A ship is not very different from an island: "4 March 1779. The British ships are again at Kaua'i, their last days in the islands, some thirteen months since their initial visit. A number of Hawaiian men come on board and under the direction of their women, who remain alongside in the canoes, the men deposit navel cords of newborn children in cracks of the ships' decks (Beaglehole 1967:1225).8) 8) For an analogous behavior observed by the missionary Fison on the Polynesian island of Rotuma, see Frazer (1911, 1:184). Hawaiians are connected to ancestors (auumakua), as well as to living kinsmen and descendants, by several cords emanating from various parts of the body but alike called piko, 'umbilical cord'. In this connection, Mrs. Pukui discusses the incident at Kaua'i: I have seen many old people with small containers for the umbilical cords... One grandmother took the cords of her four grandchildren and dropped them into Alenuihaha channel. 'I want my granddaughters to travel across the sea!' she told me. Mrs. Pukui believes that the story of women hiding their babies' pikos in Captain Cook's ship is probably true. Cook was first thought to be the god Lono, and his ship his 'floating island'. What woman wouldn't want her baby's piko there?" (Pukui et al. 1972, 1:184)" (Marshall Sahlins, Islands of History.) Possbily the kava root (origin) is referred to in the 3rd Chinese moon station Root, ruled by Zuben Elgenubi (α Librae):
Badgers are out during nighttime and they have their homes down in the earth.
And possibly Metoro's ki te huaga (at Cb8-27) could be away to allude to this place (-ga) - i.e. as reflected half a year later ('upside down') in May 3, when Zuben Elgenubi (the Southern Claw) was close to the Full Moon and instead of death there were births because Sun was at ρ Arietis:
The Hindu system has Visakha as its 16th nakshatra and also a potter's wheel ought to indicate a place of creation:
In the Arabic system the 14th manzil was Al Zubānā and although Claws is plural I guess it should primarily refer to Zuben Elgenubi (α Librae):
The distance from Syrma is ca 8 days. However, counted from Syrma to Zuben Elschemali (β Librae) the distance is 230.8 - 215.6 = ca 15 days, another week. Libra implies 2 trays and uncertainty - and here I remember the ancient Babylonian view of cosmos with uncertainty (hazard) both where Sun emerges from the nightside and where Sun descends in the west. Openings are dangerous: ... Before the beginning of a new 'year' (halfyear) it is not yet determined what will come. According to the Babylonian view there was a chamber of hazard where the sky roof meets earth:
"Als solch ein Ort (resp. ein Gemach) im Osten des apsū [water below the earth] und im Osten der Erde an der Grenze zwischen dem sichtbaren und unsichtbaren Reiche hat der Duazag eine ganz besondere Bedeutung im Glauben der Babylonier. Er ist ... 'der Ort der Geschicke', der ki nam-tar-tar-ini = ašar šimātum. Ein Solcher konnte nur im Osten liegen. Denn die Sonne geht im Osten auf. Die Ostsonne ist Marduk. Darum bringt auch Marduk die Geschicke aus der Behausung seines Vaters Ía, dem Urwasser, hervor." "Von diesem [Nebukadnezar's II grosser Inschrift] heisst es ... 'Duazag, der Ort der Geschicke im Ubšugina [Versammlungsraum], das (dem?) Gemach der Geschicke, in dem im Zakmuku [= F(e)ast for Marduk at the beginning of the year to determine (make fast) the future (of the year/halfyear?) for which the gods went to Marduk's tempel Ĭsagila in Babylon: '... zu dem sich die übrigen Götter und vor Allem Barsip(pa)'s Hauptgott Nabū in feierlichem Zuge zu Schiff ... begaben ...'] zu Jahresanfang am 8ten (und?) am 11ten Tage der (Gott-)König .... sich niederlässt und die Götter über Himmel und Erde .... das Schicksal der Zukunft .... bestimmen ....'" "Ganz ähnlich is der Name 'Gott von Duazag' des Gottes Nabū ... zu erklären. Er bezeichnet ihn als den Gott des Wachtstums, welches als aus dem Osten stammend betrachtet wird, weil die Sonne, die das Wachstum bringt, im Osten aufgeht. Dass aber Nabū als Ost-Gott aufgefasst wurde, hängt damit zusammen, dass sein Stern, der Mercur, nur im Osten oder Westen sichtbar ist." "Wir begreifen, warum der Tišrītu durch 'Monat (des) Duazaga' bezeichnet wird. Denn in diesem findet die Aussaat des Korns (insbesondere ... des Weizens und der Gerste) statt, der Duazag aber hat zu diesen ... als Ort des Gottes, der das Wachstum des Weizens befördert, eine ganz bestimmte Beziehung1). 1) Beachte aber, dass der erste Monat des Jahres nach dem Schicksalsgemach (= Ubšugina) bezeichnet wird ... , der siebente aber d.i. der erste der zweiten Jahreshälfte nach dem im Ubšugina befindlichen Duazaga. Sollte darum die Deutung des Namens Tišrītu als 'Anfang' doch vorzuziehen sein?" (Peter Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier.) Mercury (Babylonian Nabū) could only be seen close to Mother Earth which means only just before Sun would rise or just had descended. The first month was named after the Chamber of Hazard (Ubšugina) and the 7th named after Duazaga (the Place of Destiny). The synodic cycle of Mercury is 88 days (and 264 = 3 * 88 = 364 - 100). Considering Al Zubānā we ought to look for the pivotal point of the Libra balance as day (213 + 219) / 2 = 216 (= 3 * 72) as counted beyond heliacal η Andromedae in April 1 (91). 91 + 216 = 307 (November 3), where in rongorongo times Zuben Elakribi (δ Librae) rose with the Sun, 200 days from the beginning of side b on the tablet:
A balance between equally long summer and winter 'years' could have been in the mind of Metoro when he said kua hua te kahi at October 29 (302) and te kahi at November 2 (306). His pivotal point would then be in day (302 + 306) / 2 = 304 (October 31 - ki te huaga). Possibly he counted a kind of double balance, with the distance from Cb8-25 to Cb8-29 added to the total number of glyphs on the tablet. 740 + 4 = 4 * 186 = 24 * 31. From October 31 (ki te huaga) to November 3 at the beginning of line Cb9, from the manzil pivotal point to what could be a pivotal point indicated by Metoro there are 4 days. Therefore this appears to be another matter than the difference from e.g. Bharani at Cb8-25 to Kochab at Cb8-28, which is 3 days compared to their conjunction at Cb1-15. To the left of Cb8-27 there is darkness, we can see, and to the right there is a rising sky roof, pushed up by te kahi - on Easter Island the end of October was the pivotal point where the summer year (Ç) was reborn:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
