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Easter Island: Early Witnesses

William Thomson


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as fully as possible in the care and attention the new plants would require, and made to understand the value of this addition to their resources. Not a trace can be found of the things planted by this generous Frenchman, but whether they were suffered to die out through the ignorance or indolence of the natives may never be known.
   We found the lapse of a century had made but little improvement in the resources of the islanders. Trees have been planted around the house of Mr. Brander, at the southwest end of the island, but, with the exception of the fig, acacia, and paper-mulberry, they do not appear to thrive. At various places throughout this land we found small clumps of Edwardsia, Broussonetia, and Hibiscus, but all were dead, having been stripped of their bark by the flocks of sheep, which roam at will over the island. None of these trees were over 10 feet high, and the largest trunk we found would measure about 5 inches in diameter.
   The natives are not altogether ignorant of husbandry, though they practice it spasmodically and at a great expense of time and labor, differing in no respect from the customs of their forefathers hundreds of years ago. In the cultivation of yams, potatoes, and taro, the young plants are protected from the fierce heat of the sun by a mulching of dried grass gathered from the uncultivated ground. Bananas are grown in holes a foot or more deep and with sloping sides, designed to catch and hold the rain-water as long as possible about the roots of the plant. Sugar cane is grown in protected spots, and attains the height of about 10 feet. During our peregrinations this succulent plant was extensively used in lieu of something to drink, and proved exceedingly valuable in preventing a parched condition of the throat. The natives have no knowledge of the art of extracting the juice of the cane for the purpose of making sugar.
   The sweet potatoes are large and remarkably good. The natives eat them both raw and cooked. Experiments have been made recently with imported white potatoes, but they have been tried in various situations and at different seasons without success. After the first growth they appear like new potatoes, and when planted again they are invariably soft and sweet, and are much less palatable than the indigenous variety. We saw tobacco plants growing in secluded spots, but were unable to determine by whom or when they were introduced. The natives maintain that the seed was included among that which was brought to the island by the first settlers. Tomato plants were also found growing wild, and on several occasions proved a valuable addition to our limited fare.
   A wild gourd is common, and constituted the only water-jar and domestic utensil known to the natives. Suitable clay abounds, but the potter's art seems never to have been known on the island. There are two varieties of indigenous hemp.
   We saw no flowering plants that are indigenous to the soil. Vervain,

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