Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/406

 372 Some Ethnological Siiggestions

Manu tara, which dominated the cult was a tern (the Sooty tern, sterna fuliginosa, known to sailors as the " Wide-awake," or " Egg-bird ") and not a frigate-bird, there is, none the less, abundant evidence that the remains or reminiscence of a cult having the frigate-bird as central figure, existed, or, should I say, persisted in Easter Island, as T hope to prove.

The Terns and the Frigate-birds are, of course, very distinct one from the other. The former are classed with the Gaviae, the latter with the Steganopodes. Both, it is true, are web-footed sea-birds, and both possess forked tails ; but a point of difference which I must especially emphasize now, lies in the form of the beak. The tern's beak is nearly straight and sharply pointed, that of the frigate-bird is strongly hooked at the end of the upper mandible. I would also note the presence in the latter bird of a well-defined gular pouch, which is entirely absent in the terns.

The Sooty Tern breeds often in great colonies on rocky islands and reefs (the so-called " Wide-awake Fairs " on Ascension Islands are especially famous). One of its regular breeding-places is the small rocky island of Moto Nui, lying off the S.W. end of Easter Island close to the crater of Rano Kao. Mrs. Routledge has described the great annual ceremony which was observed by the Easter Islanders, in which the main feature was a competition to secure the first egg of the season after the arrival of the terns at their nesting site ; and how the lucky winner in the race became the Bird-man of the year, enjoyed certain privileges combined with some discomfort due to his being placed under a rigid tahu. The sacred egg was preserved in his house until the next season.

Now, many of the rock-sculptures in relief, engravings and paintings found at Orongo on the lip of the crater of Rano Kao, are evidently connected directly with this cult. Some of the engravings clearly represent the Manu