On our first visit to the mountain, overcome by the wonder of the scene, we turned to our Fernandez boy and asked him what he thought of the statues. Like the classical curate, when the bishop inquired as to the character of his egg, he struggled manfully between the desire to please and a sense of truth; like the curate, he took refuge in compromise. “Some of them,” he said doubtfully, he thought “were very nice.” If the figures at first strike even the cultured observer as crude and archaic, it must be remembered that not only are they the work of stone tools, but to be rightly seen should not be scrutinised near at hand. “Hoa-haka-nanaia,” for instance, is wholly and dismally out of place under a smoky portico, but on the slopes of a mountain, gazing in impenetrable calm over sea and land, the simplicity of outline is soon found to be marvellously impressive. The longer the acquaintance the more this feeling strengthens; there is always the sense of quiet dignity, of suggestion and of mystery. [Illustration: FIG. 58. STATUES ON RANO RARAKU, SHOWING DISTENSION OF EAR. LOBE REPRESENTED AS A ROPE [Nos. 27 and 29. Fig. 60.] ] [Illustration: FIG. 59. LOBE CONTAINING A DISC. [No. 23. Fig. 60.] ] [Illustration: FIG. 60A. KEY TO DIAGRAMMATIC SKETCH. ] [Illustration: FIG. 60. EXTERIOR OF RANO RARAKU. EASTERN PORTION OF SOUTHERN ASPECT. Diagrammatic sketch showing position of statues. ] [Illustration: FIG. 61. DIGGING OUT A STATUE. For same image after excavation see fig. 69. ] While the scene on Raraku always arouses a species of awe, it is particularly inspiring at sunset, when, as the light fades, the images gradually become outlined as stupendous black figures against the gorgeous colouring of the west. The most striking sight witnessed on the island was a fire on the hillside; in order to see our work more clearly we set alight the long dry grass, always a virtuous act on Easter Island that the livestock may have the benefit of fresh shoots; in a moment the whole was a blaze, the mountain, wreathed in masses of driving smoke, grew to portentous size, the quarries loomed down from above as dark giant masses, and in the whirl of flame below the great statues stood out calmly, with a quiet smile, like stoical souls in Hades.