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"Father Englert was able to tell us that an old
woman had again come to him and tried to impress
upon his mind that the expedition leader was not
a real human being. The Father had failed in his
efforts to convince her otherwise, just as he
had failed so far, he said, to dissuade his own
housekeeper from her firm belief that she was
descended from a whale that had been stranded on
the southeast coast. According to Englert the
superstition was founded on an immense respect
for the local ancestors and could not be
completely abolished in one generation. The expedition activities began to be affected by the islanders' attitude. Through their unexpected demonstration of the ingenious method of lifting and erecting enormous stones, the contemporary Easter Islanders had revealed that they actually did possess secrets which they had previously never disclosed. It was found that, as stated by Routledge, the people of Easter Island are natually secretive and everything from secretly stored property to secret knowledge is considered a treasure. To confide a secret of any nature to an heir or to a friend is considered to be a direct donation to that person. Secret knowledge gave the person informed extra self-confidence or, as interpreted and termed in Polynesian, mana, mental power." "Encouraged again by Englert, I also approached the village mayor, Pedro Atan, whose grandfather Atamu Tuputahi in early missionary times recalled the names of his forefathers back to the Long-ear Ororoina. Atan selected eleven assistants among relatives with alleged Long-ear blood to demonstrate the truth in his claim that he had heard from his ancestors how they had carved, transported and erected their giant long-eared statues. Asked why nobody had yielded this information to other visitors who had expressely inquired, he replied that nobody had asked him." (Heyerdahl 3) |