|
8. Bishop Jaussen on Tahiti had in his household staff a man from Easter Island who knew superficially the meaning of the rongorongo signs. He had earlier been a cook for the last king on Easter Island. This man was Metoro Tauga Ure. Bishop Jaussen has documented what Metoro said when 'reading' four of the tablets (A, B, C, and E). But the Bishop interrupted him when he talked too much, and told Metoro to say only what the glyphs meant. In his Grundlagen Barthel has reproduced what Bishop Jaussen noted down when listening to Metoro. I decided (following Barthel) that this was an important source which should not be overlooked. I had no difficulty placing in parallel the words of Metoro and the glyphs, he was fairly consistent. A good example:
Pepe is Polynesian for butterfly, rima is hand, and moe is sleep (although all three words also have other meanings which must be taken into account when translating the rongorongo text).
|
