702

particularly when the slanting rays of the rising or setting sun shine upon them, and at that time especially, when they stand so prominently forth, would readily suggest the human navel, from which it may be inferred that portion of the name of the island might be derived.
   Regarding the other word, henua, the uterus, can it be that they meant to designate by this term the great volcano Rana Roraka, in whose womb was created, and from whose vitals was born that host of monolithic images which once reared their colossal forms aloft, giant genii guarding these rock-bound shore and which to-day, prone and mutilated as they are, fill the mind of the voyager with wonder, awe, and admiration?
   Hiti te eiranga, the name said to have been given to the island by the English is, perhaps, a corruption of that above-mentioned, as is certainly also the name Te Pito fenua, wrongly stated as signifying "the land in the middle of the sea." The name Rapa Nui, signifying Great Rapa, is modern, having been given to the island by the Tahitians twenty years since, to distinguish it from Rapa iti, Little Rapa, otherwise called Oparo, an island lying 1,900 miles to the westward, in the direction of the Society Group, which latter is 2,500 miles distant. The name Easter was given the island by Roggeween, who discovered it on Easter Sunday, 1721. It has also been called by various names, such as Teapy and Waihu.
   It has often been subject of remark that this propensity of giving new, modern, European names to lands and islands, not only when originally discovered, but often when merely revisited, may be considered as not only in questionable taste, but as leading to endless confusion. The charts and Sailing Directions are replete with instances of that sort, cases occurring when perhaps half a dozen modern and strangely appearing names, c ill by a different navigator, are applied to one small island or group of islands. The spelling of the native names is also, in many instances, wide of the mark. These strictures may be said to apply with special force to the island under consideration, and, therefore, in these reports and on the corrected chart its ancient name, as well as the native names of its mountains, bay , and headlands, have been adhered to as closely as practicable, while at the same time the greatest care has been exercised in spelling them phonetically as received from the natives.
   Since its discovery the island has been visited at successive times by Cook and La Perouse; by the H. M. S. Blossom in 1825, and Topane in 1868; by the Chilean gunboat O'Higgins in 1870 and 1875; by the H. M. S. Sappho in 1882, and by the German gunboat Hycene in the same year.
   The U. S. S. Mohican arrived at the island December 18 and sailed December 31, 1886.
   The distance to the nearest inhabited island to the westward, Pitcairn

702