EASTER JSLAND

or RAPA NUI (discovered by the Dutch Admiral Roggeven on HKaster, 6th April, 1722), an island, 12 miles long, in the Sout: Pacific Ocean, long. 109° 17’ w., lat. 27° 6’ s., and utilized for grazing sheep and cattle. It now belongs to Chile, from which it is 2000 miles distant. Pop. 250 in 1916. The Routledge Expedition reported, in 1919, that the inhabitants are of mixed Polynesian and Me lanes i an origin. Their ancient bird-cult shows very close resemblances to that of the Solomon Islands. Numerous gigantic stone images of a soft ‘volcanic ash’ were being worshipped when the island was first visited by Europe ans in_ the eighteenth century. Some still lie partly constructed in a crater quarry. These images date back a few centuries, and resemble those made until recently in wood on this island and elsewhere in Ocean i a, and bear symbols used on these and in tattooing. Local legends of the earliest settlements from distant islands and of local tribal wars still survive. The present inhabitants are undoubtedly descendants of the image-makers and worshippers. Cf. K. Routledge, The Mystery of Easter Island.