A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14

by Robert Kerr

I saw no household utensils among them, except gourds, and of these but very few. They were extravagantly fond of cocoa-nut shells, more so than of any thing we could give them. They dress their victuals in the same manner as at Otaheite; that is, with hot stones in an oven or hole in the ground. The straw or tops of sugar-cane, plantain heads, &c. serve them for fuel to heat the stones. Plantains, which require but little dressing, they roast under fires of straw, dried grass, &c. and whole races of them are ripened or roasted in this manner. We frequently saw ten or a dozen, or more, such fires in one place, and most commonly in the mornings and evenings.

Not more than three or four canoes were seen on the whole island, and these very mean, and built of many pieces sewed together with small line. They are about eighteen or twenty feet long, head and stem carved or raised a little, are very narrow, and fitted with out-riggers. They do not seem capable of carrying above four persons, and are by no means fit for any distant navigation. As small and mean as these canoes were, it was a matter of wonder to us, where they got the wood to build them with; for in one of them was a board six or eight feet long, fourteen inches broad at one end, and eight at the other; whereas we did not see a stick on the island that would have made a board half this size, nor, indeed, was there another piece in the whole canoe half so big.

There are two ways by which it is possible they may have got this large wood; it might have been left here by the Spaniards, or it might have been driven on the shore of the island from some distant land. It is even possible that there may be some land in the neighbourhood, from whence they might have got it. We, however, saw no signs of any, nor could we get the least information on this head from the natives, although we tried every method we could think of to obtain it. We were almost as unfortunate in our enquiries for the proper or native name of the island; for, on comparing notes, I found we had got three different names for it, viz. Tamareki, Whyhu, and Teapy. Without pretending to say which, or whether any of them is right, I shall only observe, that the last was obtained by Oedidee, who understood their language much better than any of us, though even he understood it but very imperfectly.

It appears by the account of Roggewein's voyage, that these people had no better vessels than when he first visited them. The want of materials, and not of genius, seems to be the reason why they have made no improvement in this art. Some pieces of carving were found amongst them, both well designed and executed.[3] Their plantations are prettily laid out by line, but not inclosed by any fence; indeed they have nothing for this purpose but stones.

[3] "These were human figures made of narrow pieces of wood about eighteen inches or two feet long, and wrought in a much neater and more proportionate manner than we could have expected, after seeing the rude sculpture of the statues. They were made to represent persons of both sexes; the features were not very pleasing, and the whole figure was much too long to be natural; however, there was something characteristic in them, which shewed a taste for the arts. The wood of which they were made was finely polished, close grained, and of a dark-brown, like that of the casuarina. Mahine was most pleased with these carved human figures, the workmanship of which much excelled those of the e tees in his country, and he purchased several of them, assuring us they would be greatly valued at Otaheite. As he took great pains to collect these curiosities, he once met with a figure of a woman's hand, carved of a yellowish wood, nearly of the natural size. Upon examination, its fingers were all bent upwards, as they are in the action of dancing at Otaheite, and its nails were represented very long, extending at least three-fourths of an inch beyond the fingers end. The wood of which it was made was the rare perfume wood of Otaheite, with the chips of which they communicate fragrance to their oils. We had neither seen this wood growing, nor observed the custom of wearing long nails at this island, and therefore were at a loss to conceive how this piece of well-executed carving could be met with there. Mahine afterwards presented this piece to my father, who in his turn made a present of it to the British Museum."--G.F.

I have no doubt that all these plantations are private property, and that there are here, as at Otaheite, chiefs (which they call Areekes) to whom these plantations belong. But of the power or authority of these chiefs, or of the government of these people, I confess myself quite ignorant.

Nor are we better acquainted with their religion. The gigantic statues, so often mentioned, are not, in my opinion, looked upon as idols by the present inhabitants, whatever they might have been in the days of the Dutch; at least I saw nothing that could induce me to think so. On the contrary, I rather suppose that they are burying-places for certain tribes or families. I, as well as some others, saw a human skeleton lying in one of the platforms, just covered with stones. Some of these platforms of masonry are thirty or forty feet long, twelve or sixteen broad, and from three to twelve in height; which last in some measure depends on the nature of the ground; for they are generally at the brink of the bank facing the sea, so that this face may be ten or twelve feet or more high, and the other may not be above three or four. They are built, or rather faced, with hewn stones, of a very large size; and the workmanship is not inferior to the best plain piece of masonry we have in England. They use no sort of cement, yet the joints are exceedingly close, and the stones morticed and tenanted one into another, in a very artful manner. The side-walls are not perpendicular, but inclining a little inwards, in the same manner that breast-works, &c. are built in Europe; yet had not all this care, pains, and sagacity, been able to preserve these curious structures from the ravages of all-devouring time.

The statues, or at least many of them, are erected on these platforms, which serve as foundations. They are, as near as we could judge, about half length, ending in a sort of stump at the bottom, on which they stand. The workmanship is rude, but not bad; nor are the features of the face ill formed, the nose and chin in particular; but the ears are long beyond proportion; and, as to the bodies, there is hardly any thing like a human figure about them.

