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Easter Island: Early Witnesses

George Cooke


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an unfinished condition; that many more are to be found in the quarries, both inside the crater and on its outer slope, in all states of development and inferring from this that the workmen suddenly ceased their labors, the thought readily suggests itself, in explanation of the mystery, that either Rana Roraka or one of the neighboring volcanoes suddenly entered into a state of activity, threw out these showers of stones and, probably destroying many lives, stopped the labors of the workmen, which were thenceforth never resumed. Perhaps, too, the same calamity overthrew many of the idols, of which not one is now standing on its pedestal, laid waste the island, and wrought the destruction of the trees which once adorned it, and from the period of the occurrence of that disaster, the time of which can only be remotely guessed at, dates the decadence, of the ancient people of Te Pito te henua.
   The soil of the island is very rich and productive, scant and unpromising as it may appear in many places, and with proper clearing and cultivation, and the planting of the appropriate varieties of food, such as could be stored for consumption during the dry season, supplemented by the sustenance to be derived from the supplies of fish taken, with which the waters abound, a very large population might, no doubt, be maintained.
   As to the supply of water requisite for such a number of people, objection on that ground is not insuperable. Diligent search was made by the writer for the remains of cisterns, or any other evidences which they might have left of having had reservoirs for the storage of the precious fluid. None such were to be seen anywhere, and yet they might have possessed them, but of so perishable a character that all traces have long since been obliterated. It seems certain that they had no knowledge of any cement; it is not likely, therefore, that their reservoirs would have been built of stone. Then, too, there remains the fact of the immense bodies of water stored in these natural cisterns, the craters, particularly of Rana Kao. Here is a volume of water, at the present time at least 300 feet in depth, with a circumference at the surface of 2½ miles, and, if the parts of the crater visible above the water line be extended downward, probably conical in shape. A moment's consideration will show that here is a supply of water sufficient for an almost unlimited number of beings for an indefinite period. It may easily be imagined, also, that measures were most likely taken to maintain its purity, and that a people as intelligent as they appear to have been had some device for obviating the labor of transportation to the top of the crater.
   From what has been said it would appear that, even at the present day, the physical characteristics and natural conditions governing the island are not incompatible with the existence and well-being of a large population. I was not surprised, therefore, when Mr. Salmon informed me that from 1850 to 1860 the number of inhabitants was

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