"Throughout Polynesia, the word rei signifies a neck ornament of some kind, perhaps internationally best known as Hawaii's lei ('flower necklace').

Easter Island's rei miro ('wooden rei') are without parallel in Polynesia.

However, they display a form that is strikingly similar to the silver crescent gorget worn by Cook's Marine Officer Gibson who accompanied Cook on all three voyages, including the one to Rapa Nui in 1774.

Such silver crescent gorgets was prescribed dress for a Marine Officer of the British Royal Navy in the second half of the eighteenth century. Rapa Nui's rei miro were attested only after 1774."

(Fischer)