JULY 22 can be written 22-7 and this would then mean π.

80 (0h) + 123 = 203 (JULY 23). Darkness seems to have stretched for 365 - 123 = 242 nights.

It was as if Raven were casting his shadow down to be the Coal Sack (cule de sac) of winter.

Possibly Metoro's te mea ke referred to the 'other and different' (ke) 'red thing' (mea) - close by the 'fig-tree'.

 

Mea 1. Tonsil, gill (of fish). 2. Red (probably because it is the colour of gills); light red, rose; also meamea. 3. To grow or to exist in abundance in a place or around a place: ku-mea-á te maîka, bananas grow in abundance (in this place); ku-mea-á te ka, there is plenty of fish (in a stretch of the coast or the sea); ku-mea-á te tai, the tide is low and the sea completely calm (good for fishing); mau mea, abundance. Vanaga. 1. Red; ata mea, the dawn. Meamea, red, ruddy, rubricund, scarlet, vermilion, yellow; ariga meamea, florid; kahu meamea purple; moni meamea, gold; hanuanua meamea, rainbow; pua ei meamea, to make yellow. Hakameamea, to redden, to make yellow. PS Ta.: mea, red. Sa.: memea, yellowish brown, sere. To.: memea, drab. Fu.: mea, blond, yellowish, red, chestnut. 2. A thing, an object, elements (mee); e mea, circumstance; mea ke, differently, excepted, save, but; ra mea, to belong; mea rakerake, assault; ko mea, such a one; a mea nei, this; a mea ka, during; a mea, then; no te mea, because, since, seeing that; na te mea, since; a mea era, that; ko mea tera, however, but. Hakamea, to prepare, to make ready. P Pau., Mgv., Mq., Ta.: mea, a thing. 3. In order that, for. Mgv.: mea, because, on account of, seeing that, since. Mq.: mea, for. 4. An individual; tagata mea, tagata mee, an individual. Mgv.: mea, an individual, such a one. Mq., Ta.: mea, such a one. 5. Necessary, urgent; e mea ka, must needs be, necessary; e mea, urgent. 6. Manners, customs. 7. Mgv.: ako-mea, a red fish. 8. Ta.: mea, to do. Mq.: mea, id. Sa.: mea, id. Mao.: mea, id. Churchill.

Ke 1. Other; different; different being; hare ké, a different house; e-ké-ro-á... e-ké-ro-á... there are some who... and others who...; me'e ké, something distinct, different: te puaka ina oona kuhane; me'e ké te tagata, he hakari oona, he kuhane, an animal has no soul; man is different, he has a body, and a soul; matu'a ké, the other relatives. 2. Ké te kairua, person who turns up for meals at other people's homes. 3. Used in exclamations: hahau ké! what a cool breeze!; hana ké! how hot! takeo ké! how cold! Vanaga. Other, distinct, different, diverse, otherwise; koona ke, elsewhere; tagata ke, some one else; mea ke, contrary, distinct, otherwise; hakake, feint, stratagem, to feign; hagake, to act contrary. T Pau.: ke, different. Mgv.: ke, another, other, else, different, of partial comparative value. Mq.: ke, é, to be different, changed, no longer the same. Ta.: e, different, strange, other. Churchill. E, adv. and ppr. Haw., from, away, off, by, through, means of; also, adverbially, something other, something strange, new; adj. contrary, opposed, adverse, other, foreign. Sam.: e, ppr. by, of; ese, other different, strange.Ta., e, ppr. by, through, from; adv. away, off; adj. different, strange, distant; ee, strange. N. Zeal., ke, strange, different. Malg., eze, of, by. Greek, έκ, έξ, from out of, from, by, of; έκει, in that place, opp. to ένθαδε, in some other place than that of the speaker, thither; έκας, afar off. Lat., e, ex, out of, from. Liddell and Scott (Gr.-Engl. Dict., s. v.) say: 'The root of έτ-ερος is said to be the same as Sanskr. ant-aras, Goth. auth-ar, Germ. and-er, Lat. alt-er, aut, French aut-rui, our eith-er, oth-er, itara = alius, also in Sanskrit.' Whatever the root of ant-aras, auth-ar, alter, it seems to me that έκας shows nearer kindred to the Polynesian e, ke, ee, ese, eze, than to forms so developed as ant-ar, ant-ara, &c. (Fornander)