I had an opportunity of examining only two or three of these statues, which are near the landing-place; and they were of a grey stone, seemingly of the same sort as that with which the platforms were built. But some of the gentlemen, who travelled over the island, and examined many of them, were of opinion that the stone of which they were made, was different from any they saw on the island, and had much the appearance of being factitious. We could hardly conceive how these islanders, wholly unacquainted with any mechanical power, could raise such stupendous figures, and afterwards place the large cylindric stones before mentioned upon their heads. The only method I can conceive, is by raising the upper end by little and little, supporting it by stones as it is raised, and building about it till they got it erect; thus a sort of mount or scaffolding would be made, upon which they might roll the cylinder, and place it upon the head of the statue, and then the stones might be removed from about it. But if the stones are factitious, the statues might have been put together on the place, in their present position, and the cylinder put on by building a mount round them, as above mentioned. But, let them have been made and set up by this or any other method, they must have been a work of immense time, and sufficiently shew the ingenuity and perseverance of these islanders in the age in which they were built; for the present inhabitants have most certainly had no hand in them, as they do not even repair the foundations of those which are going to decay. They give different names to them, such as Gotomoara, Marapate, Kanaro, Goway-too-goo, Matta Matta, &c. &c. to which they sometimes prefix the word Moi, and sometimes annex Areeke. The latter signifies chief, and the former burying, or sleeping-place, as well as we could understand.[4]

[4] "The most diligent enquiries on our part, have not been sufficient to throw clear light on the surprising objects which struck our eyes in this island. We may, however, attempt to account for these gigantic monuments, of which great numbers exist in every part; for as they are so disproportionate to the present strength of the nation, it is most reasonable to look upon them as the remains of better times. The nearest calculation we could make, never brought the number of inhabitants in this island beyond seven hundred, who, destitute of tools, of shelter and clothing, are obliged to spend all their time in providing food to support their precarious existence. It is obvious that they are too much occupied with their wants, to think of forming statues, which would cost them ages to finish, and require their united strength to erect. Accordingly, we did not see a single instrument among them in all our excursions, which could have been of the least use in masonry or sculpture. We neither met with any quarries, where they had recently dug the materials, nor with unfinished statues, which we might have considered as the work of the present race. It is therefore probable, that these people were formerly more numerous, more opulent and happy, when they could spare sufficient time, to flatter the vanity of their princes, by perpetuating their names by lasting monuments. The remains of plantations found on the summits of the hub, give strength and support to this conjecture. It is not in our power to determine by what various accidents a nation so flourishing, could be reduced in number, and degraded to its present indigence. But we are well convinced that many causes may produce this effect, and that the devastation which a volcano might make, is alone sufficient to heap a load of miseries on a people confined to so small a space. In fact, this island, which may perhaps, in remote ages, have been produced by a volcano, since all its minerals are merely volcanic, has at least in all likelihood been destroyed by its fire. All kinds of trees and plants, all-domestic animals, nay a great part of the nation itself, may have perished in the dreadful convulsion of nature: Hunger and misery must have been but too powerful enemies to those who escaped the fire. We cannot well account for these little carved images which we saw among the natives, and the representation of a dancing woman's hand, which are made of a kind of wood at present not to be met with upon the island. The only idea which offers itself is, that they were made long ago, and have been saved by accident or predilection, at the general catastrophe which seems to have happened. In numberless circumstances the people agree with the tribes who inhabit New Zealand, the Friendly and the Society Islands, and who seem to have had one common origin with them. Their features are very similar, so that the general character may easily be distinguished. Their colour a yellowish brown, most like the hue of the New Zealanders; their art of puncturing, the use of the mulberry-bark for clothing, the predilection for red paint and red dresses, the shape and workmanship of their clubs, the mode of dressing their victuals, all form a strong resemblance to the natives of these islands. We may add, the simplicity of their languages, that of Easter Island being a dialect, which, in many respects, resembles that of New Zealand, especially in the harshness of pronunciation and the use of gutturals, and yet, in other instances, partakes of that of Otaheite. The monarchical government likewise strengthens the affinity between the Easter Islanders and the tropical tribes, its prerogatives being only varied according to the different degrees of fertility of the islands, and the opulence or luxury of the people. The statues, which are erected in honour of their kings, have a great affinity to the wooden figures called Tea, on the chief's marais or burying- places, at Otaheite; but we could not possibly consider them as idols. The disposition of these people is far from being warlike; their numbers are too inconsiderable and their poverty too general, to create civil disturbances amongst them. It is equally improbable that they have foreign wars, since hitherto we know of no island near enough to admit of an interview between the inhabitants; neither could we obtain any intelligence from those of Easter Island upon the subject. This being premised, it is extraordinary that they should have different kinds of offensive weapons, and especially such as resemble those of the New Zealanders; and we must add this circumstance to several others which are inexplicable to us. Upon the whole, supposing Easter Island to have undergone a late misfortune from volcanic fires, its inhabitants are more to be pitied than any less civilized society, being acquainted with a number of conveniences, comforts, and luxuries of life, which they formerly possessed, and of which the remembrance must embitter the loss."--G.P.

Forster the father is decided in opinion, as to the revolution that has undoubtedly occurred in this island, being occasioned by a volcano and earthquake, and gives a very curious account of a notion prevalent amongst the Society Isles, and forming indeed part of their mythological creed, which, if to be credited, affords support to it. The subject altogether is of a most interesting and important nature, but cannot possibly be investigated or even specified in an adequate manner in this place. We hope to do it justice hereafter.--E.