Rapa Nui Journal Volume 8 Issue 3

All good journalists know that their stories should be written in such a way that, in the event of a space shortage, they can be cut from the bottom and will still make sense. For me, a former journalist, old habits die hard. Thus, when the RNJ computer went on the blink recently and lopped off the last four (typewritten) pages of my letter 'The origins of the illustrations in Thomson's report of 1891' (RNJ 8:49-51), the hassled editor apparently didn't even notice the difference. I take this as a compliment. Even so, to amplify several points that were meant to be amplified and to enable me take up a comment made in an editorial note, I would like to summarize what was left out.

Easter Island Foundation News by William Liller, CEO

"Die Osterinsel" (Easter Island) A 30-minute film documentary by the German television channel ARD, written and directed by Gerhard Hofmann, 1994. Broadcast in Germany on Saturday afternoon, 7 August 1994. Review by Steven Roger Fischer, Meersburg, Germany.

RAPA NUl: THE EASTER ISLAND LEGEND ON FILM by Kevin Reynolds and Tim Rose Price, Photographs by Ben Glass. A Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook, Newmarket Press, New York 1994. 160 pp., ill, (Colorplates)

Bisignani,1. D. 1994. Big Island of Hawaii Handbook, Including Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, The Kona Coast, and Waipio Valley. Second Edition. Moon Publications, Chico, California. 350 Pages, 22 Maps, drawings, photographs, some in color. ISBN: 1-56691-006-4. Price $13.95. Phone (800) 345-5473.

The Evolution and Organization of Prehistoric Society in Polynesia. Edited by Michael W. Graves and Roger C. Green. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 19,1993. 125 pages, black and white photos, line drawings, maps, charts. Soft cover. This volume can be ordered from Sales Manager, New Zealand Archaeological Assn.,

In our last issue [RNJ 8 (2):52] we reviewed Peter Crawford's Nomads of the Wind, the BBC book that accompanies the TV series of the same name. We now hear that the TV series will be shown in the United States on PBS, beginning in November.

Martinsson-Wallin, Helene. 1994. Ahu -- The Ceremonial Stone Structures of Easter Island: Analyses of Variation and Interpretation of Meanings. Aun 19. Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis. Uppsala. 188 pages, 163 illustrations and photographs, and a bibliography. Soft cover, ISBN 91-506-1043-0.

Leopold, Peter and Ricardo Herrgott. 1994. Rapa Nui- Die Osterinsel. Alltag und Mythos des Eentlegensten Eilands der Welt. Lowen Edition, Laimgrubengrasse 19110, A-I060 Vienna, Austria. 260 pages, 35 color photographs, black and white illustrations, maps, paperback. In German. To obtain a copy of this book, contact Lowen Edition. Price is US $35; prepaid money order.

Some questions have arisen regarding the alignment of the back sea wall at Abu Tongariki which has, in its reconstruction, a grossly sinuous appearance. Hard for many archaeologists to believe it originally was constructed in that way. Nonetheless, the restoration is nearing completion.

Under this title, Gerard Boon published an article in the Dutch daily, NRC Handelsblad of 12 April, 1994. In it he tells the story of his visit to the island of Takapoto in the Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia. It was on Takapoto that one of Roggeveen's ships, the Africaansche Galey, was wrecked on a reef in May, 1722.

Mrs Mulloy claimed that the word 'ears' does not appear in Emily Ross Mulloy's article on the meanings of the terms hanau eepe and hanau momoko (RNJ 7:71-72) may well have been greeted with murmurs of approval by those who already agreed with her. But it would have failed to convince the unconverted that those terms should not be translated as 'long ears' and 'short ears' respectively, as they have been for many years. Mrs Mulloy claimed that the word 'ears' does not appear in either expression and that the definitions of them that Father Sebastian Englert (1970:93) recorded should be accepted. Englert defined hanau eepe as 'fat or heavy set people' and hanau momoko as 'thin, slender people'. Mrs Mulloy said Englert was a highly skilled linguist with a knowledge of more than a dozen languages. She implied that if he said that such and such was so, then it was so.

Current area. The Chilean National Frontiers and State Limits, Ministry of Foreign Afairs, specifies the area for Rapa Nui as 170.85 square kilometers; (rounded to 171 sq. km.) or 65.96 square miles (66 sq.mi.). This has not always been the case. The literary size of the island has had an inconsistent history.

At the Rapa Nui Rendezvous in Laramie, Wyoming in August of 1993, there were no less than three speakers who gave lectures on their investigations regarding the transport of moai in an erect position from the quarry at Rano Raraku to the ahu where they were to be placed.

By 1830 Rapanui had been visited by several exploratory and merchant vessels and by an unknown number of whalers.' Of these doubtless scores of visits, only few accounts have survived. The calling at Rapanui on 6 March 1830 of the British forty-six-gun man-of-war H.M.S. Seringapatam under the command of Captain Willliam Waldcgrave is exceptional, for two reasons. First, the Seringapatam certainly was the largest vessel that had yet fetched up off Rapanui, an event which would have left an indelible impression on the Rapanui people. Second, there exist three eyewitness accounts of this calling.

The object, recently identified as being made of Thespesia populnea (family Malvaceae), is a baton, or ua, measuring 141 cm long; it is from a private collection (G.LL 17426/200026). The modeling of the heads is particularly fine, enabling us to suggest that this work of art dates from the first European contacts. The object is sculpted in a pinkish wood, characteristic of makoi, the name the islanders gave to Thespesia populnea, the ' rose wood of Oceania '. This wood, sometimes the color of salmon, has the slight perfume of a rose, and is a material of very fine grain that carves easily and takes a beautiful polish.