1. With toga = south = winter coordinated with 16 and Jupiter and also illustrated as the basic glyph type in the complex Eb7-16 it is possible to count 71 * 6 = 426 and thereby to read '400 together with 26', which again could serve as a sign that Jupiter and his son Sun are close.
Eb7-16 ought to be a cardinal glyph in the text, but its ordinal number counted from Ea1-1 is not 400. It is 888. We can count 3 * 8 = 24 and the same basic number occurs in the 'parallel' Aa8-30. With a zero in its last position we have to count 8 * 3 = 24 (because 83 * 0 is impossible - there is no rectangle with side 0). Presumably 24 means 'midnight'. In the darkest of times a new fire should be alighted, which indeed is illustrated in Aa8-30. At left is a kind of distorted arm with 3 fingers at the top. This arm undulates in a complex pattern to end in a 'fist' from which flames emerge. The fist sign means 'a full hand', so to say, a sign of full potential. It means 5 (rima) and symbolizes 'fire'. It is essential to know how the Polynesians counted on their fingers, and the following amusing account must be retold: "... The practice of turning down the fingers, contrary to our practice, deserves notice, as perhaps explaining why sometimes savages are reported to be unable to count above four. The European holds up one finger, which he counts, the native counts those that are down and says 'four'. Two fingers held up, the native counting those that are down, calls 'three'; and so on until the white man, holding up five fingers, gives the native none turned down to count. The native is nonplussed, and the enquirer reports that savages can not count above four ..." (Dr. Codrington in his Melanesian Languages, p. 222, note 1, as related in William Churchill's The Polynesian Wanderings.) |
