Children ofthe island playa major role in the Tapatifestival activities including the Carnival/Parade. Here,

dressed in tapa and grass skirts, they display a huge versionofa traditional kai-kai (string figures).

NEWS AND NOTES

What's New in PolynesiaHawai'i

The dreaded brown tree snake of Guam still is trying toworm its way into Hawai'i. A 29 inch long snake was foundalive at Schofield Barracks. State agriculture officials andenvironmentaLists say the brown tree snake could wreck havocon native bird species; it also attacks poultry, small pets andis known to bite children. In recent years the Hawaiianlegislature appropriated $100,000 for a program to guardagainst the snake and Congress appropriated $100,000 totra~n dogs to detect them by checking planes and shipsarnvlng from Guam. Since 198 L seven of these snakes havebeen found in Hawai'i.

Honolulu Advertiser, December 22, 1994Kiribati

Kiribati's government has decided to ignore theInternational Dateline that transects the mid-Pacific nation.Formerly the Line and Phoenix Islands were 23 hours behindthe date and time in the rest of Kiribati. Now they will havethe same date although they will be one hour ahead of the restof Kiribati's islands.

Honolulu Advertiser, December 26, 1994Fiji

The University of the South Pacific's International StudentExchange Program, ISEP, received a grant of US $3000 fromthe United States Information Selvices of the US Embassy inSuva. The fund helps defray administrative costs whichinclude maintenance allowance and health insurance for twoUSP students \-vho spend a calendar year at an Americanuniversity.

Vice-Chancellor E. Solofa of the USP spoke at a workshopon Hazardous Waste and Water Quality, noting the urgentneed for waste management in Pacific Island countries. Hesaid that many cases of destructive exploitation of forest in the

Pacific Islands have had full participation and sanction of thelocal communities which were more concerned with makingmoney from what they claimed was their indigenous right.Waste managment has become a priority environmental issuefor the region; pollution has caused significant degradation ofthe coastal environment. The workshop was organized by theChemical Society of the South Pacific.

University ofthe South Pacific Bulletin, 27(41) 1994

The Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific,will hold an annual Creative Writing Competition toencourage creative writing skills in schools around the region.The director announced that there are now sufficient shortstories, poems and drama material to publish a smallanthology. Several Fiji students won prizes in the recentcontest.

L:niversity ofthe South Pacific Bulletin, 27 (44) 1994.

New Zealand_ The Pan-Pacific Conference XII wii! be held from 29 Mayto 1 June, 1995, in Dunedin and Queenstown, NZ. Organizedby the Pan-Pacific Business Association, the conference willserve as an important forum for the exchange of ideas andinformation to promote understanding and cooperationamong Pacific countries. For information, contact Prof. SangLee or Linda Rohn, Dept. of Management, 209 College ofBusiness Administration, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. POBox 880491, Lincoln, NE 68588-0491, USA.

-In November, the New Zealand Department of Conservationatte!TIpted to aerially distribute poison" 1080" for possumcontrol in the Maungamuka ranges. A protest resulted and theMaungamuka drops were called off. However an operationwas carried out over the Waima area; despite warning signs,poison pellets were found floating in rivers in thecommunities adjacent to the aerial drop. Governmentagencies looked upon the protest as an effort to stop control ofpossums; however, for the Maori, the issue was not possum~

but the use of poison and environmental damage.Pacific News Bulletin, 9(12), December 1994.

What's New in Hangaroa

- According to El Mercurio de Valparaiso for 16 November1994, 'TVN' will soon begin to transmit directly to EasterIsland since the Consejo Nacional de Television has approvedsupplementary funds for such service. The Consejo acted on apetition from the government of the V Region. This linkupwill 'substantially increase the Jiason of the island and thecontinent'.

Already TV has made considerable inroads into the islandculture. Soap operas are watched avidly by all ages; at 8 p.m.on the program night, streets are deserted--everyone is gluedto the TV.

- The Intendent of the V Region, Hardy Knittel, reportedthat President Frei has announced that $5.1 million dollars

Rapa Nui Journal 25 Vol 9 (1) March 1995

will be assigned for repairs to the Mataveri landing strip, and$714,000 will go toward paving more streets in HangaroaWork on the runway will begin sometime in October and willcontinue up to March, when the airport will be closed for amonth.

In addition, the subsidy for maritime transport of freight tothe island will be increased and in the future, one shippingcompany will be selected after each 18 month period. Therewill be a regular schedule of shipment dates. Also, theChilean Air Force will make at least three flights to the islandeach year to bring supplies.

