was stated, in the cave where the hopu awaited the birds; the period was generally given as three months. A vigorous discussion took place on the subject between Viriamo and Jotefa, the oldest man in the village, seated on a log in the garden of the old lady. She was positive, in agreement with other authorities, that také was for children—“the boys and girls went in a canoe to the island”; he firmly adhered to the statement that his father went for také, after he, the son, was born. Tomenika stated that také formed the subject of one of the tablets, and drew one of its figures, which bears no resemblance to any other known symbol.
FIG. 114.
BIRD-CHILD (POKI-MANU).
Ceremonial ornamentation, from a drawing made by natives.
The details of manu were more satisfactory. It was known as “te manu mo te poki,” or, “the bird for the child,” and the child so initiated became a “poki-manu,” or “bird-child.” It could not be found that any special benefit resulted from it, but a child whose parents had not performed the ceremony, and whose love affairs, for instance, went wrong, might even kill his father in revenge for the omission. An expert, known as “tangata-tapa-manu,” the man who, as Dr. Marett would tell us, “knew the right things to say,” was called in and given a hen’s egg—on this last point much stress was laid; he was at the same time told the child’s name, which was subsequently inserted in the ritual. The child was shaved, decorated with white bands, and hung round with coconuts, or, as these were not readily obtainable in Easter Island, with pieces of wood carved to represent them called “tahonga.” A number of children, each with an expert, then went up to Orongo; the correct month was December, and the Ao were therefore below at Mataveri. Jotefa, on whose final account I principally rely, stated that he and nine other children, with their parents, and ten tangata-tapa-manu, went to Orongo from his home on the north coast, a distance of some eleven miles; they took with them ten chickens. The party danced in front of all the houses, went to the carved rocks at the end, and, coming back, stood in a semicircle in front of the door of Taura-renga, the house of the statue, the experts being behind and all singing; no offering was made to the image. Another authority stated that the parents and children went on the roof of the house, the experts being below, and the parents gave chickens to the men. Jotefa’s party returned to their home, had a feast, and gave more food to the professionals. The tangata-tapa-manu subsequently repeated the ritual at any koro which were being held in the island, the object apparently being to make public the child’s initiation.
If, by reason of the state of the island, it was not possible to go to Orongo, the ceremony could take place at any of the big ahu with images. Viriamo, whose home, as will be remembered, was near Raraku, said with much pride that she was a “poki-manu”; she and her three younger sisters had been taken at the same time to the ahu of Orohié. Both parents went, and the mother took two chickens, one in each hand, and the mother and children stood upright and the “maori sang”; they did not go to Orongo because there was war. A drawing was made for us by Juan and the old men of the poki-manu in ceremonial attire (fig. 114); it was particularly interesting to find, when it was handed in, that circles of white pigment were made on the child’s back, and also on each buttock, in a way which recalls the adornment of the Anakena image (fig. 65).
Wooden Carvings
The stone sculpture of Easter Island belongs to an era which is now forgotten; there are a number of wooden carvings which, whatever their original age, are connected with a recent past, and even in a limited sense with the present.
The most important of these works, the tablets, have already been dealt with, and mention has been made of the lizard figures, they have the head of that animal on a human body (fig. 117). The “ao,” the large dancing-paddle, and the smaller one, the “rapa,” are of much the same character, though used on different occasions (figs. 116 (a), 118). The “ua” is a club, on the handle of which are two heads back to back; these clubs were dignified with individual names. The “paoa” was a wooden sword. There were also bird ornaments carved in wood which were worn on the last day of the koro and by Ngaara. The “rei-miro” is a breast ornament of a crescent shape, with a face at one or both ends; it is found depicted on the Orongo rocks and frequently on the tablets. It was especially a woman’s decoration, but a number of small ones were said to have been worn by Ngaara. The specimen in the British Museum is embellished with glyphs, of which no account was forthcoming (fig. 115).