Extract from a Dutch Relation of Roggeweign’s Discovery of Easter Island.

“Upon the 6th day of April, being in lat. 27 deg. S. and long. 268 deg. we discovered an island, hitherto unknown to any European; for which reason, according to the usual custom on the first discovery of any unknown land, we christened it by the name of Easter Island, it being the anniversary of our Saviour’s Resurrection on that very day that we arrived there. As soon as the anchors were ready to drop, we observed at a distance a neat boat, of a very remarkable construction, the whole patched together out of pieces of wood, which could hardly make up the largeness of half a foot. This boat was managed by a single man, a giant of twelve feet high, who exerted all his strength to escape us, but in vain, because he was surrounded and taken. His body was painted with a dark-brown colour. We tried with such signs and words as are used here and there among the islands in the South Sea, to get some intelligence from him, but could not perceive that he understood any thing, wherefore we permitted him to go into his boat again and depart. Two days afterwards the whole sea was covered with the savage inhabitants of this island, who came swimming round the ship in such multitudes, that we neither could, nor did we think it adviseable to land. They clambered like cats up the ship’s sides with the utmost assurance, and came aboard, where they did not appear to be in the least afraid of us, but they seemed very much surprized at the largeness and extent of our ships and rigging, and could not conceive the meaning of all that they saw; but their curiosity was chiefly engaged by the great guns, which they could not enough admire, and which they frequently struck their hands upon, to try if they could not lift them up, and carry them off; but when they saw that such logs by such an attempt were too heavy for them, and could not be moved, these overgrown fellows stood abashed, and were, in appearance, very much out of humour. They no sooner came aboard, than we immediately found that they were naturally as thievish and nimble-fingered as the inhabitants of those islands to which voyagers have affixed the name of the Islands of Thieves, from the great propensity of the people to rob and steal, if they were not beaten from it. Rusty nails, old iron, and whatever they could catch or lay hold on, was equal to them, with which they jumped overboard immediately. They attempted with their nails to scratch the bolts out of the ship, but these were too fast for them. These huge fellows came at last aboard in such numbers, that we were hardly capable to keep them in order, or keep a watchful eye upon their motions, and the quickness of their hands; so that fearing they would become too many for us, we used our best endeavours to get rid of them in a friendly way; but they not seeming inclinable to leave us, we were obliged to use harsher methods, and drive these savages out of the ships by force.

“On the 10th of April we made for the island in our boats, well armed, in order to land, and take a view of this country, where an innumerable company of savages stood on the sea side to guard the shore, and obstruct our landing; they threatened us mightily by their gestures, and shewed an inclination to await us, and turn us out of their country; but as soon as we, through necessity, gave them a discharge of our muskets, and here and there brought one of them to the ground, they lost their courage. They made the most surprizing motions and gestures in the world, and viewed their fallen companions with the utmost astonishment, wondering at the wounds which the bullets had made in their bodies; whereupon they hastily fled with a dreadful howling, dragging the dead bodies along with them; so the shore was cleared, and we landed in safety.

“These people do not go naked, as many other savages do; every person is cloathed in different colours of cotton and worsted, curiously woven, or stitched; but nothing misbecomes them more than their ears, which are abominably long, and in most of them hang upon the shoulders; so that, though they themselves look upon this as the greatest ornament, they appeared very uncouth to us, who were not accustomed to such; the more so, as there were in them such extravagantly large holes and openings, that we could easily put our hands through them.

“Thus far my narrative will gain credit, because it contains nothing uncommon, yet I must declare, that all these savages are of a more than gigantic size, for the men are twice as tall and thick as the largest of our people; they measured, one with another, the height of twelve feet, so that we could easily, (who will not wonder at it!) without stooping, have passed betwixt the legs of these sons of Goliah. According to their height, so is their thickness, and are all, one with another, very well proportioned, so that each could have passed for a Hercules; but none of their wives came up to the height of the men, being commonly not above ten or eleven feet. The men had their bodies painted with a red or dark brown, and the women with a scarlet colour.

“I doubt not but most people who read this voyage will give no credit to what I now relate, and that this account of the height of these giants will probably pass with them for a mere fable or fiction; but this I declare, I have put down nothing but the real truth, and that this people, upon the nicest inspection, were in fact of such a surpassing height as I have here described.

“After the inhabitants of Easter Island had made trial of the strength of our weapons, as we have before related, they began to use us in a more civil manner, and brought us from their huts all kinds of vegetables, sugar canes, with yams, plantains, and a great quantity of fowls, which came very a-propos, and tended to refresh us greatly.

