Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/95

Rh enormous number of these images is scattered all over the island, while there are ninety-three inside and one hundred and fifty-five immediately outside of the crater. They are in solid pieces, varying from five to seventy feet in height; some of the figures lying prostrate are twenty-seven feet long, and measure eight feet across the breast."

"Very much like the great statues at Thebes and Karnak in Egypt," said Fred. "Yes," replied the Doctor, "and one of these statues measures twenty feet from the shoulder to the crown of the head. The sculpture is extremely rude, and as works of art the Easter Island statues bear no comparison to the Egyptian ones. The human body is represented terminating at the hips, the head is flat, the top of the forehead cut level so as to support a crown which was cut from red tufa found in one of the smaller craters. They were transported to villages near the sea, and placed upon stone platforms constructed in various heights and different lengths, facing the water. One of these platforms supported thirteen immense images, and all of those examined contained human bones, showing it to be a place of burial. Of these platforms one