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I quote from my early work: For some reason Metoro read the lines on side b backwards, starting with Eb1-36, -35, 34 ... and ending this line with Eb1-3, -2, -1. Though Eb1-37 -- -42 was left until after having read the mentioned glyphs and Eb2-27, -26, -25 ... -3, -2, -1 (in that order). Then he finished line Eb1 in the (presumably) right order: Eb1-37 -- -42. The close correlations between what Metoro was saying and the glyphs makes it absolutely clear that this is what happened. I have presumed that Metoro was wrong in reading backwards like that and therefore I present glyphs and Metoro's readings adjusted after the order of the glyphs, not according to the order of his reading. The first 2 lines on side b he read backwards. It could mean Metoro regarded them as a continuation of the lines on side a. 9 + 2 = 11 is the ordinal number of line Eb2 if counted from line Ea1. The idea could be the necessity to arrive at 'one more' (than 10) in order to ensure the continuous flow of time as reflected in the text. 36 glyphs in line Hb1 + 27 glyphs in line Hb2 = 63 is the reverse of 36. But there are 42 glyphs in line Hb1, and Metoro singled out the last 6 of them:
Metoro read Eb1-37--42 in the 'right' order, and at Eb1-37 we can observe the number of Rogo (363 - as if signifying the connection between 36 and 63). Hanau in Eb1-37 shows no sign of Rogo, but this is not necessary - it is number 363 and obviously the first of the long sequence of glyphs which follows. Eb1-37 is the first glyph of the first period among 24, each of which is ending with kiore + henua (as in Eb2-14). If we add Eb1-37--42 to the beginning of line Eb2 the ordinal number of Eb2-14 will be a significant 20. The 24 period long sequence of glyphs is beginning with the day of Rogo. From the day of Rogo (at new year) time should run forwards (kua oho):
Beyond high summer comes a reversal, the season of descending, and one way to state this is to read backwards. One more phenomenon needs to be mentioned. In addition to reading glyphs in reversed order (in Hb1-Hb2 excepting Eb1-37--42) Metoro gave Bishop Jaussen another sign, by reading some kiore + henua glyphs in Keiti backwards (in the order henua followed by kiore). Below I have redmarked these instances:
The numbers within parenthesis are ordinal numbers counted from Rogo in Eb1-37. I have redmarked 11 of the glyphs (numbers 5, 10, 13-15, 17-21, and 23). |
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