Those who are drawn as sitting down ought to be seen in profile (cfr kai), but the upper part of the tagata rere has been turned towards us. They have turned a quarter around:

Owls are capable of turning their heads much more than men.

It could be said that a sitting down person who has twisted her upper body towards us is sitting sideways.

... The older sister of god and man, La'ila'i, is the firstborn to all the eras of previous creation. By Hawaiian theory, as firstborn La'ila'i is the legitimate heir to creation; while as woman she is uniquely able to transform divine into human life. 

The issue in her brothers' struggle to possess her is accordingly cosmological in scope and political in form. Described in certain genealogies as twins, the first two brothers are named simply in the chant as Ki'i, a man and Kane, a god. But since Ki'i means image and Kane means man, everything has already been said: the statuses of god and man are reversed by La'ila'i's actions. She 'sits sideways', meaning she takes a second husband, Ki'i, and her children by the man Ki'i are born before her children by the god Kane ...