Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1904 — EASTER ISLAND. [ARTICLE]

EASTER ISLAND.

A Curious Story About One of the Polynesian Group, Far away in the Pacific ocean lies a lonely volcanic island which is called Easter island from the fact that it was discovered on Easter day, 1722, by a navigator named Roggcreen, a Dutch admiral. Its real name is Rapa-Nui, and its Polynesian inhabitants are fast dying out. Comparatively few explorers have visited it, and, contrary to the joyous spring name it has, it is a deserted place. What makes Easter island of interest are the numbers of curious colossal stone heads and busts, called moai, which abound there, evidently the work of the natives hundreds of years ago. A few of these are erect, but many have fallen. The legend says that King Tukuihu settled in Rapa-Nui and retired into a cave, where lie carved and cut all the gigantic heads, which removed themselves to their present position on the island.

When he became old, he did not die, but was turned into a butterfly, which is called in that country by his name. Tukuihu used to search for eggs in the nests of the sea birds, and when he lost his human form the chiefs who wished to succeed him agreed to search for a certain number of eggs and the first to collect them was appointed king. It seems singular that eggs without any especial significance should have been so important on Easter island. — Chicago Inter Ocean.