Te Pito Te Henua, Or Easter Island

[Jennifer Murdoch]

It happened that on the night of Moa's visit to the cave, Huriarai and a man named Vaha, who were with the party on the small island of Marori, became desperate from hunger and made an effort to capture one of the men guarding the sea-beach. The sentry saw one of the men

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[Jennifer Murdoch]

swimming towards him; it proved to be the chief Hariarai, who was so much exhausted that he was clubbed to death without making much resistance. Vaha, however, landed some distance off, and creeping upon the sentry killed him while he was bending over the body of his victim. Vaha hastily buried the body of his chief among the rocks and taking his victim upon his back swam back to his companions on the islet. The people there were without means of making a fire and the body had to be eaten raw. In the morning, when they saw the escape of their comrades from the cave and the desperate fighting on the cliff, they all swam ashore and joined forces.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

The traditions, from this point, are a record of tribal wars, abounding in feats of personal bravery and extraordinary occurrences, but of little value to the history of the island. The discovery of the island by Hotu-Matua and his band of three hundred, together with the landing already referred to, is probably correct and seems natural enough down to the division of the land and the death of the first king. The wars and causes that led to the migration of the people from that unknown land, called Marae-toe-hau, are no doubt based upon a foundation of facts. There is no good reason for doubting the description of the climate of their former home, which would, if accepted, locate it somewhere about the equator, or at all events in the tropics. The heat could not be the effect of volcanic action, or their legends would not state that the crops were burned up by the sun at certain seasons.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

The improbable, not to say impossible, part of the story comes in, where Machaa steals away and lands upon the same island which his brother's party reach two months later, by simply steering towards the setting-sun. There is not one chance in a million, that two canoes could sail for thousands of miles, steering by such an uncertain and indefinite course, and strike the same little island. The tradition states that Hotu-Matua found the island uninhabited, and immediately contradicts this by the ridiculous story of his brother and his followers having been there two mouths. It is not unlikely that the natives, anxious to maintain the credit of the discovery of the island, attempt to account for the presence of an earlier people in this way. This might account for the killing of one of Machaa's men by the turtle, for it has no possible bearing upon the story, beyond the fact that it would account for Hotu-Matua finding a tomb or burial-place on the beach at Anekena, when lie first landed.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

The story of Oroi disguising himself as a servant and sailing for mouths in an open canoe, filled with naked savages, without his identity being discovered, is too absurd to be considered, beyond ascribing an origin to the enemy or enemies who murdered Hotu-Matua's people, and whose stronghold was on the rocky cliffs near Orongo. One peculiar feature of the tradition is the allusion to the fighting-net, which must have been something after the fashion of those used in old Roman times. These nets are represented to have been square and weighted at the

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[Jennifer Murdoch]

corners with stones. A lanyard was fastened to the center, and the net was thrown over an antagonist, who was beaten to death while entangled in its meshes. It is worthy of remark that nothing of this sort has been discovered among, the Polynesians or their contemporaries on the coast of America.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

The suddenness with which the tradition jumps into the warfare between the descendants of the first king and the "long eared race" is startling, because no previous reference has been made to such a race on the island. It is hardly possible that the "long-ears" were descended from people who landed with them on the island, for those that came with Hotu-Matua were of the same clan, and it is fair to presume that the same customs obtained among them all. Besides, the legends all make a distinction between the "long-eared" race and the descendants of the first king. The "long-ears" appear to have been a power in the land at an early period in the history of the island, though they were eventually defeated and exterminated by the others.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

It is possible that there has been more than one migration of people to the island, and that their traditions have been mingled together, but there can be no reasonable doubt about the progenitors of the present islanders being of the Malayo-Polynesian stock. It is difficult to account for the statement, so frequently repeated throughout the legends, that Hotu-Matua came from the eastward and discovered the land by steering towards the setting sun, because the chart shows no islands in that direction which would answer the description of "Marae-toe-hau."

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/ei/ei55.htm

[Jennifer Murdoch]

TRADITION REGARDING OBSIDIAN SPEAR-POINTS.