The Ministry of Interior appears ready to assign more fundsfor maintenance and repairs of some of the archaeologicalsites. Tongariki will have an additional $55,000 to finish therestoration project, and $24,000 will go for repairs of thestone houses at Orongo's ceremonial site.

• Lan Chile airline expanded its flight schedule to EasterIsland, incorporating 2 new flights a week, beginning inDecember. This makes 4 flights per week to Mataveri'sairport. Lan Chile noted that "Far from discriminating, thisairline favors the Rapa Nui islanders with a special discount...." This response was in reply to islanders who claim to beaffected by Lan Chile's policy toward them, and who havestated they intend to talk to the President of Chile about saiddiscrimination. Lan Chile added that they are the only privateairline to subsidize a route to the island. [Due to frequentoverbooking. the trick is to get ON the airplane. In November,police had to control a rowdy crowd ofstranded travelers atMataveri airport tlying to fight their way to the ticketcounter.]

• In 1994 there were approximately 8000 tourists to theisland, according to the island's tourist office. However, manyof these arrived by cruise ship, staying only part of one day. InJanuary, a cruise ship arrived with 400 passengers and crewof 300; they were on the island a few hours. The day before, aspecial charter flew in from Europe with 300 tourists. Theyspent one night and left the next day. This type of tourismleaves little money behind; only those renting buses and vansseem to benefit. Conversely, such heavy concentrations oftourists impact the sites: consider the possibilities fordisturbance at Rano Raraku or Orongo, using a low estimateof 800 persons in two days.

• The land protest continues. A huge tent is still erectedwithin the church yard, and signs protesting the indigenouslaw and demanding return of land to islanders areprominently displayed (in several languages). The protest wasdenounced by Mauricio Huenchulaf, director of CONADI[National Corp()ration of Indigenous Development] who saidthat any indigenous movement asking for restitution of landthat once belonged to their ancestors 'leads down a path withlittle possibility of success'. He added that Chile has anindigenous law and, although not perfect, it is an instrumentthat should be used.

£1 Mercurio, J February 1995

Rapa Nui Journal 26

• Restoration work at Orongo has repaired the stone housesthat collapsed in recent years. A few new signs, warningvisitors not to climb on the house roofs, etc., also have beenadded.

• The new building housing the governor's offices iscompleted and more roads are now paved in the village, onecontinuing all the way to the airport. Several new shops haveopened up on the main streets and a 20,000 square-footshopping mall with supermarket is nearly completed. Thislatter development, on Policarpo Toro Street, is loosely basedon the Ala Moana center in Hawai'i and will include a largeautomatic self-service market, exhibit space for artists, agarden court and 10-15 shops, all opening on the coveredmall. The complex, being developed by former GovernorSergio Rapu, will create 33 direct jobs and will break withtradition by staying open during siesta. Rapu intends to pushlocal produce with the idea in mind that this will increaselocal food production and make islanders less dependent uponimported foods from the mainland.

• A former doctor in the island hospital has opened a privateclinic in town.

• The aging and decrepit Hotel Hangaroa will be torn downand replaced. It has been purchased by a mainland hotel chainwhich will construct 'cabins' with ocean views, not a highrise.They will also restore an ancient ahu which used to be on thehotel grounds.

• The island's new mayor, Petero Edmunds Paoa, hasproposed that Rapa Nui be made a separate region of Chile.The Alcalde explained that islanders are not trying to beindependent but wish to turn the island into its own region,thus making Rapa Nui the door to the Pacific-Asia. Suchchanges would eliminate delays, incomprehension and, mostof all, the bureaucracy that results from being a part of the VRegion of the county. Edmunds stated that this aspiration is

Vol 9 (1) March 1995

not connected to the movement that has taken place on theisland with the creation of the Counsel of Elders #2 which isasking for a return of the all the land to native islanders.

Edmunds noted that being a region would allow the islandto have its own budget, and to find its own solutions forproblems of health, education and public works. Rapa Nuiwould have its own representatives in the parliament and,through consulates, better relationships with its culturalbrothers of Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa.He stated that the Rapanui will always have an inclinationtowards Polynesia rather than the Chilean continent and thispreference is due to the historic origins of the islanders, forthey are the same people, speak the same tongue and have thesame cultural base: "No flag, no foreign tongue, and nocountry can forbid the Rapanui nor our brothers to jointogether." The origin of the Rapa Nui people has beenmisunderstood on the continent and has not been valued inits full dimension as, for example, what happened four yearsago when the French printed four stamps with maps of thePacific islands, one showing Easter Island. This caused afuror on the continent raising specters of a French takeoverand generated a problem that "shamed the relations betweenChile and its friends like France." [See RNJ 5(4):64-5].

