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These truncated cones, nearly cylindrical in shape, were easily transported. The material is readily quarried and fashioned, being light, only about 1.4 times heavier than water, while the average density of the image-stone is about 2.1.
   The largest crown measured was 12½ feet in diameter, but of those that had actually been placed in position the average weight would not be more than 3 tons. The crowns were placed in position upon the heads of the standing images by building a roadway upon which they could be rolled to the proper spot. The clearing away of the incline was the final act. The earth which formed the surface was utilized as garden-patches, and the stones which formed the foundation of the roadway were disposed of in building the wing-extensions of the platform. The platforms differ greatly in dimensions, but the general plan and characteristics are invariably the same. Many of them are in a fair state of preservation, except that the images have been thrown down and the terraces in the rear obliterated or strewn with rubbish, while others have been reduced to a state of complete ruin. The platforms are usually located near the beach, and on the high bluff some of them are quite near the edge, overlooking the sea. The general plan consists of a front elevation composed of blocks of stone fairly well squared and neatly fitted together without cement, a parallel wall forming the inside boundary, built of uncut stone, inclosing small chambers or tombs placed at irregular intervals. Loose bowlders fill the spaces between the tombs and form the horizontal plane of the platform, into which are let the rectangular stones which constituted the base upon which the images stood. The façade stones are large and heavy, and in some cases the smooth surface presented could not well be attributed to the rude implements at the command of the builders, and must have been produced by friction or grinding. Long wings composed of uncut stone extend from the platform proper, built up to the summit at the line of junction and sloping away to the surface of the ground at the ends. In the rear of the platform a few steps descend to a gently sloping terrace, which terminates in a low wall and is bounded by a squarely built wall raised above the ground so as to join the top of the platform. Human remains fill the inner chambers, and bones lie scattered about among the loose bowlders of the platform and its extensions. The ruined condition of these solid specimens of architecture, with the overthrown images and immense deposit of loose bowlders on the surface of the ground, are strongly suggestive of earthquakes and volcanic eruption. The images in all stages of incompletion in the workshops, and abandoned en route to the coast in various directions, indicate that the work was suddenly arrested, and not gradually brought to an end; but the traditions are silent upon the subject, and no record has been handed down of the disturbance of any of the volcanoes on the island.

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