The Mystery of Easter Island: The Story of an Expedition

The Mystery of Easter Island: The Story of an Expedition By Mrs. Scoresby Routledge (1866-1935) . Written in 1919 and published in London. Remarkably detailed book about her arrival at Easter Island, leading an anthropological and archeological expedition with her husband, William Scoresby Routledge, to investigate the origins of the island's mysterious giant statues. (404 pages)

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text. Some books, due to age and other factors may contain imperfections. Since there are many books such as this one that are important and beneficial to literary interests, we have made it digitally available and have brought it back into print for the preservation of printed works of the past.

To the Memory of My Mother (Note: Died while on this expedition)

Preface (excerpts)
...No attempt has been made to write any sort of a guide book to the varied places touched at by the yacht, neither space nor knowledge permitted; all that has been done either by pen or pencil is to try to give the main impression left on the mind of a passing dweller in their harbours and anchorages. It has, however, been found by experience that, in accounts of travel, the general reader loses much of the pleasure which has been experienced by the writer, through knowledge being assumed of the history of the places visited; a knowledge which the traveller himself has absorbed almost unconsciously. Without some acquaintance with past events the present cannot be understood; at the risk, therefore, of interrupting the narrative, a few notes of such history have been included.
...In dealing with the main topic of the work, an endeavour has been made to give some idea of the problem of Easter Island as the Expedition found it, and also of its work there. With regard to this part, some appeal is necessary to the understanding kindness of the reader, for it has not been an easy tale to tell, nor one which could be straightforwardly recounted. The story of Easter is as yet a tangled skein. The dim past, to which the megalithic works bear witness — the island as the early voyagers found it — its more recent history and present state, all of these are intermingled threads, none of which can be followed without reference to the remaining clues.
...It is fairly obvious why the writing of this story has fallen to the share of the sole feminine member of the Expedition. I had also, what was, in spite of all things, the good fortune to be fourteen weeks longer on the island than my husband. They were fat weeks too, when the first lean ones, with their inevitable difficulties, were past; and the unsettlement towards the end had not arrived. He has, I need hardly say, given me every assistance with this work. Generally speaking, all things which it is possible to touch and handle, buildings, weapons, and ornaments, were in his department; while things of a less tangible description, such as religion, history, and folk-lore fell to my lot. Those who know him will recognise his touches throughout, and the account of the last part of the voyage, after my return to England, has been written by him. The photographs, when not otherwise stated, are by members of the Expedition. The drawings are from sketches made by the Author; those of the burial-places are from notebook outlines made in the course of work. The diagrams of the houses and burial-places are by my husband.

CONTENTS

PART I
THE VOYAGE TO EASTER ISLAND

CHAPTER I. THE START
CHAPTER II. THE VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA
CHAPTER III. BRAZIL
CHAPTER IV. ARGENTINA
CHAPTER V. PATAGONIA
CHAPTER VI. CHILE
CHAPTER VII. JUAN FERNANDEZ
CHAPTER VIII. LIFE ON BOARD

PART II
EASTER ISLAND

CHAPTER IX. ARRIVAL AT EASTER ISLAND
CHAPTER X. CONDITIONS OF LIFE ON THE ISLAND
CHAPTER XI. A NATIVE RISING
CHAPTER XII. A GERMAN BASE
CHAPTER XIII. PREHISTORIC REMAINS
CHAPTER XIV. PREHISTORIC REMAINS (contmiied)
CHAPTER XV. NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES
CHAPTER XVI. NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES {continued)
CHAPTER XVII. CAVES AND CAVE-HUNTING
CHAPTER XVIII. LEGENDS
CHAPTER XIX. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE PROBLEM

PART III
THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE
EASTER ISLAND TO SAN FRANCISCO

CHAPTER XX. PITCAIRN ISLAND
CHAPTER XXI. TAHITI, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, SAN FRANCISCO

PART IV
THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE — Continued
SAN FRANCISCO TO SOUTHAMPTON

CHAPTER XXII. SAN FRANCISCO TO PANAMA
CHAPTER XXIII. PANAMA TO JAMAICA
CHAPTER XXIV. JAMAICA TO SOUTHAMPTON

EPILOGUE

ITINERARY OF THE EXPEDITION