EASTER ISLAND STATUES
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—To avoid any misunderstanding of my Maori friend, let me repeat very briefly his evidence given to me : (a) jade weapons, ornaments, &c., were carved from the solid and were heirlooms—" dies " gradually completed by generations of carvers ; (b) some monuments, weapons, ornaments, &c., were formed from cooling volcanic material ; (c) some were formed from " Sacred Earth " (ashes, mud, concrete, &c.), with admixtures of sand, green rushes, and " Sacred Water —perhaps mineral waters, certainly sometimes sea-water ; (d) some were moulded, some impressed, some cast from soft material—natural or artificial.
The only confirmatory evidence I have otherwise from a Swiss friend who writes me as follows :-
" I don't know whether I told you that I was speared in the Solomon Islands. I still have the spear-head with which I was speared. It is mado out of molten lava. These cannibals carve
conics
these spear-heads out of lava while it is still hot. When it cools it is as hard as glass."
I have suggested to him to send me a photograph of the spear-head, and this is being done.—I am, Sir, &c.,
RIME A. Rour.
4 Brendon House, 8 Great Woodstock Street, Nottingham Place, W. 1.
[This correspondence is now closed.—Ed. SPECTATOR.]
Previous page
