Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1887 — The Stone Images of Easter Island. [ARTICLE]

The Stone Images of Easter Island.

A strange memento of a unknown race is the gigantic stone image from Easter Island, now on the way to the Smithsonian Institution. This lonely isle of the Pacific is of the volcanic origin, and, from its solitary situation, is seldom viSited. The natives, but few in number are of the Polynesian race, and were originally exceedingly hostile to the few whites who visited them., But within the last twenty years they have embraced Christianity under the influence of French missionaries.- The island is owned by a Tahiti firm, who utilize its fertile valleys for cattle raising. The remarkable features which distinguish it from other solitary island ase the huge stone statues to the number of several hundreds, which lie scattered about. They were chiseled with rude skill from the lava in the craters of extinct volcanoes find transported to all parts of the is'and, where they were set up, but most of them have since been overthrown by earthquake shocks. Some of these statues are forty feet in height, and some still remain unfinished in their qnaries; Nothing is known o l their origin. The present inhabitant! possess neither the skill nor the tools for the work, and have no appliances for transporting such immense masses of stone. Their traditions furnish no information, as ftiey merely ascribe a supernatural origin. The statues are all grotesque eftigies of human beings, and while they are lb\v in the scale of art they are evidently the work of a race centuries in advance of the present inhabitants. A theory has been advanced that Easter Island is tlie remnant of a submerged continent and that the statues were made, by people who worshiped them as idols. But this is only theory, without a par--tiole ofevidence to—sustain it,—The: statue for the Smithsonian institution is now on board the United States steamer Mohican, which was at last accounts at Valparaiso. It weighs between 12 and 15 tons and it was with great difficulty that it was placed on board the vessel, as the island lias no good harbors, and although the image had to be transported overland about eight miles, there was not a tree to furnish the material. The Mohican finally obtained a few logs at Samoa, with, which the work was accomplished. This is the second monster curio which has been taken away from Easter Island—a German Vessel having secured one abont two years ago. "Wlten it finds a permanent place here phzzled ethnologists may possibly be able to clear away the mystery of its origin by a careful study of its design “and workmanship.