Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 4 Article 1 Issue 3 Rapa Nui Journal 4#3, Fall 1990 1990 Rapa Nui Journal 4#3, Fall 1990 Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific slI ands Commons, and the Pacific slI ands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (1990) "Rapa Nui Journal 4#3, Fall 1990," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 4 : Iss. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol4/iss3/1 This Research Report 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]. the premier source for current Easter Island events andet scientifical.: Rapa Nuistudies Journal... 4#3, Fall 1990 I Vo14,No3 Fall1990 I Some. Details of the Journal of The Poike Ditch in Retrospect Jacob Roggeveen By Carlyle S. Smith, Ph.D. Herbert von Saher, he nature, origin and function of the Poike Ditch has often Bloemendaal, the Netherlands received at least passing reference in the now voluminous T published comments on Easter Island. First, I do not intend very reader ofRNi probably knows that Jacob Roggeveen to get into the controversy over the legend, or myth, assigning it a discovered Easter Island on Easter Day in April 1722, but role in a conflictbetween two groups ofpeopleknown as the Hanau Efew readers know more from thejournal ofRoggeveen. The Eepe and the Hanau Momoko. My primary concern is whether or editors ofRNi have asked me to write about some of the journal's not the hand of man was involved in its form and function. details that may be ofinterest to the student ofRapa Nui. I will give Routledge (1919:281, footnote) concludes thattheditch was the attention to three aspects of the journey: 1) Why it was an ex­ result of geological faulting, but attributes the mounds on the traordinary journey; 2) What happened during the days that eastern edge to possible use as fortifications. The geologist Chubb Roggeveen's fle~t was near Easter Island; and 3) How the whole (1933:33) must have viewed the entire feature from afar in 1925 expedition ended in disaster.' because he terms it a "gully" and the reader is forced to assume that The expedition was extraordinary in two ways. In November of it is located at the base of an eroded cliff instead of at the top. 1520, Magellan, a Portuguese in Spanish service, flfst entered the Metraux (1940:72) and Lwachery (1933:346-347) pass it offas a Pacific through the strait that still bears his name. Between that natural feature in the terrain. This is typical of Metraux who also moment and roughly 1650, most of the oceans of the world were displayed his myopic view ofany alteration ofterrain by man in his visited and mapped. After 1650, few great discovery-trips were inability to see terraces on the hill known as Maunga Auhepa at made. Why did Roggeveen leave 71 years later in 1721? lL was Anakena (Metraux 1940:96; Smith 1961:277). Jacob Roggeveen's father, Arend Roggeveen (a wine merchant In 1955, as a member of the Norwegian Archaeological Expe­ with a hobby for geography and astronomy) who, in 1671, together dition, I conferred with my colleagues Ferdon, Mulloy, and with other merchants from Zeeland, made a plan to navigate the Skj!1llsvold concerning mutual agreements on the excavation of Pacific and, more specifically, to discover "Southland." Southland sites based on our peculiar backgrounds and interests. They agreed was supposed to be a continent lying east ofNew Zealand, perhaps that I should investigate Poike Ditch because I had an academic ofthe size ofAustralia and in one ofthe few areas ofthe Pacific not background in geology and had previously excavated eight "ditch yet mapped. In 1675 this plan was presented to the States General and bank" features at archaeological sites in Coastal New York and of the Netherlands along with a request for a Charter. In 1676 this the Great Plains of North America. Charter was granted, but Arend Roggeveen and his friends were To introduce the subject, let me quote from my published report unable to finance the expedition and it did not take place. Arend on my work at the ditch (Smith 1961 b:385): "An undulating plain Roggeveen died in 1679. thickly strewn with masses of black lava and smaller fragments Continued on page 34... Continued on page 36... In the mound pictured on the left, the symbol for lava stands for irregular fragments scattered over pre-existing surfaces. These fragments were brought up from the ditch on the right as it was periodically deepened. ~ Sandy yellow-brown soil y IlI!IJlI Red decomposed lava El Yellow soil ~ Compact brown soil • Black soil & charcoal POIKE DITCH B Charcoal ~ Mixed yellow, red & brown soil Detail of profile X-V ~ Obsidian Mixed yellow & brown soil Chip----I~ o Loose brown soil o 2 3 M ~ Red & yellow soil with lava fragments I I I ~ Lava o 10FT Vol4,N03 • Page33 • Published by Kahualike, 1990 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 4 [1990], Iss. 3, Art. 1 Roggeveen continued... His son, Jacob, was born in 1659. He attended the Latin School 6 April 1722• The fleetcruisedalong the leesideofthe island;as and later went to the Academy ofSaumur in France (the Protestant an easterly wind was reported, this must have been along the west University). Hegotadoctor'sdegree in law. Applying for ajob with coast. They saw smoke and concluded that it must be inhabited. A the East India Company (V.O.C.), he was accepted and in 1706 he ship'scouncil was held in which itwas decided to goashorein order voyaged to Java as a passenger. In Batavia he became Council of to obtain fresh vegetables and fruit, "showing all friendliness to the Justice. He married there buthis wife diedbefore his return in 1715. inhabitants." It was after his return that his father's plan to discover Southland 7 April 1722 • The weather turned bad with thunder, lightning, was revived by him. He applied to the West Indies Company and heavy showers; the landing was postponed. But an Easter (W.I.e.) which had the charter for the Pacific; they put three ships Islander came in a canoe to the Thienhoven and Captain Bouman at his disposal for the discovery voyage. He left on 16 June 1721, brought this man to the Arend. Roggeveen, who sometimes shows 46 years after his father's fIrst request was presented. a wonderful irony, describes this man as follows: "an Easter From the foregoing, it can be concluded that this voyage was a Islander, who was entirely naked, without the slightest cover in delayed exercise and that Jacob Roggeveen was quite different front ofwhat modesty prevents to indicate more clearly." This man from the buccaneering type ofearly explorer for he was not only an was greatly surprised to see this big ship with its high masts; he intellectual, but when he left he was 62 years old, an age at which wanted to touch everything. He got the fright of his life when they most early explorers were long dead orat least retired and sitting on held a mirrorin front ofhim. Hereturned quite satisfied with sissors, their pieces of eight. the mirror and other small presents that he received. For the end of the story it should also be known that the States The fleet came nearer to the coast and Roggeveen doubted that General of the Netherlands had chartered two companies to trade this island could be the "sandy, low island" that William Dampier overseas and represent them: the "Vereenigde Oost-Indische had described in his earlier journal at about this position. What Compagnie" (V.O.C.) for the Eastern Hemisphere and the "West­ looked from a distance as sand appeared to be dried grass, hay or Indische Compagnie" (W.I.C.) for the Western Hemisphere. The burnt growth giving an uncommonly meager impression. This borderline of their territories at the other side ofthe world was the means that already in 1722 Easter Island looked as it does today. island of New Guinea. The V.O.e. was the first limited liability 8 April 1722 • After breakfast, two sloops rowed to the coast. company on the basisofshares in the world; it was for two centuries They had instructions not to go on land if the number of"Indians" the biggest company in the world and also the first multinational was too large. This requires an explanation, also in relation to the with establishments in South Africa, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, India, fact that somebooks on EasterIsland suggest that the trigger-happy Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Phillipines, China and Dutch fired atrandom at the population after some hats were stolen, Japan. Itwas tremendously powerful and itshowed. TheW.I.e. was starting that awful sequence of visitors that only brought murder never very successful and was more ofan "underdog." and harm to Rapa Nui. On board their ships with the tremendous firepoweroftheircannons, the sailors werepractically invulnerable Easter Island to attack even by thousands ofnatives. But once they went on land, the situation became quite different: ifhand to hand fIghting broke Roggeveen was instructed by the W.I.C. to proceed with due out, a small band ofsailors would notbeableto maintain themselves speed to the south Pacific, following more or less the course oftwo against a very superior number of inhabitants.