Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-03-09

had formerly very numerous population
estimated at not less than 10000 and the
puzzle IS to imagine what became OF
these people. who, judging from the as.
tonishinG accumulation of skeletons. must
nave held occupancy for n great length
OF time. They seem to have been of a
race altogether different from that of the
present inhabitants, and among various
arts they praCticcd the sculpture of gil
Eantc statues of stone, the like OF which
nave never been found in any other part
OF the world. The quarres i'm which these
coIossi Wee hewn from solid rock Cemain
to-day Just as they were left by the pre-
historic artists, whose work seems to have
hcen brought to sudden stop by ca
lanity that overwhelmed the island and
wiped out nearly everything living on II.
me NoyaGer who might have approach
cd EaSter Island 400 years ago would have
witnessed n remarkable spectacle He
would have beheld, placed at intervals
along the shore, great platforms of hewn
stones, and on them rows of hewn statues
with their faces toward the sea a. if
representing so many tutelary divinities
Keeping enternal watch uIon the ocean
in behalf Of the islanders. on one of these
platforms he might have counted fifteen
such colossi, from forty to sixty feet in
height. This indeed, was the platform
Known as TongaSika-the largest and
most imposing of all. 1t was eight feet
in height nine feet wide. and $40 feet
long. To-day the platforms remain, but
all of tho statues have been throw down
and lie scattered about. In front of each
platform is a wide paved space. ap0ar-
entity designed to afford standing room
for considerable multitude.
II was formerly suppC sed that the
statues We're gods, worshipped as idols. but
1t now appears that they merely repre-
scented chiefs and other distinguished per-
81 hain IN, for
Some of them are evidently females, and
whichever their sex they commonly
wore on their heads cylindcr-shaped
crowns of reddish volcanic tuft which
separately weighed two or three tons
a piece. The figures themselves. each
having tho form of the uppeC half of a
human being, are of gray lava. The
whole island being of volcanic origin.
there is no lack Of this material, which is
rather soft, and therefore well adapted
for carving with the stone tool evidently
employed by the prehistoric artists. No
fewer than $50 of the statues have been
found. The platforms on which they or
ignally stood usually contain chambers
filled with skeletons, the bodies of the
dead consigned to these communal scpul-
chres having been wrapped in dried grass
and laid with their heads toward the
ocean. In some instances the platforms
are provided with great oven-lke recep-
Il,
has been surmised, for cannibal feasts on
(. largc scale.
There IS no mystery as to the origin of
the statues, inasmuch as many of them
are found in various stages of completion
In the quarres, which served as work
shops for turning them out. The largest
of the volcanic mountains on Easter Is
land is Rama Roraka, which is 1921 feet
high, and has a crater fouC-hfths of a
mile in diameter. The edge of this crater
forms a nearly perfect circle, broken only
at point on the south SIDE, through
which the lava stream, when the volcano
was active, found its way to the sea. In
side of the crater the cliffs have been
cut into terraces by the image
sees stone giant half finished
or, in other cases. neacly ready
tists tool. Other statues are again mere
~ skctched out upon the rocky walls, IS
a preliminary to beginning the work of
sculpture.
On the outer slope of the crater is an
other and even more extensive workshop,
and here more incomplete statues are
found Just as in Egypt, where in the
quarrieS at Syene, the greatest of all the
obelsks still lies unfinished. so.in This
workshop outside the crater may be seen
the biggest of the images found on the
island, still adherlng to the bedrock, and
last STEP in the process of sculpture was
TO cut the back of the statue away from
the rock out of which II had been carved.
Inside Of the crater there are ninety-three
statues, forty of which are completed
and ready to be conveyed to their plat
forms on the coast. Necessarily the la
Dor involved in the process of transpor-
tatlon must have been enormous, mas
much as the images, Weighing from
twelve to forty tons each, had to be car
ried great distances over "a very irregu-
lar country 1t is believed that they wege
lowered down the mountain by chocks
and wedges, and then dragged the rest
Of the way by hundreds Of men over
roads made for the purpose, which were
covered with seaweed Being rolled on
an inclined plane to the top of the plat
form, they were set up In the workshop
outside the crater and at the foot of the
mountain are 145 statues.
1t Is obvious that the number of work
men employed in these quarIies have
lcen very great. That some tremendous
catastrophe put n sudden and final end
% their labors seems 10 be beyond ques-
ion, and the likelihood is that it was II
'olcanic eruption. This it may have been
hat overthrow all the images, destroying
he inhabitants. and even wiped out all
he trees on the island. Though tho soil
II the island is very rich, almost the only
reos are very dwarflsh, being not more
han ten feet in height and two or three
inches in diameter. The wood OF these
rees Is extremely hard, and Is used by
no islanders of to-day in the manufac-
ure of household gods. Such gods are
udely-carVed and hideous limitations of
lie nude human form, two or three feet
II length, with preposterous development
II chest and preternatural collapse Of alb
omen, as though famine had long brood
ID over the land. They have long and
lender arms and legs, goatees, and prom
nent ears. The eyes of these idols are
cry curious, the iris being represented
Usually by circular button of bone
which is Tut from a human skull. In a
ound hole IN the centre of this disk is
ct bit of volcanic glass. which gsten-
ne In the light, makes fair imita ton
Il pupil. Skulls out of which such
isks were cut were imagined by earlier
Explorers TO AFFORD evidence OF a prehis-
oric trephining, but Or. Cook discovers
hat this was a mistake.
There are now only about $50 natives on
he island-a degenerate, no-acrount peo-
lie, who claim descent from the image
makers, though apparently without Just
vound. 1t seems likely that the fate of
he prehistoric race, so strangely wiped
ut, Will forever remain mystery,