and different grammatical structure, give evidence that a mixture of peoples, as voyagers and residents, took place among those who came to Easter Island in the olden times, more than five hundred years ago. But these and other such details must wait for future opportunities, and I now proceed to give the interpretations of some of these inscriptions from Easter Island, keeping as near to the original texts as possible, thus accounting for the peculiar phraseology.
   The underwritten is a translation close to the original text of a prayer for general health and increase of crops, by the priests and a priestess, or wife of the chief, joining in this petition to the ancestral spirits :^__
   "To those who are our Guardians, oh give ear to us in your temple. You are our protectors. You are the good spirits of our ancestors. I, and we, know you as the Chiefs who are the powerful protectors to these sons of the Sun-chiefs. Ye gods of strength increase their strength, they implore ye as the Masters, wearers of the royal ornament, as the Guardian deities. Yours it is to give ear, and hear. The Sun-chief's bird that calls every hour, the Sun-chief and the Sun-chief's wife, to whom the royal band was bestowed. This good bird of the Sun-chief's is our messenger to the ancestors. Hear all messages to the end, oh excellent Masters, from these, the sons of the ancestors. Oh! our protectors, the Sons of the field, the good Ancestors who are worshipped, your bones are in the house of stone. You protectors of the house, of the clan, and of the families of us. At this terrace is the wife^__at this terrace of the Turtle, where the good Sun is enthroned, and the Ancestors are gathered, and their sons with them, and where the Lightning comes. Give us increase. From the cave vaults let it be Officers of us all you are. The representative images of the good Vira of the sea, of the good Sun, of the sacred and good Turtle, let them all give ear to these requests. The Masters in their houses, in the Sun, and of the springs. You are the Inspectors, the Judges. Good Spirits of the groves, the strong son by Viro of the Cave; the Wise one, the Watcher, the bird of the Sun; oh! happy Star of the year; ye guardian deities, near your sacred stone-pillars, in the sepulchral labyrinths; strong Controller of the day; the chief son of his mother; the Sun-year it is. Master of the termination of the cycle; in the sacred Sun-temple there is a good descendant of our dead ancestors, and they who are their sons, and the wives of the Sun-chiefs. The Supreme power; the sacred Fire, so good; the labyrinthine caves of the dead ancestors, and the twin children of the Sun, give ear to us through the fleet messengers. Wife of the Master Defender, at this Turtle terrace grant us this to be a good year, for thy sons we are. Thou art Chief, and the Supreme."
   The next that we give is the prayer of a woman, a chief's wife, offered through the priests, who are interceding for her to the ancestral spirits that she may have a son.
   "By the Sun-controller, the circle on the good rock near the centre, and its throne of the gnomon; by the mothers of the sacred ancestors; by the sacred women who were of these ancestors; by the family and the clan in their sacred temple; by the protectors thereof and the Masters; by the oracle, the sepulchres of the good temple; by the love for the ancestors we have, and for sacred things, we, the sons of these ancestors, wearing the ornament of royal and sacred feathers. Give increase to this woman; permit her to have a son of her own blood, thus to increase in her a love towards you. By this good towards her you will be good to us all, and do good to all of us. By this Sepulchre of the Turtle, which so good is; by this Turtle terrace to its extreme end, where is deposited the royal and sacred ornament; by the Sepulchre of the Protecting Spirits, for good are they, at the centre. For this son prayed for shall be dedicated and placed on this terrace a sacred stone among the guardian spirits for this son, who shall represent the