The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 19, 1899, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1899. A MW AN \ 3 MEMBERS OF THE Jiane’ Giants OF the South Seas An Expedition of the National Museum, Washington, Has Just Returned to This Country After Carefully Exploring the Homes of Speclal to’ The Sunday Call. ASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—Re- cent exploration on Baster Island—that mysterious vol- canic rock in the Southern Pacific wheresuch wonderful stone giants and other pre- historic -relics are found—has resulted in a number of very interesting discov- eries, to be described in a forthcoming bulletin of the National Museum by Dr. George H. Cooke, a surgeon in the United States navy. An expedition led by him made a complete examination of this notable bit of terra firma, which is situated nearly on the line of the Tropic of Capricorn, 2100 miles due west from the South American coast. His party did considerable digging for the purpose of trying to obtain evidence that would throw light upon the or- igin of the coloss! referred to, but all that could be unearthed was skeletons. There were numerous caverns literally filled with human bones, and beneath the platforms on which the stone glants formerly stood were chambers filled with skeletons. The whole island, indeed, was a vast charnel house, and one subterranean vault of great size contained an immense deposit consist- ing exclusively of skulls. The situation of Easter Island in the trackless waste of the Pacific is singu- larly lonely, the nearest land being 1100 miles to the westward. It is only thir- teen miles long by seven miles in width and scarcely a tree grows upon it Nevertheless, it had formerly a very numerous population, estimated at not less than 20,000, and the -puzzle is to imagine what became of these people who, judging from the astonishing ac- cumulations of skeletons, must have held occupancy for a great length of time. They seem to have been of a race altogether different from that of the present inhabitants, and among va- rious arts they practiced the sculpture of gigantic statues of stone, the like of which have never been found in any other part of the world. The quarries in which these colossi were hewn from solid rock remain to-day just as they were left by the prehistoric artists, whose work seems to have been brought to a sudden stop by a calam- ity that overwhelmed the island and wiped out nearly everything living on it. The voyager who might have ap- proached Easter Island 400 years ago would have witnessed a remarkable spectacle. He would have beheld, placed at intervals along the shore, great platforms of hewn stone and on them rows of stone statues with their faces toward the sea, as if represent- ing so many tutelary divinities keeps ing eternal watch upon the ocean in behalf of the islanders. On one of these platforms he might have counted fif- teen such colossi, from forty to sixty feet in height. This, indeed, was the platform known as Tongarika—the largest and most imposing of all. It was eight feet in height, nine feet wide and 540 feet long. To-day the plat- forms remain, but all of the statues have been thrown down and lie scat. tered about. In front of each plat- form is a wide paved space, apparent- 1y designed to afford standing room for a considerable multitude. It was formerly supposed that the HAT would you consider a good salary for a first-class freak? was asked recently of a number of persons, and in answer one guessed $6 a week, | one $15, one $3), and one, whose guess was thought to be out of all rea- son, $100. This is a fair illustration of the opinfon of those members of the public who have any such opinion about the value of a really star freak, while as a matter of fact the salary of such an attrac- tion ranges from $250 to $900 a week. Equally vague are most persons’ ideas about the lives of the freaks outside of the museum. Who they are, where they come from and where they go are ques- tions about which most people never bother themselves; yet some interesting storles are found in the lives of these people—stories of a change from lives of the most abject poverty to that of com- parative wealth, and from being objects W b “T‘T\\ ) L1 pos %zzseum Jroaks: That Constructed the Idols. statues were gods, worshiped as idols, but it now appears that they merely represented chiefs and other distin- guished personages, being, in fact, pors traits in stone, some of them evidently females. Whichever their sex, they commonly wore on their heads cylin< der-shaped crowns of a reddish vol- canic tufa, which separately weighed two or three tons apiece. The figures themselves, each having the form of the upper half of a human being, are of gray lava. The whole island being of volcanic origin, there is no lack of the stone tool evidently employed by the prehistoric artists. No fewer than 555 of the statues have been found. The platforms on which they originally stood usually contain chambers filled with skeletons, the bodies of the dead consigned to these sepulchers having been wrapped in dried grass and laid with their heads