If we look at the ordinal numbers counted from the beginning of the text we suddenly will understand what is meant:
There are three different and equally true alternatives. Tagata at Gb5-6 stands at the end of a regular 360-day solar year, Gb4-33 is the last glyph in a year measured by lunar 29.5 nights per month (354 = 12 * 29.5), and Gb5-11 is number 365 (our own kind of year). A fourth way of counting the year is as 364 = 13 * 28, visualized with vaha kai (a mouth ready to eat) in Gb5-10. Haga Te Pau now appears in a new light: It is the difference between the true year length 365¼ and 365. The pau foot illustrates one of the four limbs as if a little sun was hidden inside. Finally, to reach the correct numbers (e.g. 360 at tagata) it is necessary to count from the last glyph (Gb8-30) on side b:
229 (side a) + 242 (side b) = 471 glyphs should be imagined as 230 + 242 = 472, because Gb8-30 should be counted twice. 472 = 2 * 236 = 4 * 118 = 8 * 59 = 16 * 29.5. Q.E.D. |
