3. The canoe of the explorers was made of wood. When the canoe reached the land of Easter Island it was like when pieces of firewood were brought ashore. 136 days later - the same length as from January 1 to May 17 and the beginning of the manzil Sheratan - the Sun King himself arrived:
Another curiosity in Manuscript E can also be explained. When the ship of the King approached land the pair of hulls were separated and his Queen went withershins towards northeast, while Hotu Matua went in the other direction. The idea was that they should meet again at Anakena. We should remember from Sharp as a Knife: ... The old man gave the Raven two small sticks, like gambling sticks, one black, one multicoloured. He gave him instructions to bite them apart in a certain way and told him to spit the pieces at one another on the surface of the sea. The Raven climbed back up the pole, where he promptly did things backwards, just to see if something interesting would occur, and the pieces bounced apart. It may well be some bits were lost. But when he gathered what he could and tried again - and this time followed the instructions he had been given - the pieces stuck and rumpled and grew to become the mainland and Haida Gwaii ... By connecting the pair of sticks (like a pair of hulls) in the correct manner 'land' will be created. The male (multicoloured) stick has to meet the female (black) stick is such a way as to make them 'stick together'. This generates friction fire: ... The navel of the ocean was a vast whirlpool in which sticks for making fire by friction were drifting about. At that time men were still without fire. Now the maiden seized her bow, shot into the navel of the ocean, and the material for fire-rubbing sprang ashore ... Tai is where new life will be born, where Land and Sea are meeting, where the tide is moving in and out. |