toward the ocean. In some instances the platforms are pro- vided with great ovenlike receptacles, which may have been utilized, as has been surmised, for cannibal feasts on a large scale. There is no mystery as to the origin of the statues, inasmuch as many of them are found in various stages of completion in the quarries which served as workshops for turning them out. The largest of the volcanic mountains on Easter Island is Rana Roraka, which is 1327 feet high and has a crater four- fifths of a mile in diameter. The edge of this crater forms a nearly perfect circle, broken only at a point on the south side, through which the lava stream, when the volcano was active, found its way to the sea. Inside of the crater the cliffs have been cut into ter- races by the image-makers, and here and there one sees a stone giant half- finished, or nearly ready to receive the final touches from the artigt's tool. Other statues agaln - are merely sketched out upon the rocky walls, as a preliminary to beginning the work of sculpture. . On the outer slope of the crater is another and even more extensive work- shop, and here other incomplete statues are found. Just as in Egypt, where, in the quarries at Syens, the greatest of all the obelisks still lies unfinished, so in this workshop outside the crater may be seen the biggest of the images found on the island, still adhering to the bed- rock and measuring seventy feet in length. The last step in the process of sculpture was to cut the back of the statue away from the rock out of which it had been carved. Inside of the crater there are ninety-three statues, forty of which are completed and ready to be conveyed to their platforms on the coast. Necessarily the labor involved in the process of transportation must have been enormous, inasmuch as the images, weighing from twelve to forty tons each, had to be carried great dis- tances over a very irregular country. It is believed that they were, lowered down the mountain by blocks and wedges, and then dragged the rest of the way by hundreds of men over roads made for the. purpose, which were covered with seaweed. Being rolled on an inclined plane to the top of a plat- form they were set up. In the work- shop outside the crater and at the foot of the mountain are one hundred and fifty-five statues. It is obvious that the number of workmen employed in these quarries must have been vary great, That some tremendous catastrophe put a sudden | of pity, and in many cases of contumely, to a position in which they are able to dictate terms to successful business men and to feel the power that money alone gives. Freaks are the cards on which a wide- awake dime museum manager wins or | loses. This is not because a great deal of money is made from them, the con- trary being the case, when the freak in | question has become a standard attraction | and commands a large salary. In this | case, with the extra expenses in advertis- ’lng and providing speclal surroundings, the cost of the attraction runs up to some- thing like $1200 a week, and after this is paid there is little left from the extra re- ceipts. But the public is so skeptical of everything shown at a dime museum that, unless a number of these standard attrac- tions is shown every year, the attendance will fall off. EXPEDITION DISCOVERING ONE OF THE STONE GIANTS. (S this material, which is rather soft and | therefore well adapted for carving with.| 0000006000000 20280C0000 0 Fow U/ley IHre Discovered, Live, Work and the Ancient People and definite end to their labors seems | to be beyond guestion, and the likeli- hood is that it was a volcanic erup- tion. This it may have been that over- threw all the images, destroyed the in- habitants and even wiped out all the trees on the island. Though the soil of the island is very rich, almost the only trees gre very dwarfish, being not more than ten feet in height and two or three inches in diameter. The wood of these trees is extremely hard and is used by the islanders of to-day in the manufacture of household gods. Such gods are rudely carved and hideous im- itations of the nude human form, two to three feet in length, with prepos- terous development of chest and pre- ternatural collapse of abdomen, as though famine had long brooded over the land. - They have long and slender arms and legs, goatees and prominent | ears. The eyes of these idols are very curious, the iris being represented us- |\ually> by a circular button of bone which is cut from a human skull. In a round hole in the center of this disk is set a bit of volcanic glass which, glistening in the light, makes a fair imitation of a pupil. Skulls out of which such disks were cut were im- agined by earlier explorers to afford evidence of prehistoric trephining, but Dr. Cooke discovers that this was a mistake. The bottom of the crater of Rana Roraka is occupied by a lake of con- | siderable size -and of such depth that sounding lines 300 feet long have failed to fathom it. A large part of its area is covered by a sort of vegetable floor, composed of a thick intertwined growth, from which spring many bushes and even small trees. Over this floating