Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-28
Geographic News
SETTING FOR WORLD MYSTERY
bulletins by the
National Geographic Society

SETTING FOR WORLD MYSTERY
Easter Island. rumored to have
disappeared beneath the Pacific at
the time of the recent destructive
earthquake shocks in Chile, is the
subject of the following bulletin
from the Washington, ID. c., head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society.
.If Easter Island had sunk be-
meath the ocean as it was rumorsd
to have DONE" says the bulletia,
this final dropping of the curtain
on the island might have gone some
way toward solving its mystery; for
this tiny bit of land with it's unique
gigantic statues is shrouded in mys-
terry and has remained since it's dis
covery one of the worlds unsolved
riddles. One theory has been that
1t represents the last pinnacle of an
ancient Pacific Atlantis which dis
appeared beneath the waters many
centuries goa theory to which a
disappearance of the island might
obviously lend support.
Far From Everywhere
Situated 1000 miles west OF
South America and almost an equal
distance from other Pacific islands,
Easter Island is n of the most
isolated inhabited regions on the
globe. Its greatest length is less
than Is miles and its greatest width
about seven, but it, triangular shape
giyes Il an area Of only 80 square
gone practically unnoticed; but tor
mer Inhabitants unwittingly 'adver-
tised' Easter Island by setting up
huge images along its beaches: and
to geographers and students of hu-
man institutions and activities It is
famous as any island of the Seven
Seas.
1.-The mystery of Easter Island be-
came recognized when Dutch navi-
gators discovered it on Easter morn
ing, 1872, and reported that hundreds
of strange stone figures of men more
than 80 feet high stood everywhere
about its margins, their backs to.the
sea. The natives had only the crud-
est of tales to account for these inl-
ages which evidently had been
fashioned ages before.
Recent study has shown that the
images were mounted on terraces be-
low which the bodies of the dead
were exposed and often buried. But
whence came the idea for such stat
ues on this isolated island, and how
some of them weighing many tons
We're moved and set in place by the
natives, have proved battling enig-
mas.
Gigantic Statues Wear Hats
THE statues were carved from vol
canic lava on the slopes of an ex-
tinct volcano. Scores of them remain
still in and ear the quarries. Others
have been moved various distances
some remaining horizontal. others
placed in an upright position. Some
were moved-the natives say py
magic-for miles across the island.
| Altogether nearly zoo of the huge
figures are now visible, and others
are believed to have been buried N
landslides. The largest standing
statues are 80 feet high, but one
still reclining in its quarry measur-
es Ga feet in length. On the heads
of many of the figures were placed
great cylindrical hats of a different
colored stone, each weighing several
tons.
Easter Island, discovered by ghe
Dutch and for a while possessed by
the Spanish, now belongs to Chile,
but for long periods there has been
l III civil NLil6dn I6pISSSHtdtlNS III
residence A Chilean company op-
crates a cattle and sheep ranch on
the island which supports a luxuriapi
| growth of grasses. About once a year
a ship calls, leaves supplies and
takes away wool and hides. the
| cattle are killed for their hides
alone, and the surplus meat is
| thrown away.
Used for Base BY Germans
"onIy about 200 natives. Kanakas,
now live on the island, but it is sup
posed to have, supported several
thousand Inhabitants in the past
Peruvian slave traders kidnapped
close to 1000 at one time during the
past century. Since then there has
been practically no tribal organiza.
ton.
Easter Island played its part In
the World War and evidently had
figured for years in German naval
plans over against der Tag Ger
man vessels from all ports of the
Pacific quietly assembled there il
the summer Of 1914 preparatory Il
united. action under Admiral vor
Spec. But it was a rendezvous with
death. From there the assembled
fleet sailed to its destruction by a
British squadron off the Falklands.'