One of the irritating factors for islanders is thediscrimination they feel, particularly in supply problems.Even though fuel is subsidized by the government, otheritems of prime necessity cost 4 to 5 times more than on thecontinent. What irritates them most is that the same Chileanproducts, sold in Tahiti, cost half the price than what ischarged on the island.

The Rapa Nui people estimate that, with the creation of anew region, they would have various representatives andcould quit begging for financial support, and many new jobswould be creatt::d. This could mean that Rapa Nuiprofessionals who have returned to the island would not haveto dedicate themselves to fishing or small scale agriculture tomake a living. Measures also should be taken to providemore income such as exclusive stamps for Easter Island (likePitcairn), the establishment of an entry tax of $10 dollars atthe airport, and taxes for merchant ships.

Mayor Edmunds, citing the repair of the importantarchaeological site atTongariki which was financedby the Japanese, added that it isshameful that other countriesworry more than Chile aboutthe maintenance of the island'sarchaeological patrimony.EI lv/ercurio, 12 February1995.

• A statue at Vinapu wasvandalized in January. Eyesand a 'happy face' smile werescratched into the statue's face.Mayor Edmunds went on theradio to denounce those

Rapa Nui Journal 27

islanders who defaced the statue and asked for help inidentirying the culprits.

• The Rapa Nui Outrigger Club is associated with KahuKahu 0 Hera (which has 120 members). However only 30 ofthese are directly involved with the Outrigger Club. At thistime, only one outrigger is on the island (donated by NewZealand), and members practice once a week. The Rapa NuiOutrigger team hopes to get full training when they come toLos Angeles in July of 1995. Their future goals are to link upwith other Polynesian outrigger groups.

• This year's Tapati Festival poster shows a photograph ofa moai with a group of islanders. The poster was sent aroundSouth America to be displayed in the hope that it mightencourage visitation to the island. One handsome islander,prominently featured on the poster, was enjoying his 15minutes of fame. However, police in Argentina saw theposter and recognized him as a fugitive from justice. TheInternational Police came and took him away. What priceglory?

• EI Mercurio de Santiago (10 November 1994) announceda pending 'Maritime Adventure' organized by a Spanishexplorer, Kittin Munoz. Munoz and 10 others (includingsome Rapanui) will nav:gate the seas of Oceania for one year,to demonstrate that the first inhabitants of the island came inthe 4th century AD frem Peru and Bolivia, not Polynesia.The experimental journey is to begin in October 1995 whenthe raft will set out from Rapa Nui's Anakena Beach.

Munoz is the principle organizer of this adventure thatwill cost 2 million dollars and has the hope of provingHeyerdaW's theory of South American settlement ofPolynesia. Munoz has been involved in other adventuresincluding a trip on a sailboard from Monte Carlo to Tunisia;in 1988 he spent five months on a reed 'junk', 17 meterslong.

The boat to be constructed, called "Matarangi", will be 30meters long, 8 meters wide and have 3 masts of 20 meterseach. The shell of the boat will have 3 mono-shells united tomake a trimaran and it will have a double stern and oneprow. Construction will begin in March 1995 and will bemade on a base of totora reed. Braided totora, according toMunoz, is a material that drains by itself and has the capacityof absorption and drainage. "A first proof of this boat will bemade in January when the same builders model a raft 10meters long at the edge of Lake Titicaca. The main objectiveof this experiment is to prove definitely the great capacity ofresistance of the rafts in ancient times in their transoceanicvoyages."

The idea is that, through this trip, says Munoz, it will bepossible to obtain an approximate idea on how the islandswere discovered and inhabited. He added that they "will tryto prove the existence of cultural, botanical and bloodparallelisms between civilizations separated by sea, whichcan be due to contacts obtained through the media of directexperience." [For a trenchant critique ofthis expedition, see

Vol 9 (1) March 1995

comments by our editor, Frank Bock, on page 37-38].

• El Mercurio de Santiago (15 November 1994) reports thatRapa Nui has a Rotary Club. It has been functioning "forsome months" with 30 associates,S of them women. Thepresident is Alfredo Tuki Pate. A delegation from thecontinent donated 600 school texts and teaching videos to theisland's school, which is attended by 700 students.

• Work has begun on the rehabilitation of the SebastianEnglert Museum. The project involves repairing the roof, theexhibition hall and transforming a storeroom into adepository for collections. This will enable the Museum totake better care of its archaeological and ethnographicalmaterials, according to the director of the Museum, ClaudioGomez.

