I Had An Opportunity Of Examining Only Two Or Three Of These Statues, Which
Are Near The Landing-Place; And They Were Of A Grey Stone, Seemingly Of The
Same Sort As That With Which The Platforms Were Built.
But some of the
gentlemen, who travelled over the island, and examined many of them, were
of opinion that the stone of which they were made, was different from any
they saw on the island, and had much the appearance of being factitious.
We
could hardly conceive how these islanders, wholly unacquainted with any
mechanical power, could raise such stupendous figures, and afterwards place
the large cylindric stones before mentioned upon their heads. The only
method I can conceive, is by raising the upper end by little and little,
supporting it by stones as it is raised, and building about it till they
got it erect; thus a sort of mount or scaffolding would be made, upon which
they might roll the cylinder, and place it upon the head of the statue, and
then the stones might be removed from about it. But if the stones are
factitious, the statues might have been put together on the place, in their
present position, and the cylinder put on by building a mount round them,
as above mentioned. But, let them have been made and set up by this or any
other method, they must have been a work of immense time, and sufficiently
shew the ingenuity and perseverance of these islanders in the age in which
they were built; for the present inhabitants have most certainly had no
hand in them, as they do not even repair the foundations of those which are
going to decay. They give different names to them, such as Gotomoara,
Marapate, Kanaro, Goway-too-goo, Matta Matta, &c. &c. to which they
sometimes prefix the word Moi, and sometimes annex Areeke. The latter
signifies chief, and the former burying, or sleeping-place, as well as we
could understand.[4]
Besides the monuments of antiquity, which were pretty numerous, and no
where but on or near the sea-coast, there were many little heaps of stones,
piled up in different places along the coast. Two or three of the uppermost
stones in each pile were generally white, perhaps always so, when the pile
is complete. It will hardly be doubted that these piles of stone had a
meaning; probably they might mark the place where people had been buried,
and serve instead of the large statues.
The working-tools of these people are but very mean, and, like those of all
the other islanders we have visited in this ocean, made of stone, bone,
shells, &c. They set but little value on iron or iron tools, which is the
more extraordinary, as they know their use; but the reason may be, their
having but little occasion for them.
[1] "It was impossible for us to guess at the cause of this
disproportion in the number of the different sexes; but as all the
women we saw were very liberal of their favours, I conjectured at that
time, that the married and the modest, who might be supposed to form
the greater part, did not care to come near us, or were forced by the
men to stay at their dwellings in the remote parts of the island.
These few who appeared were the most lascivious of their sex, that
perhaps have ever been noticed in any country, and shame seemed to be
entirely unknown to them." - G.F.
[2] "They were inferior in stature to the natives of the Society and
Friendly Isles, and to those of New Zealand, there being not a single
person amongst them, who might be reckoned tall. Their body was
likewise lean, and their face much thinner than that of any people we
had hitherto seen in the South Sea. Both sexes had thin, but not
savage features, though the little shelter which their barren country
offers against the sunbeams, had contracted their brows sometimes, and
drawn the muscles of their face up towards the eye. Their noses were
not very broad, but rather flat between the eyes; their lips strong,
though not so thick as those of negroes; and their hair black and
curling, but always cut short, so as not to exceed three inches. Their
eyes were dark-brown, and rather small, the white being less clear
than in other nations of the South Seas." - G.F.
[3] "These were human figures made of narrow pieces of wood about
eighteen inches or two feet long, and wrought in a much neater and
more proportionate manner than we could have expected, after seeing
the rude sculpture of the statues. They were made to represent persons
of both sexes; the features were not very pleasing, and the whole
figure was much too long to be natural; however, there was something
characteristic in them, which shewed a taste for the arts. The wood of
which they were made was finely polished, close grained, and of a
dark-brown, like that of the casuarina. Mahine was most pleased with
these carved human figures, the workmanship of which much excelled
those of the e tees in his country, and he purchased several of
them, assuring us they would be greatly valued at Otaheite. As he took
great pains to collect these curiosities, he once met with a figure of
a woman's hand, carved of a yellowish wood, nearly of the natural
size. Upon examination, its fingers were all bent upwards, as they are
in the action of dancing at Otaheite, and its nails were represented
very long, extending at least three-fourths of an inch beyond the
fingers end. The wood of which it was made was the rare perfume wood
of Otaheite, with the chips of which they communicate fragrance to
their oils. We had neither seen this wood growing, nor observed the
custom of wearing long nails at this island, and therefore were at a
loss to conceive how this piece of well-executed carving could be met
with there.
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