Besides the ceremonial roads and their continuations, there are traces of an altogether different track which is said to run round the whole seaboard of the island. It is considered to be supernatural work, and is known as Ara Mahiva, “ara” meaning road and “Mahiva” being the name of the spirit or deity who made it. On the southern side it has been obliterated in making the present track—it was there termed the “path for carrying fish”; but on the northern and western coasts, where for much of the way it runs on the top of high cliffs, such a use is out of the question. It can be frequently seen there like a long persistent furrow, and where its course has been interrupted by erosion, no fresh track had been made further inland; it terminates suddenly on the broken edge, and resumes its course on the other side. It is best seen in certain lights running up both the western and southern edges of Rano Kao. Its extent and regularity appeared to preclude the idea of landslip. There is no reason to suppose that it is due to the imported livestock, and it has no connection with ahu, or the old native centres of population, yet to have been so worn by naked feet it must constantly have been used. This silent witness to a forgotten past is one of the most mysterious and impressive things on the island. [Illustration: FIG. 79. THE CRATER FROM WHICH THE HATS OF THE IMAGES WERE HEWN, ON THE SIDE OF THE HILL PUNAPAU. Rano Kao in the distance. ] [Illustration: FIG. 80. AN UNFINISHED HAT NEAR THE QUARRY. ] [Illustration: FIG. 81. A FINISHED HAT AT AHU HANGA O-ORNU; OTHERS IN THE DISTANCE. ] STONE CROWNS OF THE IMAGES Mention must finally be made of the crowns or hats which adorned the figures on the ahu. Their full designation is said to be “Hau (hats) hiterau moai,” but they are always alluded to merely as “hiterau” or “hitirau.”