The implements of warfare brought to the island by King Hotu Matua and his followers were few in number, and in the course of time became broken, lost, or destroyed. The clans were continually at war with each other, but from the want of proper weapons the most desperate encounters resulted in little loss of life. Spears were improvised with heads made of the sharp edges of the calabash, but they proved in efficient weapons and did little execution. During the reign of Atura-ugi, the sixth king, a man living near the crater of the Rana Kau, while returning to his home after sundown from Temanevai, where he and his companions had been engaged in a useless struggle, stepped in the darkness upon a sharp stone that cut his foot like a knife. He carried the stone home with him, and in the morning found it to be black volcanic glass, which upon being broken showed vitreous edges such as had cut his foot. Believing he had discovered an effective material for the manufacture of war-heads, he substituted the obsidian for the calabash points and went forth to meet his enemies. The new weapon proved more puissant than he had hoped for, and havoc was created in the ranks of his opponents. Armed with spear-heads obtained from the obsidian mountain Orito, the discoverer and his clan swept everything before them until the new material became known to all the

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[Jennifer Murdoch]

TRADITION REGARDING OBSIDIAN SPEAR-POINTS.

The implements of warfare brought to the island by King Hotu Matua and his followers were few in number, and in the course of time became broken, lost, or destroyed. The clans were continually at war with each other, but from the want of proper weapons the most desperate encounters resulted in little loss of life. Spears were improvised with heads made of the sharp edges of the calabash, but they proved in efficient weapons and did little execution. During the reign of Atura-ugi, the sixth king, a man living near the crater of the Rana Kau, while returning to his home after sundown from Temanevai, where he and his companions had been engaged in a useless struggle, stepped in the darkness upon a sharp stone that cut his foot like a knife. He carried the stone home with him, and in the morning found it to be black volcanic glass, which upon being broken showed vitreous edges such as had cut his foot. Believing he had discovered an effective material for the manufacture of war-heads, he substituted the obsidian for the calabash points and went forth to meet his enemies. The new weapon proved more puissant than he had hoped for, and havoc was created in the ranks of his opponents. Armed with spear-heads obtained from the obsidian mountain Orito, the discoverer and his clan swept everything before them until the new material became known to all the

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[Jennifer Murdoch]

people. Since the time of this discovery the encounters of the islanders are characterized as more sanguinary.



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[Jennifer Murdoch]

TRADITION REGARDING FISH HOOKS.

In the time, of Atua Ure Rangi, the Seventeenth king, the image-makers were exempt from all other kinds of work, and the fishermen were taxed for their chief support. The fish-hooks in use were made of stone, so hard that many months of chipping and grinding were required to fashion one fit for service, and the most perfect hooks, even in the hands of expert fishermen, permitted the escape of a large proportion of the fish. A youth named Urevaiaus, who was descended from a long line of fishermen, living at Hanga Pico, became prominent as one of the most skillful fishermen on the island. His outfit contained hooks bequeathed to him by his forefathers, but he became discouraged by the want of success which he thought his labors demanded, and much time was devoted to a consideration of the subject. One day, after a number of large and choice fish had escaped from his hooks, he determined to

[Jennifer Murdoch]

spend the entire night in the worship of the god Mea Kahi. About midnight, while he was still at his devotions, the spirit of an ancient fisherman named Tirakoka appeared, and made known the fact that his want of success was due to the inefficiency of the hooks. The spirit directed him to go to the cave in which his father's remains had been interred, and secure a piece of the thighbone, out of which a proper hook might be constructed. Urevaiaus became so much frightened by his interview with the spirit, that he failed to remember fully all the instructions that had been given, but he went to the cave the next day and secured the thigh-bone of his paternal parent. For many days he went out in his canoe regularly, but instead of fishing his entire attention was devoted to the manufacture of an improved hook. During this period his boat returned empty every evening, and his want of success excited the open ridicule of his companions and the concern of his friends, but he persevered until he had fashioned a bone-hook with barbed point.

When ready to test his new invention, a place was selected at a distance from his companions, and his boat was quickly filled with the finest fish. The extraordinary success of the young fisherman, in time excited the envy and jealousy of his companions, and his persistent refusal of all inducements to part with the secret led to a serious quarrel and bitter enmity. A sudden attack was finally planned upon Urevaiaus while at work upon the fishing-grounds; in effort to preserve his secret the youth lost his life; but the new form of hooks was found in his boat and the invention became known to the fraternity.



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http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/ei/ei57.htm

[Jennifer Murdoch]

GENEALOGY OF THE KINGS OF EASTER ISLAND.

Hotu-Matua, driven from his kingdom to the eastward by the rebellion of his subjects, landed with a close band of his followers at Easter

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Islands, in the mouth of August (Anekena), in two canoes, each 15 fathoms long and 1 fathom deep.

[Jennifer Murdoch]

First. Hotu Matua.

Second. Tuumaeheke.

Third. Nuku.

Fourth. Miru.

Fifth. Hinariru.

Sixth. Aturaugi.