THE EASTER ISLAND INSCRIPTIONS,
AND THE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THEM.
BY A. CARROLL, M.A., M.D.
EASTER ISLAND, when visited by Captain Cook, and
navigators subsequently, was found to be
inhabited by Polynesians in language and
appearance, much like those in the Pau-motu, the
Society, and other neighbouring groups. The
traditions of these Easter Islanders said "that
they had come from Rapa-iti, now called
Oparo, to Rapa-nui," called by the English Easter Island.
There were large statues, platforms or terraces of
carefully constructed masonry, over vaults, houses
of stone, and other structures in ruins, which
indicated to those conversant with the antiquities
of the Polynesians, and with the archaeology of
other races, that some other people had lived upon
this island as well as the Polynesians, but who or
what they were, where they came from, or how
long ago, remained a mystery, after all the
various guessings by the travellers from many
lands who had seen and examined the antiquities of
this island. I found in the museums of England,
America, Francs, Germany, and elsewhere, wooden
tablets and other things, with inscribed
characters upon them, that had been dug up or
procured in Easter Island by the islanders, or by
explorers who had been there. While trying to
procure information from the curators, or others
who had these inscriptions under their charge, as
to what they meant, or what they related to, I was
informed that, although attempts had been made to
interpret them, none had succeeded in doing so,
although many guesses had been made as to the
purport of these inscriptions. Some said they
were "picture writings," others that they were
"hieroglyphic records," others that they were
"phonetic characters of the Polynesians;" others
said they were "symbolic genealogies, or lists
of ancestors conventionalised." One gentleman, in
giving his version of what they meant, at a
meeting of the Anthropological Society, described
them as "heronias." Then it was said that the
natives recently upon the island could read and
interpret them, but this proved upon strict
examination to be erroneous, as they could not,
and only gave their own fanciful names to, and
views of, these