• The most astonishing sight on Rapa Nui, so far: a cream­colored Mercedes Benz. This vehicle was spotted driving in acloud of dust near La Perouse bay--in use as a taxi carryingsome tourists around the island.

• The island continues to be plagued with supply problems.The latest attempt to send supplies was a fiasco: the shipGuamblin never left Valparaiso. It was supposed to sail onDecember 21, but islanders in Valparaiso decided not to loadtheir cargo once they saw the rusting hulk (a reconditionedfish factory ship) tied up at the pier. Adding insult to injury,the shippers had raised the price 37%. Upon examination, theship was found to be unsafe in any waters. Repairs weremade, the ship passed inspection and was scheduled to sail onDecember 30th. But islanders still balked, noting that it wasleaking fuel. Meanwhile fruit and vegetables rotted on thepier, and Congressman Bartolucci blasted the Intendencia for'negligence' A Panamanian freighter (the "Nova") wascontracted and finally sailed for the island on 9 Januarycarrying loads of Christmas gifts and a big truck. Anothersmall ship that supplies petroleum platforms in the Straits ofMagellan took the remainder of items that the Nova did not.including 33 head of cattle, tons of lumber and steel and3,000 bags of cement.

£1 Mercurio de Valparaiso, 9 January 1995.

• Some small toromiro plants are growing the greenhouse atthe CONAF gardens. The five-year old tree that formerlygrew here died recently. It seems these native trees can nolonger adapt to changes in soil and vegetation. We were toldthat many varieties of bananas are also dying due tointroduced pests from Chile.

• The Minister of Defense, Edmundo Perez Yoma, declaredthat plans are made for construction of a new port on theisland, at Mataveri Otai, near Hanga Roa. The project wouldhave an approximate cost of 50 million dollars and a capacityof receiving ships up to 5,000 tons. A private company isinterested in building the port (a Chilean-German enterprise).He added that the location should be re-studied as it is a

Rapa Nui Journal 28

difficult place to build a port due to the steep coastline, and itis possible that cheaper alternatives might be found.

El,\1ercurio, 24 December 1994.

INTERNATIONAL NEWSUnited States• Breathless headlines from the Weekly World News

(November 8, 1994) state: "Mystery Statues found in NorthCarolina Valley!" This 'off the wall' story claims that 23stone 'mystery heads' ,have been found in a mountain valley," ... stunning archaeologists who are unable to account for thisastounding archaeological discovery". A photograph showsthree statues from Rano Raraku with the caption: "Phototaken at secret North Carolina site shows three of the 23stone head figures found in the area." Reading further. itseems that the 23 heads are actually underground, but werelocated with a "special scanning device". A localarchaeologist declares he is looking into Indian legends inorder to unlock the mystery of how Easter Island statues gotto North Carolina. [Ruena suerte, baby).

• Rapanuiphile Russell Morgan informs us that noted USfilm critics. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. recently listed theten worst films of 1994. Guess which film made their NO.2spot? Right Rapa-Nui. The most factual portion of themovie. the race for the egg, was the part that the critics foundcontrived and unbelievable. And Dorothy Feltham sent incopy from the San Francisco Chronicle quoting Chilean filmcritics (it just opened in Chile): EI iv!ercurio states that themovie was greeted with vicious reviews and disgruntledmovie-goers who found the plot and people 'cardboard' andthe story line' infantile'.

AustriaOn Friday. 18 November 1994 at 8:15 in the evening, the

Austrian science program NOVA broadcast (from Vienna) aIS-minute documentary about Rapa NuL written and directedby Dr. Jos Rosenthal, who years ago flew to the Island withElena Charola. The stress of the short program was on the"mysteries revealed" theme, such as the environmentalcollapse being the reason for the social upheaval andtermination of the moai carving~ but they also panned theHollywood movie with terrific scenes of the waste moairotting in the Hangaroa rubbish tip and a good statement byJose Miguel Ramirez abollt the damage the filming did tonature, sites, and Iife style. The Austrian team flew toMeersburg to interview Dr Steven Roger Fischer about hisrecent breakthrough in the decipherment of rongorongo. andthey showed their highly edited version of his statement to theeffect that we can 'read' parts of the script at last. Fischer isshown explaining, in German, how a whole sentence fromthe "Santiago Staff" can be read. The program was well doneand scientifically unassailable, something that seems to bemore and more par for the course of late, particularly amongGerman-language broadcasts.

Vol 9 (1) March 1995