Easter Island; was Re: Stonhenge revisited

[sstrait1 at san.rr.com]

On Tue, Dec 07, 2004 at 09:48:50PM -0800, Lan Barnes wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 07, 2004 at 04:49:05PM -0800, sstrait1 at san.rr.com wrote:
> > 
> > I read somewhere that when someone finally thought of asking an
> > Easter Islander how the heads were moved, the islander described
> > some reasonable-sounding method and said the method had been
> > passed on from one generation to the next.  Unfortunately I don't
> > remember which method he described.
> 
> Funny ... I thought the island had no population in modern times -- part
> of its mystery.

My 1963 Britannica [in an article probably last revised with 1934 data]
and Wikipedia both say that the island has been inhabited
continuously for several centuries.  The minimum native population
was 111, according to Wikipedia.

On the previous part of the topic, I'm wondering if the actual story
may have been that the islander
actually organized a demonstration of moving one of the stone heads.
Does anyone have references?

Stewart Strait