W.H.R.Rivers

“ Perhaps the point of greatest importance from the comparative point of view is the discovery that the platforms on which the statues of the burial places were erected often had a pyramidal form. This discovery reveals in Easter Island an association of stone images and pyramidal platforms which goes far to bring the monuments into line with other examples of the megalithic art of Polynesia and Melanesia. The special feature of Easter Island is the great labour and care devoted to the making of the images and the relatively rough nature of the platforms on which they were erected. ”

“ The most important result of the investigation into the customs and beliefs of the people was the discovery of the cult of the sooty tern and of the first egg of the season, but the readers of Folk-Lore are already acquainted with this topic, and attention may here be directed to the facts concerning the social organisation, the modes of disposal of the dead, and other rites which help to bring the culture of Easter Island into relation with that of other parts of Polynesia. ”

“ In dealing with this portion of the book I must be content to point out the remarkable similarity between the social organisation of Easter Island and that of another outlier of Polynesian culture, the far distant Tikopia. In each case we have the people of a tiny island living in two districts more or less hostile to one another, and the people of each district divided into smaller groups who live in settlements round the coast. ”