"Very much like the great statues at Thebes and Karnak in Egypt," said Fred.
"Yes," replied the Doctor, "and one of these statues measures twenty feet from the shoulder to the crown of the head. The sculpture is extremely rude, and as works of art the Easter Island statues bear no comparison to the Egyptian ones. The human body is represented terminating at the hips, the head is flat, the top of the forehead cut level so as to support a crown which was cut from red tufa found in one of the smaller craters. They were transported to villages near the sea, and placed upon stone platforms constructed in various heights and different lengths, facing the water. One of these platforms supported thirteen immense images, and all of those examined contained human bones, showing it to be a place of burial. Of these platforms one hundred and thirteen have been counted. On a precipice overlooking the sea is a village of ancient stone huts, where, it is said, the natives lived only during a portion of the year. Near by are also sculptured rocks, covered with curious and extremely interesting carvings.
STONE TABLET OF CHARACTER WRITING.
"The platforms are from two to three hundred feet long, and about thirty feet high, built of hewn stones five or six feet long, and accurately joined without cement. The platforms are at intervals all around the coast, and some of the headlands were levelled off to form similar resting-places for the images.
STONE PLATFORM FOR IMAGES.
"All of the principal images have the top of the head cut flat and crowned with a circular mass of red lava hewn perfectly round; some of these crowns are sixty-six inches in diameter, and fifty-two inches thick, and were brought eight miles from the spot where they were quarried. About thirty crowns are lying in the quarries, and some of them are fully ten feet in diameter, and of proportionate height."