Katherine Routledge (1866 – 1935), was an English archaeologist and anthropologist who, in 1914, initiated the first true survey of Easter Island and its giant statues---and there are few things more fascinating than the megalithic remains which are scattered over the earth.

They arrived on Easter Island on 29 March 1914. They established two base camps, one in the area of Mataveri and the other at the statue quarry, Rano Raraku and also explored Orongo and Anakena. With the help of an islander named Juan Tepano, Routledge proceeded to interview the natives and catalogue the moai (giant statues) and the Ahus they had once stood on. They excavated over 30 moai, visited the tribal elders in their leper colony north of Hanga Roa and recorded various legends and oral histories including that of Hotu Matua, the Birdman cult.

The Routledges departed the island in August, 1915 returning home via Pitcairn and San Francisco. She published her findings in a popular travel book, "The Mystery of Easter Island", in 1919. Hundreds of the objects that she and her husband found are now in the Pitt Rivers Museum and the British Museum whilst her paper records are held by the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Though the book is an ideal work of adventurous travel, the main purpose of it is the recording, in a scientific fashion, of the extraordinary civilisation of which this spot preserves a remnant. The prone statues, for all now have fallen, do not interest the natives, but they are part of their environment, and they cannot conceive a land where there are no moai, as these statues are called by them.

Routledge writes:

"Upon this narrow strip of land, so barren and unproductive, the astonished eye of the explorer beholds a forest of gigantic stone statues, about the origin and meaning of which the race dwelling around them knows absolutely nothing. The smallest of these statues measure twenty feet in height, while many measure thirty feet, and a few attain the incredible dimensions of fifty feet. Some repose upon long platforms constructed in the cyclopean manner; the greater portion of them wear crowns about six feet in height, formed of volcanic tufa, which have evidently been placed upon these statues after their erection. The foreheads of the statues are retreating and the mouths prominent, which indications may probably reveal the race who constructed them."

It is impossible here to attempt to summarise or even describe the work done by the expedition or the data gathered. Students will appreciate, despite apparent failure, the effort made to recover the secret of the script on the wooden tablets found. This was in use within living memory, and the secret was perhaps on the point of discovery when probably the last man who seemed able to read the tablets died. But for all details the reader must go to this fascinating book. That the tablets will be read eventually there can be little doubt. However, this is all for future investigation, and meantime, the learned stewardess of the expedition may be congratulated on having written one of the most vivid and weird narratives that ever startled a British folklore lover.



Contents
I. THE START
II. THE VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA
III. BRAZIL
IV. ARGENTINA The River Plate — Buenos Aires, its Trade and People.
V. PATAGONIA
VI. CHILE
VII. JUAN FERNANDEZ
VIII. LIFE ON BOARD
IX. ARRIVAL AT EASTER ISLAND
X. CONDITIONS OF LIFE ON THE ISLAND
XI. A NATIVE RISING
XII. A GERMAN BASE
XIII. PREHISTORIC REMAINS
XIV. PREHISTORIC REIMAINS [continued)
XV. NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES
XVI. NATIVE CULTURE IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES [continued)
XVII. CAVES AND CAVE-HUNTING
XVIII. LEGENDS
XIX. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE PROBLEM
XX. PITCAIRN ISLAND
XXI. TAHITI, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, SAN FRANCISCO
XXII. SAN FRANCISCO TO PANAMA
XXIII. PANAMA TO JAMAICA
XXIV. JAMAICA TO SOUTHAMPTON