He located the sound of drums (rutu) to the beginning of side b. I have here not been able to put in parallel any of his particular words with these 4 glyphs. For instance did he not mention viri (Ab1-1) nor hau tea (Ab1-3). Instead he must have tried to put into words the major sign characterizing these events, viz. the sound of drums:

Rutu

1. To read, to recite, to pronounce words solemnly; he-rutu i te kohau motu, to read the rongorongo tablets; hare rutu rogorogo mo hakama'a ki te ga poki ite kai, i te rogorogo, rongorongo school, house in which children were taught reading and writing the rongorongo signs. 2. To pelt with stones. 3. To gather in great numbers (of people).

Sound. Rutu-rongorongo = the sound of recitation. T. Beat. To recite; tae rutu, irreverence. Pau.: rutu, a drum. Mgv.: rutu, to beat, to cause to resound. Ta.: rutu, a drum, to drum. Mq.: utu, to drum. Sa.: lutu, to shake a rattle.

Once again we should notice how people gather in great numbers (rutu), as when the word chosen is taka or aniva.

A comparison with the other viri glyphs in Tahua leads to the conclusion that Metoro probably was right, the 'year' (however it was defined) did indeed begin at the beginninig of side b:


Aa5-7	Aa8-26	Ab1-1	Ab7-26
Although quite similar these 4 viri glyphs are nevertheless not exactly alike. Ab1-1 is harmoniously drawn, but shorter than Ab7-26. Aa8-26 has a thick bottom 'tail' end, whereas Ab7-26 contrariwise has a thick upper 'tail'. Aa5-7 and Aa8-26 are drawn as if deformed. Neither the top part nor the bottom part in Aa5-7 is thick, and the glyph is slightly bent forward, as if it was old. The top part of Aa8-26 is drawn as if it had been 'chopped off'.

At the beginning all things are small. Metoro did not began reading Tahua on side a but on side b, presumably because he had identified the beginning of the text to be at Ab1-1.

Also when reading the text on the Mamari tablet did he recognize the sound of drums, and he used similar words:


Cb1-5	Cb1-6	Cb1-7	Cb1-8
rutua - te pahu - rutua te maeva - atua rerorero - atua hiko ura - hiko o tea

The glyphs are quite different, and we can in Cb1-6 see a double break in timespace, first (katahi) a horizontal one at left between the 'thread' growing from henua and the leftmost of the growing maro signs, and secondly (karua) a vertical one on the right side of the central 'tree' where the growing maro is divided in 2 parts. Maybe Metoro here saw the solstice which precedes autumn, the 2nd half of the year, because he did not start reading here but at the beginning of side a.

A third (katoru) instance where he evidently recognized a solstice and said rutu was close to the end of the text on the Aruku Kurenga tablet:


Bb11-40	Bb12-12
ma to rutu	mai tae rutu* hia te pahu - e rima oho*