and elastic carpet cattle actu- ally graze, exhibiting a very interest- ing spectacle. The lava stream flow- ing through the break in the crater wall already described has formed two small islands off shore, called Mutu Nui and Mutu Raukan. To the latter as a goal are directed the annual swim ming matches of the islands, the ob- ject of which is to obtain one of the sacred sea biyd's eggs. To this fi captured egg a superstitious value at- taches, apd its possession confers king- ship for one year upon the lucky cap- tor. The rock is covered guano, and at a little distance it looks like a huge stalagmite projecting out of the ocean depths. The difficulty of mounting it is very great. There are now only about 150 natives on the island—a degenerate, no-account people, who claim descent from the image makers, though apparently with- out just ground. It seems likely that | the fate of the prehistoric race, so strangely wiped out, will forever re- main a mystery, though some light upon the subject is thrown by certain wooden tablets bearing inscriptions which have been discovered and to some extent deciphered. In 1864 there was a population of 1500 souls on Eas. ter Island, and so recently as 1868 900 | of them were left. ~In 1875 500 of these were taken to Tahiti under contract to work the sugar plantations, and three years later 300 more were transferred by missionaries to settle the Gambier archipelago. Up to.1864 cannibalism is known to have been practiced. A few years ago a'lumber vessel from Oregon was wrecked on Easter Island and much of the, cargo was brought ashore and utilized, under missionary instruction, for building houses for the natives. These dwellings, though much better than what they had before, con- sist of only one room and have floors | | Tt is in the discovery and presentation i of entirely new freaks that the money | and the glory lies, for when one of these | is shown at a museum it not only greatly increases its reputation, but is a source of large profit, for few freaks have at | first any idea of their value, and they can usually be engaged for a compara- tively small salary. For this reason the manager of one of the large museums will | travel almost any distance, and go to al- | most any amount of trouble to secure a genuine novelty in this line, the more so | as new freaks are becoming rarer and rarer every year. Freaks are, as a rule, persons of a quiet and retiring disposition, which is probably due to the fact that almost all of them came froth country places. This seems rather strange, the popular idea being that life in the city is not so whole- some as that in the country, and that the former ought to result in more distorted forms of life. It is also true that nearly all of them have gone back to the coun- try, usually to the places from which they came, where they enjoy the prom- fnence that their rise in life has given them among their old neighbors. Many, after making a comfortable competence, spend nearly all their time on these coun- try places, leaving them, perhaps, for only two or three weeks in the year, as much to gratity a desire to see a littie of city life for a while as from any wish for gain. Even for so short a time as this, * however, some of them will not leave their homes, and none of them will do so at all unless they get about their own price. Wild Men of Borneo. Perhaps the best known freaks In this country are the wild men of Borneo, who were brought here nearly fifty years ago. In the interim between that time and the present they have rolled up fortunes for the several persons who have exhibited them and have lived to see most of them dead and buried. As nearly as can be as- certained they were bronght to this coun- try about 1850 by a Captain Hammond, who found them on one of the small islands In the Pacific. He called them the wild men of Borneo because every one was acquainted with Borneo as the larg- est island in the world. Captain Ham- mond died and they were taken charge of by Henry Harvey of Boston. After his decease H. A. Warner of Waltham, Mass., took them and he has now become blind from age, so that his son Ernest has to take them on the road, although they still live with his father. In spite of thelr age the little fellows are as cheerful and full of life as when they first came to this country. Their eyes are bright, their hair shows no sign of gray, and the only sizns of approaching old age are a slight deaf- ness and a diminution of their enormous strength. When they were in their prime one of them could lift two good-sized men with ease, although they stand only about three feet in height, and weigh but forty- five pounds. Even now they are extreme- ly strong and active, but do not lift these great weights, while their whole life is much more quiet than it used to be. Big Footed Women. One of the most interesting cases of the rise of a [reak from poverty to affluence is that of Fanny Mills, the big-footed woman, who was discovered by Frank Store, the Boston dime museum manager. He heard of her through the postmaster at Sandusky, O., and after a little cor- with bird | of bare earth strewn with