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Easter Island: Early Witnesses
William Thomson
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or fiber thrown up at the end of the groove. This is blown into a flame, and dried grass added to it until the fire is sufficiently established. The difficulty of preserving suitable material in a perfectly dry state led to the custom of keeping up a perpetual fire in each community. These vestal fires were kept up by persons appointed for that purpose, though it does net appear that they were vestal virgins. Caves affording ample protection from the weather were selected for the location of these permanent fires, and although they had no religious significance, the flames were as carefully watched and attended as the celestial fire of the followers of Zoroaster.
CANNIBALISM.
The traditions abound with instances of anthropophagism, and in all Polynesia there were no more confirmed cannibals than these islanders. The practice is said to have originated with a band of natives who were defeated in war and besieged in their stronghold until reduced to the borders of starvation. From this time the loathsome custom of devouring prisoners, captured in war, grew in popular favor. Cannibalism may have originated in a spirit of revenge, but it grew beyond those limits, and not only were prisoners of war and enemies slain in battle eaten, but every unfortunate against whom trivial charges were made met that fate. Instances are related in the legends of children being devoured by their parents, not from any other motive than to satisfy the cravings of their depraved and vitiated appetites. Cannibalism was practiced until a comparatively recent period. Several of the older natives acknowledge that they had frequently eaten human flesh in their youth, and described the process of cooking and preparing "long-pig" for the feast.
GOVERNMENT.
The ancient government of Easter Island was an arbitrary monarchy. The supreme authority was vested in a king and was hereditary in his family. The person of the king was held sacred. Clan fights and internecine struggles were common, but the royal person and family were unmolested. The king reigned over the entire island and was not disturbed by the defeat or the victory of any of the clans. The island was divided into districts having distinct names and governed by chiefs, all of whom acknowledged the supremacy of the king. The title of chief was also hereditary, and descended from father to son, but the king reserved the right to remove or put to death any of them and of naming a successor from the people of the clan.
There was no confederation, each clan being independent of all the rest, except as the powerful are naturally dominant over the weak. The chiefs wore peculiar feather hats to denote their rank, and they presided at feasts and councils in the absence of the king. Other grades of rank were recognized, such as that required by feats of valor, public
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