Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 21 Issue 2 October Article 13 2007 Life and Solitude in Easter Island (Review) Shawn McLaughlin Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific Islands Commons, and the Pacific Islands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation McLaughlin, Shawn (2007) "Life and Solitude in Easter Island (Review)," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 21 : Iss. 2 , Article 13. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol21/iss2/13 This Book or Media Review is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. McLaughlin: Life and Solitude in Easter Island (Review) and Indigenous Human Society in the Americas" by Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach and Tim Beach Life and Solitude in Easter Island Chapter 6: "A History ofAfrican Soil: Perceptions, Use and Dario Verdugo-Binimelis Abu e" by Kate B. Shower l Chapter 7: "Prolegomena to a History of Soil Knowledge in Published by AuthorHouse (2007) Europe" by Verena Winiwarter ISB 97 -1-4259-8228 Chapter 8:" utrient Flows in Pre-Modem Agriculture in Available in hardcover (140 page) for 24.99 or oft cover Europe" by Robert . hiel (119 pages) for 16.99 from Amazon.com Chapter 9: "Human Interaction with Soil-Sediment y tern Foreword by Juan Grau in Au tralia" by RJ. Wa on Chapter 10: "The Dynamics ofSoil, Landscape and Culture Review by Shawn McLaughlin on Easter I land (Chile)" by Andreas Mieth and Hans­ RudolfBork Reluctant as I often am to purcha e self-published books Chapter 11: 'Know Your Soil: Transitions in Fam1er ' and becau e of the liabilities as ociated with them ( ee my re­ Scientists' KnOWledge in Germany" by Frank Uekoet­ view of Jeff Barbour' Blue Planet & Beyond: ... in the la t ter Rapa Nui Journal for a discussion on how horrible thi can be), Life and Solitude in Ea tel' Island caught my attention REFERENCES AD SUGGESTED READI G because it wa n't attempting to be a scientific or historical text but a memoir of a time on the island that few Ra­ Bahn, P. and 1. Flenley. 1992. Easter Island Earth 1 land. panuiphiles, and even fewer people generally, can probably London: Thames and Hudson. appreciate unless they were there - the early 1950 . Ca tleden, Rodney. 199 . The Stonehenge People: An Ex­ In particular, the author Dario Verdugo-Binimelis, ploration ofLife in Neolithic Britain. Free Pre . MD, a phy ician who received hi training in the Chilean Flenley,1. 1993. The Palaeoecology of Easter Island and avy, early one day in ovember 1952 saw in the Chilean it Ecological Disa ter in Ea tel' Island Studies: Contri­ new paper EI Mercurio an adverti ement for a phy ician to bution to the Hi tOlY ofRapa Nui in Memory ofWil­ carry out a two-year tint on Ea ter Island. And, after a fam­ liam T. Mulloy (Ste en Roger Fi cher, ed.:7-15; 27­ ily discussion (including Dario' wife Adriana and their 2 45).Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 32. four on ; family play a very important role in this book ), Flenley 1. and P. Bahn. 2003. Enigmas ofEa tel' Island. they all said, "Why don't we ju t go to Easter Island?" It Oxford: Oxford Univer ity Pre . really was that simple. Theoretically, and even philo ophi­ Grau, J. 1998. The Jubaea palm, Key in the Tran portation cally, anyway. Until the final paperwork wa proce ed and ofMoai on Ea ter I land in Easter Island in Pacific the then 40-year-old physician was told he wa qualified to Context: South Seas Symposium. Los Osos: Easter Is­ go to Ea ter I land. That's when the real fear et in. land Foundation. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the introductory Hunt, T. L. and C. P. Lipo. 2007. "Rethinking Easter Is­ material, the author ay he wrote the book 50 years after land's Ecological Cata trophe. Journal ofArchaeologi­ the fact to I) memorialize hi Rapa ui experience before it cal Science 34:485-502. faded from memory; 2) expose himself to a kind of self­ Mieth, A. and H.-R. Bork. 2004. Ea tel' Island - Rapa Nui: therapy in dealing with the adnes that nostalgia brings· 3) Scientific Pathway to Secrets ofthe Past. Department awaken the conscience of the leadership in Chile as to of Ecotechnology and Eco y tern Development, Ecol­ what's happening on the island today; and 4) emphasize the ogy Center, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel. "Easter IslandlEarth I land" metaphor. The author ay the Plog, S. 1997. Ancient Peoples ofthe American Southwest. book is not meant to be cientific or historical but it i both London: Thame and Hud on. and neither, which I II elaborate more on below. In the Skottsberg, C. 1920-56. The Natural History ofJuan Fer­ course of nearly a dozen chapters, the author take u from nandez and Ea tel' Island. 