After Ira had put one of the (unnamed) necklaces around the neck of the Apina Iti stone figure and named the place 'Apina Iti A Rapa Kura' the story resumes: "Ira gave the stone figure [earlier named Apina Iti] the name 'Hinariru', the name of the master, (son) of Tuu Hokorua, who had given the figure to Ira.
He turned around, went on, and entered the cave Pu Pakakina and remained there. All the young men arrived and settled down (to sleep). It grew light on the fourth day, and they all got up (together). They climbed down, went on, and arrived at the bay. They hurried, went into the water, and reached the islet (off the shore). The wave began to move, and they all rode the wave (literally, 'they turned their lower body into the position of a turtle'). Ira rode the waves toward the right side. He looked diagonally toward the land, looked in the direction of Ruhi Hepii, and the ornament of Ruhu Hepii shone brightly. [I suspected Ruhu was Barthel's misspelling of Ruhi and looked in the Polynesian original. To my surprise - I guess Barthel could have used Ruhu as a Sign - the original text is: he ui mai a ruhi hepii he rapa atu te rei.mai ruhi hePii. Possibly we should read hePii as a reference to π and to November 10, where we can count 9 * 10 = 90.]
He went back out into the sea, and the movement of the wave was to the left side. Again he glanced, this time in the direction of Pu, and the ornament of Pu shone brightly. [Pu was the name of the place with a hole in the stone at Apina Nui. Maybe Pi(i) was meant to be the opposite of Pu, as when right is contrasted with left.] Again he went out into the sea. From the middle, the two necklaces around the neck of the two figurines shone (toward him). His ride on the wave ended in Rio, and therefore the name 'Hanga O Rio' was given. [There were 2 necklaces, but the story recounts only how one of them was used around the neck of the stone figure Apina Iti. The other stone figure was Rapa Kura and nothing is said if also this figure was buried up to her neck or not. Instead the name of the Apina Iti figure was strangely changed to Apina Iti A Rapa Kura. If Barthel has translated the story correct, then it contains puzzles to solve. Was the Apina Iti statue joined to the Rapa Kura statue when he got the necklace around his neck? But then the name changed again, this time to Hinariru, the son of Tuu Hokorua, where indeed the latter name is in harmony with my question - 'in a group of two'.] Ira remained on shore, pondered, and said, 'This is well done! Ruhi to the right, Pu to the left, and Hinariru Nui and Hinariru Iti in the middle.' ..." I cannot find riru in my wordlist, but it feels positive (like riku) in contrast to the negative associations which can be imagined from Hanga Orio (like ririo):
As to the suffixes Nui and Iti it would not surprise me if Nui (great) means 'the older one' and iti 'the newer one'. New York, for example, is a name based on the old (great) York. Apina Nui could on Easter Island be the memory of an old and great place (possibly visualized by one of the constellation 'stones' in the night sky). But also Ira and his companions were memories of old and therefore their myth could easily tell about how they visited on one hand such old places (in Hiva) as Apina Nui and Pu Pakakina and on the other hand such factual places on Easter Island as Apina Iti. I could find Apina Iti on my map over Easter Island but not Apina Nui. It is all very complicated. But Barthel (p. 274) is once again helpful: "On the 'second list of place names' Apina Nui (number 60) and Rano Raraku (number 30) are exact opposites. The two localities crucial to the stone figures divide the whole cycle and correspond to a reversal of the lunar phase, such as 'last quarter' vs. 'first quarter'. One could almost call the west-east line from Apina Nui to Rano Raraku a 'moai axis', similar in importance to the north-south line from Anakena to Vinapu (ahu axis?)." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
