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The Easter Island Tablets: Decipherments

A. Carroll


Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol.1 (1892)

103

Colophon: 380x95 GIF, 3.5k

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

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