3 vols. Uppsala. his family's bitter weet departure from Chile aboard the old teven on, C. M. and . Haoa. 1999. Diminished Agricul­ steamship Allipen, the II-day journey aero s the Pacific to tural Productivity and the Collapse of Ranked Society the island (with cramped quarters and yet fun ad entures on Ea ter I land in Archaeology, Agriculture and Iden­ along the way, including a moment of panic when they tity. Kon-Tiki Mu eum. thought one of their sons had fallen overboard), and their Thomas, D. H. 2000. Exploring ative America. Oxford: arrival on an i land with no electricity, no running water no Oxford University Pre . I AuthorHouse i a elf-publi hing company. Toulmin, C. 2006. On Fertile Ground. Nature 442:985. 2 So strong is the family connection that the author more or Ie Zizka, G. 1991. Flowering Plants ofEaster Island. Frank­ gets permission from his own mother and father before making furt: Palmengarten. the journey to Ea ter I land. And in the Afterword, written by the author's four on - Pedro, Dario Jr., Roberto, and Gonzalo - the importance of family is repeated everal time . In orne way a better title for the book would have been Family alld So/ilude ill Easter Is/alid. Rapa Nui Journal 158 Vol. 21 (2) October 2007 Published by Kahualike, 2007 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 21 [2007], Iss. 2, Art. 13 telephone, no currency no tore. At that time a upply ulfa drugs (precur or to more common antibiotic today), hip arrived yearly and, even if one con erved wisely, usu- and a tiny lab where the author did bacteriological and ally by the latter half of the year most of the island's up- clinical work, e pecially with regard to leprosy. He tells plie were gone. Sugar, if not kept hermetically sealed, amusing story of assisting in the delivery of a breech birth turned to yrup becau e of the humidity. Bugs got into dry that distressed him greatly because he couldn't fully recall food. Thu , vegetable gardens were very important and the procedures for handling such a problem, since hi train- rations3 of lamb meat were di pensed each week by the ing in this area had been so long ago - so he jumped on his "Easter Island Company".4 horse, raced home, grabbed a medical text, read what he Thi family's arrival on the island wa naturally a big needed to know, returned to the cene of the birth, and ex- deal and at first the author and his family felt like animal tracted the child without further incident. in a zoo, 0 curious were the Easter Islanders (who often In another anecdote, he recalls that the Lions Club of pu hed their faces up to the glass windows in the family' Santiago donated corrective eyeglas e for reading (for the house to peer in at the trangers). But the author and his elderly population of the island) but orne of the younger wife and sons were detemuned and family unity was very islanders thought it would be ' cool" to wear gla e, 0 they important to them. They even drew up a "constitution" of came to the ho pital to try to get them and the author would sort outlining their goals and intentions. And undeniably have to talk them out of it. this ense of unity was necessary for survival, certainly at There is a comprehensive chapter covering leprosy on flf t. So important that it's quite possible you can imagine Easter J land, which provide a unique historical perspec- they did indeed rationalize their way through the fear and tive on its state at the time. The taote had 37 patients trepidation anyone might experience in such situation. For (representing 4% of the population), 13 of whom were in- example, at one point the author goe up on to the roof to temed in the leper colony, and 24 outpatients with a mild, check the water tank (water for home was derived from non-contagiou type. The author peaks with great re pect rain that fell and accumulated in ci tern ). He found all about the people infected with thi dreadful affliction and kinds of residue in the tank, including dead floating cock- how painful it was when he had to tell omeone that they'd roache and dry leaves.