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  • On Two Different Personalit...
    Melka, Tomi S.; Schoch, Robert M.

    The Journal of Pacific history, 10/02/2023, Volume: 58, Issue: 4
    Journal Article

    In Part I of this article, we discussed an English caplock pistol that reportedly belonged to the Easter Island (Rapa Nui) King Nga'ara (? - ca. 1859) and the birdmen motif found on the pistol grip, comparing the pistol's birdmen figures to similar figures found carved on boulders and rock surfaces on Easter Island. In Part II we turn to a consideration of another seminal individual in the history of the island, María Angata Veri Tahi - the Rapanui 'Prophetess' and chief organizer of the 1914 rebellion against the Compañía Explotadora de la Isla de Pascua. Thanks to the generosity of the current owner, we have been allowed to study a nineteenth-century artefact that was once in the possession of Angata - an 1849 English Holy Bible. This Bible is of note as (1) in contrast to Angata's conversion to Roman Catholic beliefs, it is a Protestant Bible, and (2) it features a short inscription in vernacular Rapanui on the inside of its back cover which may have been penned by Angata herself or by another Rapanui under her direction. The present analysis of the Bible (and other associated objects) suggests a number of hypotheses regarding the historical context in which Angata lived and operated, while shedding light on various aspects of the prophetess's life and activities. Whether raising the spirits of her Rapanui followers against foreign institutions and shifting powers or fuelling a new brand of syncretic religion on the island, Angata's historical importance merits the attention of modern scholarship.