Rapa Nui Journal Volume 14 Issue 2

AUTHORS AND ABSTRACTS FOR THE PACIFIC 2000 CONFERENCE IN KAMUELA, IIAWAI'I ISLAND

Micronesia Handbook, 5th Edition by Neil M. Levy, 2000;

308 pp., 71 maps, charts. US$ 16.95. ISBN: 1-56691-162-1 Moon Travel Handbooks, Emeryville, CA

Review by Felicia R. Beardsley

South Pacific Handbook, 7th Edition by David Stanley, 2000;

990 pages, 147 maps, US$ 24.00 ISBN: 1-56691-172-9 Moon Travel Handbooks, Emeryville, CA

Review by L. L. (Bud) Henry

New Zealand Handbook, 5th edition. by Jane King, 1999;

512 pages, illustrations, photos and maps. US$ 18.95; UK £ 12.99; CAN$ 29.50 ISBN: 1-56691-165-6. Moon Travel Handbooks, Emeryville, CA

Review by Steven Roger Fischer

Moai Sightings

What's New in Polynesia

What's New in Hangaroa

News from Off-Center

The following notice appeared in EI Mercurio on March, 2000: "Nuevo uso del suelo en Isla de Pascua. Por primera vez el Gobierno planifico el uso de las 16.600 hectareas de suelo que posee Isla de Pascua. La idea es compatibilizar la proteccion de atractivos arqueologicos y ecologicos con las necesidades de la etnia rapanui ". "Esta zonificacion, acordada por el Consejo (Comision) de Desarrollo de la isla y el Ministerio de Bienes Nacionales. permitira que hoy el titular de esa cartera. Sergio Galilea. entregue 1500 ha-que antes correspondian al fundo Vaitea. de la CORFO, y al parque nacional Rapa Nui-a 267 familias de esa etnia. Las parcelas solo pueden ser vendidas a otro rapanui, pues esta prohibido que extranjeros o chilenos "continentales" adquieran tierras".

The quote from EI Mercurio is public information concerning the new plan for distributing land on Easter Island. It says something incredible: " ... for the first time the government planned the land use to make archaeology, ecology and the needs of Rapanui people compatible".

Since the eighteenth century there have been many compilations of myths and legends about Rapanui culture. In some cases, there are different versions of a story and many of these have survived until the present time.

Oral traditions are presently limited to the most elderly members of the community, and they correspond with surprising accuracy to various accounts compiled by scientists since the beginning of the 20th century.

The H.MS. Topaze sighted Easter Island on 31 October 1868. Sailing from Callao, it was to search for other islands rumored to be in the area and to conduct a survey of Easter Island (Van Tilburg 1992:38). On board was a Lt. Colin M Dundas, who made various notes about the island and recorded his impressions. Dundas' descriptions are not as well known as those of Linton Palmer. Upon his return to Great Britain, Lt. Dundas presented a paper at Edinburgh, for the Society of Antiquities of Scotland His little-known report presented here, annotated by the editors of RNJ.