Chapter II: Preface: To the Second Edition

The second edition of a book affords opportunity to tender grateful thanks for the interest which has made it necessary. It is also one of the occasions when fate allows, in some measure at any rate, a chance to repair shortcomings.

It was felt in writing this volume that it was best to leave the work of the Expedition to tell as far as possible its own tale. Life, however, is short and books are many. Outside the circle of those with special scientific knowledge, this method seems, in spite of Chapter XIX, to have led too often, with even the kindest of readers and reviewers, to a certain vagueness as to what has, after all, really been accomplished. Some express disappointment that the problem is “unsolved if not insoluble”; others state, not without lingering regret, that “there is no longer any mystery.” Neither view is, of course, correct. It is, therefore, perhaps worth while, even at the cost of repeating what may be implicit elsewhere, to add a few more definite words.

It was never anticipated that any Expedition could settle once and for all the past history of Easter Island. In dealing with any scientific problem, the first step naturally is to find out all that can be discovered about the material in question; while the second is to co-ordinate that material with similar examples elsewhere, so that knowledge which may fail from one source, can be supplied from another.

The Expedition, therefore, as one of its primary undertakings, made an archæological survey of the island. It was a lengthy work, for not only are the figures and ruins very numerous, but it was found that not till after some six months’ study could they even be seen with intelligent eyes. We believe the survey to be, however, as far as possible accurate and complete. It is illustrated by some hundreds of sketches and negatives.

The only account of this kind which has so far been available is the rough, and naturally often erroneous, description given by the United States ship _Mohican_ after a thirteen days’ examination in 1886. Speaking of this part of our labours, a high authority has been good enough to say, “We now know for the first time in what the remains on the island really consist; its photographs alone would justify the Expedition.” This record will, we venture to think, hold increased value in the future, as there is a constant tendency for the remains to suffer deterioration at the hands of nature and man.

The Expedition, however, found other and unexpected matter to secure from oblivion—work which was of even greater, because of more pressing, importance. We had been informed that not only had all knowledge of the origin of the great works disappeared from the island, but that all memory of the early native culture before the advent of Christianity, which might possibly have thrown light upon them, was also gone. Happily this proved to be not altogether the case. When we arrived, such knowledge and tradition were expiring, but they were not altogether dead. It was our good fortune, in spite of language and other difficulties, to be able with patience to rescue at the eleventh hour much of high value, more especially that which points to a connection between the only recently expired bird cult and that of the images.

The facts now before us make clear that the present inhabitants of the island are derived from a union of the two great stocks of the Pacific, the Melanesian and Polynesian races, and that the Melanesian element has played a large part in its development. All the evidence gathered, whether derived from the stone remains, through the surviving natives, or in other ways, points to the conclusion that these people are connected by blood with the makers of the statues; this is, of course, the crucial point.

Now that this stage is reached, the problem at once falls into its right category; and we enter on the second phase of scientific quest. Easter Island is no longer an isolated mystery, there is no need to indulge in surmises as to sunken continents, it becomes part of the whole question of the culture of the Pacific and of the successive waves of migration which have passed through it.

On this large and difficult subject many able minds are at work, and some striking results, already drawn from the labours of the Expedition, are included in this volume. When we have more definite knowledge as to the nature and date of these migrations which have come from the west by such stepping-stones as Pitcairn Island, or by the Marquesas and Paumotu groups, then we shall be able to deduce still further information about Easter Island. When more is ascertained of the stone works scattered throughout other islands, we shall speak with greater certainty as to whether a first or second wave of immigrants, or both combined, are responsible for its monoliths. We have a very fair idea now, when, and perhaps why, the cult of the statues ended; even if there are no further discoveries on the island, we hope in these ways to learn when and how it began.

There is much we shall never know—the thoughts which passed through the minds of those old image-makers as they worked at their craft, the scenes enacted as their humbler neighbours toilsomely moved the great figures to their place, the weird ceremonies which doubtless marked their erection, not least the story of the persistence which erected and re-erected the burying-places after again and yet again they had been destroyed—such things are gone for ever. But the broad outlines and events of the story, with their approximate dates, to these there is every prospect we shall attain with reasonable certainty, and that before very many years have elapsed.

K. R.

_April 1920._

CONTENTS

PART I
_THE VOYAGE TO EASTER ISLAND_

CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE START 3
Why we went to Easter Island—The Building and Equipping of
the Yacht—The Start from Southampton—Dartmouth—Falmouth.

CHAPTER II
THE VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA 14
A Gale at Sea—Madeira—Canary Islands—Cape Verde
Islands—Across the Atlantic.

