sentences:  Later 15 islanders were returned, but they were infected with smallpox and tuberculosis which spread across the island decimating its population.This was allegedly the fate of the son of Ngaꞌara II, called Kai Makoꞌi ꞌIti, who was Easter Island's "ariki mau" or paramount chief at the time, and of his son Maurata.In 1872 the total population was of only 111 individuals, and the paramount chiefs and their priests had perished, thus facilitating their conversion to Christianity.