The garfish has its name from an old English word 'gār' meaning 'spear'. Likewise, the Polynesians saw a spear (ihe) in the garfish (ihe).

Metoro's word ihe may refer to the visual impression from the glyph type (like a spear or lance), while the following tau probably determines what the glyph type is meant to illustrate.

1. Possibly GD45 is a picture of a broken canoe.

"…to enter a war canoe from either the stern or the prow was equivalent to a 'change of state or death'. Instead, the warrior had to cross the threshold of the side-strakes as a ritual entry into the body of his ancestor as represented by the canoe. The hull of the canoe was regarded as the backbone of their chief. In laments for dead chiefs, the deceased are often compared to broken canoes awash in the surf." (Starzecka)

Trying to read signs integrated in other glyph types it can be difficult to distinguish ihe tau from marama, e.g. in Pa5-16:

marama	Pa5-16	Pa5-17	ihe tau

The arm held high in tagata here resembles a waning moon, and possibly the intention of the creator of the glyph was to give that sign. Unquestionably, though, the left part of the following glyph is ihe tau, which can put doubts into the mind of the untrained reader.

Another example is the wing held high in Ab2-69. But here the preceding ihe tau glyph does not seem to contradict the wing sign - which more resembles ihe tau than a reversed marama:

Ab2-68	Ab2-69

A broken canoe can look like half a moon crescent, and in the Mamari moon calendar a curious glyph at the beginning of the waning phase seems to illustrate a broken moon 'canoe':

Ca7-21	Ca7-22	Ca7-23	Ca7-24
Ca7-25	Ca7-26	Ca7-27	Ca7-28	Ca7-29