dry rushes and grass. Tables and chairs are un- known, and the cooking is done clam- bake fashion in stone ovens, the food— taro, yams, sweet potatoes, fowls and pork—being prepared with the help of heated stones and leaves. The natives are very fond of sea urchins and a species of small snail, which they re- gard as delicacies. Intoxicants are un- known to them. Women, being in a minority, are in great demand, and much consideration is shown to them. It is customary for a father to buy a wife for his son with stipulated quan- tities of taro, yams, etc., which are con- | sumed at .the wedding breakfast. | Polygamy, in the ordinary sense of the word, is not practiced, but a husband will sometimes rent his wife to another man. Tattooing is done with soot from burned leaves, which is mixed for the purpose with the juice of a certain | berry and applied to the skin with | sharp fish bones. The style of costume | formerly popular was the breechcloth and not much besides, but now, owing to missionary influence, civilized cos- tume is adopted, the women wearing | loose gowns of cheap cotton. The islanders have no knowledge of | the potter’s art, and with earthen ves- | sels they are unacquainted, though a | red clay of a fine quality is plentiful. There are no cocoanuts, and so the na- tives use for drinking vessels and other | domestic purposes the fruit of a sort of | gourd which flourishes luxuriantly. | They bury their dead in the caves with | which the whole island is fairly honey- icnmbed, and help is given to the pro- | cesses of nature by predatory cats and | rats. Thus the skulls of the defunct are commonly found filled with the de- bris of rats’ nests. Some of the ancient skulls have peculiar markings, and | these appear to have been the crania of ' royal personages. Jpend Cheir Salaries respondence determined to go out and see if she was all that she was represented to be. The farm on which she was liv- ing with her parents was found to be the most micerable place imagfnable, the | house and building out of order, the | ground poor, and everything indicating a | hard struggle for bare existence. The girl | herself was half-clothed and fearfully | thin and worn looking. Her work was to | milk the cows and then carry the milk for | a_ distance of five miles to the houses | along the road. She carried two large | pails slung on a yoke across her shoul- | ders, and with her huge feet the daily toil | was so severe that, coupled with miser- | able food, it had worn her almost to a skeleton. ~“ Mr. Stone took her to Boston on a sal- ary of 36 a week, and billed her as “the big-footed woman from Chicago.” She screated a great sensation, and was a drawing card for a long time. When she arrived she had on her feet a palr of boots that showed how primitive had been her mode of life. They were made .throughout of the tops of farmers’ heavy cowhide boots, and had been manu- factured at home by first cutting out of combined bootlegs a piece large enough for the sole and then sewing more boot- ‘legs over 1t from side to side until the foot was covered. A shoe dealer took these shoes to place in his window as an ad- vertisement, and in return made for her two of the finest pairs that he could turn out. . Fanny’'s salary was steadily Increased as it became evident what a drawing- card she was, and when she left Mr. Stone it was to flll an engagement at $500 a week. She was simple and careful in her manner of living, and in fact her living expenses were just about paid by what she made through the sale of her plctures. She went back to Sandusky as soon as she had made enough money, bought the finest farm In all that part of the country, and is the entire support of her parents. Big Salaries of the Tocci Twins. The highest priced freaks ever shown in this country were the Tocci Twins, who received a salary of $900 a week for a four weeks' engagement. They were two boys with but one pair of legs between them, the bodies connecting at the walist, both bodies and legs being perfect and well formed. They were constantly wor- rying about the high price of living in this ° country, and in spite of their large szlary spent as little as they could possibly get along with. They now have a large and beautiful place near their native town in Italy, and are persons of great distinc- tion there. Krao, the Missing Link. One of the most interesting characters among the freaks was Krao, the missing | a good deal of refinement, as freaks go. She always had a governess travel with her, and was well educated and a hard student, but she had certain instincts that she could not over e. Most of her man- ners at table were as good as those of most persons, but she was unable to re- | sist the temptation to stuff food into the pouches of her cheeks and carry it away | from the table to be eaten later. Ordi- narily her eyes were soft, and of great depth of expression, but if anything an- gered her they had the fierce, intent stare that could be mistaken for nothing but the look of a monkey. link. She was a Burmese, but a girl of (4 W PP[H'}TOQI \Fouk P/\mgwo ; RN EASTER | NATIVES B g > ) il i )“f’w ¥ ko 4 23