Diane Palombi, age 11, of Rockford, Ill. for her question

Who carved the statues on Easter Island?

For countless ages, the little island was alone in the vast Pacific. Its island neighbors, mere specks in the vast ocean, were separated by hundreds of miles. The furious fires of its ancient volcanoes at last burned themselves out, leaving only ashes and silence. Perhaps the island slept while ocean breezes swept its grassy slopes. Perhaps it awoke one day some 600 years ago when huge, ocean‑going canoes touched its shores. Men had arrived from faraway Polynesia and Easter Island became inhabited.

Perhaps more canoes arrived at later dates. Some 250 years ago, the island was home to 4,000 people. They named it Rapa Nui and its stony craters rang with the sound of their busy chisels. Far its human children were great stone cutters. They quarried and cut stone to make houses and towers, cisterns and chicken coops, spearheads and fishhooks. They found time to carve strange picture‑writing on slabs of wood.

They also carved statues. Each image was made to represent the top half of a human being with a long, sad face and large ears. The body was carved from black volcanic rock and red stone was used to crown each weird figure with a tall hat.

Then, one day, the islanders watched the arrival of a white‑sailed ship. Rapa Nui w&s again discovered, this time by Dutch sailors on Easter Day, 1722. It was promptly renamed and put on the map as Easter Island. Sad to say, the busy, carefree days of its people now came to an end.

Rowdy whalers were soon making the little isle a port of call. Traders arrived to take its people off to work in the guano mines of South America so long protected in isolation, fell prey to all manner of sickness. Many perished in fights which arose as they blamed their troubles upon one another. After 50 years, only 175 of them were left.

Then the island was re.‑discovered again, this time by scholars and people of good will who were interested in the welfare of the people of olden Rapa Nui and their way of life. Brat those that remained had forgotten why the strange statues were made. No one could explain the picture‑writing.

In 1888, Easter Island was annexed by Chile and some of the original islanders were found and brought home to live in security. They were given 5,000 acres and 25,000 acres became a National Park.

Today, most of the statues have been toppled and broken by earthquakes. Some are three feet tall and some are 30 feet weighing 50 tons. One monster image, 66 feet tall, is in the quarry where it was probably cut, a few, firm on stone platforms near the cliffs, still stand with their backs to the sea. If these long, sad faces could speaks they could explain the many mysteries of old Rapa Nui.