~The Book Of Wonder Encyclopaedia~
~E~

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui by it's natives, is a small island that lies in the South Pacific Ocean with the nearest mainland being Chile, over 2000 miles away. Easter Island was unknown to the civilized world until Easter Day 1772 when a Dutch admiral, Jacob Roggeveen, discovered it by accident. After having been a prison colony it was taken over by Chile in 1888 and made into a National Park in 1935.

The island is roughly 50 square miles in area, triangular in shape and has a volcanic peak at each corner. The stone from one of the now extinct volcanoes, Rano Raraku, was used in the making of most of the renowned, mysterious Easter Island monolithic statues called moai.

The original inhabitants of Easter Island are known to have been Polynesian in origin. Less than 100 natives landed on the island when searching for a new colony and the population grew rapidly. They established an extraordinary culture developed from their Polynesian background; they belonged to clans and had a complex religious and social system. This is where it is thought the origins of the moai are based.

Within a few centuries the island had been stripped of trees which were used for everything from housing to fishing, and using up the islands natural resources at such a rate that eventually the natives resorted to cannibalism to survive and the population started to reduce. Clan wars ensued which included the desecration and toppling of each others moai.

The moai are thought to be a symbol of masculine-oriented authority and power in both a political and religious area developed from the culture's Polynesian origins. There are nearly 900 moai on Easter Island, some are reported to be at least 1500 years old. More than 200 of them had massive stone platforms called ahu as a base and over 600 other moai have been found around the island in various states of either construction or desecration.

In the Polynesian belief system any carved object is endowed with mana which is like divine spiritual power and the strength of the moai gave the ahu the property of sanctuary to the natives of Rapa Nui, so it is thought that the moai on ahu hold the greatest significance being probably part of sacred ritual practices. The heads of these huge grey images were cut flat to receive crowns, or capstones, made of reddish stone. A number of these crowns have been found around the island, in the quarries and near the platforms.

In nearby quarries huge half-cut figures still remain, one of them measuring 70 feet. As well as the statues there are also ruins of large stone houses overlooking the sea, on some of the statues and the ruins there are traces of geometrical figures and shapes of animals carved into the surface of the stone. While other Pacific islands have similar remains the Easter Island ruins are the only ones to bear signs of picture-writing.

Echinacea is a member of the daisy family. [ also known as snakeroot ]
It has anti-bacterial properties and is the best-known herb for boosting the immune system thereby increasing resistance to infection. Because of this Echinacea will help to fight cold and flu symptoms along with many other illnesses caused by bacteria and viruses. It will also help to reduce inflammation, swelling and pain caused by infections, and aid in the healing of wounds. The root is the part mainly used.  *Back*

N.B.
Many medical conditions are not appropriate for self-diagnosis or self-medication and need the attention of a qualified medical practitioner.

Ectoplasm is the name given to the smoky, white, trailing substance that issues forth from the person of a medium or psychic communicator. The ectoplasm is said to form itself into recognisable shapes representing a loved one who has passed from this world to the next and wanting to communicate with those left behind.

In the case of physical manifestation this is thought to be brought about by the psychic power of the medium allowing the ethereal 'essence' of a spirit (ghost) to use the medium's astral body to form it's own shape. If this phenomena was irrefutable fact then it would be an ideal way to ascertain proof of survival of the spirit after physical death. However, this emanation has been proved to be easily faked with cheesecloth packed into the nose or ears, or even swallowed and regurgitated at the crucial time. Not my idea of a snack!