The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1913-03-06
TO EXPLORE The
STRlNCEST ISLE.
Easter Island Is a Land of
Many Mysteries.
HAD ANCIENT CIVILIZATION.


Learning Secrets Behind Sculptures,
Idols and inscriptions-LittIe Dot on
the Sea Holds Great Treasures In
Relics of Volcanic Origin.
Two recent events have revived in
terest In and promise the final solu-
ton of a mystery that has puzzled the
world for 200 years, or at least since
the Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen
discovered the triangle of land known
as Easter island on Easter morning
1922, 81 degrees and 80 minutes south
of the equator. 1000 miles from South
America and 1,400 miles from the near
est land. Pitcairn island.
The two facts that may prove the
keys that will unlock the secrets of
Easter island are the sailing of an ex-
petition in an auxiliary schooner yacht
fitted out by the British museum as an
expedition of research and investiga-
ton in charge of w. Scoresby Rout-
ledge and some late conclusions by
Professor W. E. Stafford of the United
States department of agriculture, bot
anist and ethnologist, who has travel
ed among the isles of the Pacific and
also in South America to trace points
of similarity. if they exist, between
the as yet unsolved sculpture and I'M
translated language of this forty-two
square mile, of land and the monu-
ments and peoples of Peru and Bolivia.
On this bit of territory have been
counted $50 sculptured statues created
upon cyclopean masonry. according to
the latest bulletin of the Pan-Amerl-
can union; also there are stone houses
some more than 100 feet in length,
with walls six feet thick. built like
forts. There are tablets in strange
language, terraces on headlands, with
wall toward the sea. sometimes thirty
feet high ard more than 200 or 300
feet long. On the land side of the ter
races are large stone pedestals for the
images.
ScuIptured From Lava.
Most of the efigies and inscriptions
are cut from rough solid lava. Forty
are inside the crater of one volcano,
and outside are as many more at the
foot of the slope, where they were
placed for removal to different plat
forms. Some platforms measure only
three or four feet in length, while 9TH
ers are eighty feet in extent. The lar
gest is In an unfinished state. II erect
ed upon its pedestal it would stand
seventy feet in height. The smallest
figure is but three feet high. All are
of the same grim, frozen faced type.
with the head long, eyes closed under
heavy brows, nose large. low bridged
and very broad at the nostrils, the up
per lips short and the lips pouting. In
most instances the head tits back
ward The lower part of the face is
broad and heavy, but imperfectly form
ed. Ears are long and pendant. The
shape generally ends at the shoulders
or waist. The expression is profoundly
solemn. disdainful, rudely picturing
scorn.
Images Thrown Down.
One of the most remarkable features
of the mystery is the fact that only one
of these images stands In it's original
position upon platform. All the 9th
ers were thrown down.
The work of these ancients stopped
suddenly. But why? For two centu-
ries this question has remained un-
answered. Was 1t the eruption Of a
that did It? Some of the lar
gest of the images are buried to the
neck in ashes and fragments of Lava.
The recorded writings of the race of
stone artists is cut into wooden tablets. |
Their alphabet, words and sentences, |
significant thoughts, are expressed by |
pictures of men, animals and various |
geometrical designs.
Many Ways of Reading.
To read a page in this supposedly |
you had the lexicon, you must read t
from left to right. Then you must |
urn the wooden page upside down and
continue to peruse from left to right
Then again must the student invert
his tablet, reading as before, until the
'creed is finished.
Professor Stafford, a man of great
edTnluS, udS udue Iue INTERESTING us
,overy that the language of the les
han 200 inhabitants today is essential
y Polynesian and like that of Hawaii.
Yearly all the words in the language
spoken by the natives could, by OBJ
serving certain fixed laws or changes,
)e converted into Hawaiian. Some of
he gods have the same names as the
ncient Hawaiian gods, although the
stands are separated by 1000 miles of
water. Contrary to the theory of 9th
RS. Professor Stafford believes that the
handful of present day inhabitants are
he descendants of the ancient lava
arvers.
Easter island. with its buried yet
isible mysteries. now belongs to
lille, which has discovered ceremonial
cepters, clubs. idols of stone and hard
wood with eyes of CLASSY volcanic rock
nd shell, ceremonial paddles. feature
eaddresses and small clubs for beat
ne the bark Of paper mulberry trees
or tapa cloth.
Tombstone Spuds.
As means of fighting the high cost | !