CHAPTER III
BRAZIL 34
Pernambuco—Bahia—Cabral Bay—Cape Frio—Rio de Janeiro—Porto
Bello—A Pampero.

CHAPTER IV
ARGENTINA 52
The River Plate—Buenos Aires, its Trade and People.

CHAPTER V
PATAGONIA 65
Port Desire—Eastern Magellan Straits—Punta Arenas—Western
Magellan Straits—Patagonian Channels.

CHAPTER VI
CHILE 99
Refitting at Talcahuano—Trip to Santiago and across the
Summit of the Andes—Valparaiso—To Juan Fernandez—Typhoid
on Board—Back to Chile—Juan Fernandez again.

CHAPTER VII
JUAN FERNANDEZ 111
The Island—Selkirk—Anson—Fate of the _Dresden_.

CHAPTER VIII
LIFE ON BOARD 115

PART II
_EASTER ISLAND_

CHAPTER IX
ARRIVAL AT EASTER ISLAND 124
First Impressions—The Story of the El Dorado—_Mana_
despatched.

CHAPTER X
CONDITIONS OF LIFE ON THE ISLAND 131
Description of the Island—Accommodation—Climate—Food—Labour.

CHAPTER XI
A NATIVE RISING 140
A Declaration of Independence—Cattle-raiding—A Mission which
failed—Bad to Worse—Arrival of a Chilean Warship.

CHAPTER XII
A GERMAN BASE 150
A Visit from Von Spee—First news of the War—S. R. goes to
Chile—The _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_—Return of
_Mana_—Departure of the Expedition.

CHAPTER XIII
PREHISTORIC REMAINS
AHU OR BURIAL-PLACES 165
Form of the Easter Island Image—Position and Number of the
Ahu—Design and Construction of the Image
Ahu—Reconstruction and Transformation—The Semi-pyramid
Ahu—The Overthrow of the Images and Destruction of the
Ahu.

CHAPTER XIV
PREHISTORIC REMAINS (_continued_)
STATUES AND CROWNS 175
Rano Raraku, its Quarries and Standing Statues—The
South-east Face of the Mountain—Isolated
Statues—Roads—Stone Crowns of the Images.

CHAPTER XV
NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES 200
_Sources of Information_: History, Recent Remains, Living
Memory—_Mode of Life_: Habitations, Food, Dress and
Ornament—_Social Life_: Divisions, Wars, Marriages, Burial
Customs, Social Functions.

CHAPTER XVI
NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES (_continued_) 236
Religion—Position of the Miru Clan—The Script—The Bird
Cult—Wooden Carvings.

CHAPTER XVII
CAVES AND CAVE-HUNTING 272
Residential Caves—Caves as Hiding-Places for Treasure—Burial
Caves.

CHAPTER XVIII
LEGENDS 277
First Arrival on the Island—The Long Ears exterminated by
the Short Ears—The Struggle between Kotuu and Hotu Iti.

CHAPTER XIX
THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE PROBLEM 290

PART III
_THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE_
_EASTER ISLAND TO SAN FRANCISCO_

CHAPTER XX
PITCAIRN ISLAND 305
A Kind Welcome—Religion—Administration—Economic
Problems—Physique—Native Remains—A Glimpse of Rapa.

CHAPTER XXI
TAHITI, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, SAN FRANCISCO 316
Tahiti—Voyage to Hawaiian Islands—Oahu, with its capital
Honolulu—Visit to Island of Hawaii—San Francisco—The
Author returns to England.

PART IV
_THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE_—Continued
_SAN FRANCISCO TO SOUTHAMPTON_
BY S. R.

CHAPTER XXII
SAN FRANCISCO TO PANAMA 335
Catching Turtle—The Island of Socorro and what we found
there—The tale of a Russian Finn—Quibo Island—Suffering of
the Natives from Elephantiasis—A Haul with the Seine.

CHAPTER XXIII
PANAMA TO JAMAICA 359
Navigation of the Gulf of Panama—Balboa and the City of
Panama—Through the Canal—Cristobal—An Incapable Pilot—The
Education of a Cook—A Waterspout—A Further Exciting
Experience.

CHAPTER XXIV
JAMAICA TO SOUTHAMPTON 373
Jamaica, and the Bahamas—Bermudas—Azores—Preparing for
Submarines—Southampton once more.

EPILOGUE 389

ITINERARY OF THE EXPEDITION 392

INDEX 395

ILLUSTRATIONS

AN EASTER ISLAND IMAGE (_Photogravure_) _Frontispiece_

PAGE

PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR (_Photogravure_) x