“What I have seen of the worship and idols of these savages is very wonderful. Two stones, of a largeness almost beyond belief, served them for gods; the one was broad beyond measure, and lay upon the ground; upon this stood the other stone, which was of such extent and height that seven of our people with outstretched arms would hardly have been able to encircle it; so that it appeared to me, and all others, impossible that this stone could have been lifted up and placed upon the other by the inhabitants of these islands, how large and strong soever they might be; for, besides the thickness, it was fully as high as three men. About the top of this stone there was cut or carved the shape of a man’s head, adorned with a garland, which was set together in the manner of inlaid work, made of small stones, in a manner not very improper. The name of the largest idol was called Taurico, and the other Dago; at least these were the words they called to them by, and wherewith they worshipped them.

“These savages had great respect for the two idols Taurico and Dago, and approached them with great reverence, namely, with dancing, shouting, jumping, and clapping of hands, in the same manner as we read in holy writ, that the children of Israel worshipped the golden-calf which Aaron set up; and when the cannon (of which they seemed to be in great terror) were discharged, and the heavy shot sounded in their ears, they made surprizing and wonderful gestures and leaps, and pointed with their finger, first to our people, and then to their gods, whom they appeared to supplicate for help against us, and to call upon with a frightful shout, and howling of Dago! Dago!

“While we lay before this Easter Island, a heavy tempest surprized us, which pressed so much on the ships, that I had no thought but that they would drive from their anchors, and we with them come to a miserable end on this coast, which God prevented, the storm being at last appeased, without having done any damage to the ships.

“On the 12th of April, leaving this island, we put to sea again, and shaped our course to the westward.

“On the 20th of May we came into the latitude of 14 deg. 41 min. S. where we fell in with a great number of sunken rocks, rocks above water, and small islands, all entangled together; so that we were of opinion, they had been joined together in former times, and composed one solid piece of land, but separated from one another afterwards by a pressure of the waters. Among these an island appeared above the rest, the most stately and eminent, intersected by many rivers and springs of water, which therefore was christened Water Island by Schouten and Le Maire, who discovered it in 1616, on their voyage to the Terra Australis. In this labyrinth of islands and rocks, we had the woeful misfortune to lose one of our ships, the African Galley, which struck upon the rocks, and beat to pieces. It may be accounted, however, a happy circumstance, that all the people aboard were saved and brought off; and being divided among the two remaining ships, were a reinforcement to their crews. It was impossible for the ships to approach very near the land, where no anchoring ground was to be found. It is a low, sandy, and rocky island, being in the inland parts almost all drowned land; but upon the borders it is full of trees, among which neither palmetto or cocoa-nut trees were to be found; which I believe is the reason of its not being inhabited; nevertheless, five of our men who went ashore willingly remained on the island, and would not return again to the ships, being wearied out with the hardships they had already suffered, and fearing many more unforeseen disasters were still awaiting them. The loss of the above-mentioned ship would be a happy circumstance for them, since from the wreck, and what would be drove ashore, they might be supplied with arms, and all other necessaries.

“On the 25th of May we passed by the island of Flies, also discovered by the foresaid Schouten in his above-mentioned voyage. The inland parts of it are likewise full of salt-water, and it abounds in great plenty of wild green trees. It is inhabited by savages of a large stature, armed with bows and arrows. The island was very properly named, from the incredible quantity of nasty flies wherewith it is covered, which also come aboard, and fall so thick on the face, and other parts of the body, that one is at a loss to conceal himself from them, and every thing one eats or drinks is full of them; they put us to great trouble for two or three days, when these uninvited guests departed.

“On the 29th of May we passed among a number of rocks, and islands, from whence we sometimes saw a smoak ascend, a sign that they were inhabited; but we had no opportunity of going ashore. This day we found ourselves in lat. 15 deg. 17 min. S. and long. 224 deg.

“On the 1st of June, in 15 deg. 47 min. and long. 224 deg. we came in sight of an island hitherto unknown to, and unlooked for by, any European. Thither we went in our boats, in order to take a view of it, and to procure refreshments; when the inhabitants, who saw us approach from afar, came down upon the shore to make us return back, and to prevent our landing. They are people of an excellent shape, well proportioned, and comely in person; and what is surprizing, their skin is as clear and white as that of a native of Holland. They seemed to shew a resolution to stay for us; for, as soon as we came near, they jumped like madmen into the water to meet us, and pushed with great cruelty with their weapons, which consisted of spears and lances, whose points were armed with a very sharp wood as hard as iron: wherefore, being obliged to free ourselves, and preserve our lives from this hostile attack, we fired upon them with our muskets, which made these savage warriors immediately take to their heels, and obliged them to look out for a place of safety; for as soon as they had tasted the deadly effects of these weapons, they turned their backs upon us, and fled to a high steep rock, which they scrambled up like monkies, with incredible swiftness.

