The custom is said to have existed of enclosing such articles as chisels and fish-hooks in the wrappings of a corpse, and it is recorded that the bird-man’s egg sometimes accompanied him to his last home; the idea also of placing her _prie-Dieu_ in Angata’s grave seemed to be a survival of such a practice. With the one exception, however, of the beads in the canoe-shaped ahu, we never found any objects with the dead. The natives who were generally most anxious to reach the inaccessible caves in the hope of treasure, felt no interest in one which can be seen from below to have a wall across the mouth, and which was said to be a place of burial; they considered that it would contain nothing of value. It seems therefore probable that belongings buried with the deceased were speedily stolen and have not been available in the memory of this generation. It is difficult to suppose that any fear of punishment here or hereafter would deter an Easter Islander from appropriating any such article for which he had a fancy. There may still be accidental discoveries in grottoes of forgotten hoards, or a few things treasured in this way by old men may be disclosed, but personally we are persuaded that the secret of this land must be sought elsewhere than in its caves. [Illustration: FIG. 122. AHU OROI. An outcrop of rock utilised as an image ahu. ] CHAPTER XVIII LEGENDS First Arrival on the Island—The Long Ears exterminated by the Short Ears—The Struggle between Kotuu and Hotu Iti. It remains to be seen what accounts the islanders give of their origin and history in addition to the vague fragments already quoted. These legends fall into three groups, which, though they touch at some points, are in reality separate, and their relation to one another in point of time cannot be certainly ascertained. It need hardly be said that, like all such legends, they cannot be regarded as more than suggestive; when the mysteries have been solved, it will no doubt be easy to see where they have been founded on fact, and where error has crept in, and essential points distorted or forgotten; meanwhile, the clues they afford can only be partial. These groups deal respectively, firstly with the arrival of the islanders under Hotu-matua; secondly with the destruction of the Long Ears; and thirdly with the war between the two sides of the island, Kotuu and Hotu Iti. The stories have necessarily been somewhat abbreviated. FIRST ARRIVAL ON THE ISLAND