“From thence, being convinced of our superior force, they gave us to understand, that all hostilities should cease on their part, and they would treat with us as friends; and on our side we used every means to allure them to us, being in the utmost want of all manner of refreshments. Every thing succeeded according to our wishes; they brought us their commodities, consisting of cocoa-nuts, and a certain bitter herb of the taste of Dutch cresses, which is found here in great plenty. For these we gave them in exchange several trifles and trinkets; such as small looking-glasses, glass beads of all colours, combs, bells, and a number of such toys of little value, with which they were as well, and even better pleased, than we were with the cocoa-nuts and bitter herbs, which, however, were much more agreeable and useful to us in our present condition than gold and silver, as we thereby enjoyed a remarkable benefit and amazing relief against the scurvy, which had already brought us into a most deplorable situation.

“Although it appeared by these mutual exchanges that these savages were got into good understanding and friendship with us, we soon discovered that this was no more than a feigned reconciliation, serving only to deceive us and make us the more easily fall into their snares, with which villainous inclination almost all the inhabitants of the islands lying in those seas are infected; for as some of our people, ordered to view and make a further discovery of the country, were passing betwixt the rocks and cliffs, along a strait and narrow path, to see the form and condition of the place, they were met by an old grey-headed man, who, although he neither understood them or they him, endeavoured by many signs and motions to make them sensible that they were not in safety, and that it would be best for them to return back; he pointed to the road that brought them thither; and the better to make them understand the secret ambush and the approaching danger, he took up a stone from the ground and threw it down before him. How well soever our people ought to have understood from this, that those barbarians would attack them from the tops of the rocks with stones, yet they paid no regard to the signs and admonitions of the good old savage, but marched forward, trusting to their arms. They had not gone far before a dreadful shower of stones came pouring upon them from all quarters, when they least thought of it, in such large quantities and with such violence, that many of our people were thereby lamed and wounded, without being able to make resistance in defending themselves or driving the savages from above them, who had made their assault from too secure a place; so that our people were constrained to slacken their pace, contrary to their inclinations, and return back with their wounded heads, being very well pleased however that they had escaped so well.

“What further regards these villains and traitors, I have already observed that they are comely and well-proportioned in their persons, and wear as an ornament pearls of a large size in their ears. About their necks and bodies they wear, as a singular ornament, the shells of pearl oysters. As we received great benefit and relief from our sickness by means of the bitter herb which is found here in great plenty, and was given us by the savages in exchange for our toys, so this new-discovered island was by us christened by the name of the Verkwikking’s island.

“After this adventure with these roguish savages no delay was made there, but we got again under sail; and because the provisions lessened gradually from day to day, and the disorders, notwithstanding the relief from the bitter herbs, continued to increase, to the great grief of us all, it was resolved, in a council of the principal officers, to return home by the East-Indies. We then lay up to lat. 15 deg. 47 min. S. and according to our reckoning 224 deg. 18 min. long. being then about 1200 leagues from the coast of Peru.

“On the 12th of June we found ourselves in latitude 15 deg. 16 min. S. and longitude 205 deg. 8 min.

“On the 14th we discovered two islands, which we could not approach near enough to take a proper view of, by reason of the rough and stormy sea; but, on the other hand, we had this satisfaction, that the inhabitants came to take a view of us, and kept hovering about the ships in a number of boats of such neat and exquisite workmanship as is almost incredible that any thing of the kind should have been found among such savages, they being of such an artful construction, the furniture so pretty, and the form so neat, adorned with a number of the most curious carved figures, that it is impossible for the imagination to conceive any thing more elegant; and really their carved image work (which was the greatest ornament of these boats) was so exquisite, that I much doubt if there are many engravers in Europe capable of producing more curious workmanship. The people in these fine boats were armed with darts, and had their heads adorned with green leaves, and their bodies cloathed with reeds. This island got the name of Bowman’s island from a captain of that name. It was very pleasant and delightful to behold, fruitful, and surrounded with trees, among which the palmetto shewed itself.

“On the 15th we came in sight of an island about seven miles in length, lying in lat. 13 deg. 41 min. S. and 250 deg. long. Many of us felt a longing desire to touch at this island, in hopes of procuring some refreshment; but it was deferred, and we pursued our voyage without landing, in order to save time, because our miseries and inconveniences daily increased, and the disorders from many causes increased also.

“On the 18th of July we perceived many different islands, and among others New Zealand, computed to be in extent about 300 leagues, lying under 6 deg. of S. lat. and 166 deg. long.”

This relation is copied verbatim from Mr. Dalrymple’s valuable Collection of Spanish and Dutch Discoveries in the South Seas, as is likewise the following Relation of the Discovery of Davis’s Land; but neither the one nor the other of these discoveries have since been fully confirmed.