There
are 10 honui glyphs in the text of H, 4 on side a and 6 on side b:
Ha1-7
Ha5-22
Ha10-9
Ha12-14
*Hb1-31
*Hb1-47
Hb2-7
Hb7-38
Hb12-12
Hb12-24
For
a discussion - see this
link.
The
forms of the holes can be used for classification:
Ha1-7
Ha5-22
Ha10-9
Ha12-14
*Hb1-31
*Hb1-47
Hb2-7
Hb7-38
Hb12-12
Hb12-24
The
4 redmarked are glyphs with regular ovals. The
other 6 have irregular ones:
left
Ha1-7
right
Ha12-14
*Hb1-31
*Hb1-47
Hb2-7
down
Hb12-24
The
4 honui glyphs with two heads should be
discussed at ariga erua. But redmarked
Hb7-38 will be considered here.
6 of
the 10 honui glyphs remain:
Ha1-7 (7)
Ha5-22
(238)
Ha10-9
(*511)
Hb7-38
(*994)
Hb12-12
(*1257)
Hb12-24 (*1269)
Only
Ha5-22 is a pure honui, a glyph type
structured like tagata when seen en
face, but broader in order to accommodate
the oval. 5-22 indicates 'fire' has completed
its cycle. By reason of this and because of the
en face position we can guess this glyph
stands at summer solstice (and that the hole is
filled with celestial water).
8 *
29.5 = 236 (Te Pei). Maybe I have counted
the ordinal number of Ha5-22 wrong? No, I made a quick check and that seems
highly improbable. 238 it is if we count from
Ha1-1.
8 *
29 = 232, and that number can be reached by
counting from Ha1-7:
230
Ha1-7 (1)
Ha5-22
(232)
Ha1-7 comes very early in the text, and if we
guess honui glyphs personify sun in some
aspect, then Ha1-7 seems to occupy the proper
position for his birth:
Ha1-1
Ha1-2
Ha1-3
Ha1-4
Ha1-5
Ha1-6
Ha1-7
Ha1-8
Ha1-6 is a typical 'midnight' henua and
Ha1-8 is a rising fish.
At
Ha5-20 the head of the sun apparently has come off:
Ha5-17 (233)
Ha5-18
Ha5-19
Ha5-20 (236)
Ha5-21
Ha5-22
Ha5-23
Ha5-24 (240)
From
a 'head on fire' (Ha5-19) it suddenly becomes
black (the neck is formed like a ghostly
henua with two lines across). A new season
is being born and moa in Ha5-21 cries out
triumphantly.
Honui at Ha5-22 seems to be the new
'costume' after the one used in Ha5-18. The
front limb of moa has 3 feathers at left
(the past), and none at right. From a season of
'fire' it now has become a season of 'water'.
Tagata is at left (midsummer is in the past)
according to Ha5-23.
In
Ha5-24 the 'watery hole' seems to
balance on the apex of a symmetric hau tea. 5
* 24 = 120. If we count 15-day long half-months,
then there will be room for 8 such in 120 days.
But the ordinal number counted from Ha1-1 is
240, which could mean we should count with
30-day months. 240 / 8 = 30. Presumably 5-24 is
here primarily not meant for multiplying, but
refers to ordinal number 24 ('decades' for the
'fire', 5, season).
In G
number 233 marks summer solstice, and the reason
this number is far greater than 180 is that the
calendar has 8 fortnights added to 360
days. If the text of H also has 8 * 14 = 112
glyphs embedded somewhere between Ha1-1 and
Ha5-17, then Ha5-17 will be in the same position
as Gb1-3:
Gb1-3 (233)
Suppose we try to apply the structure of side a
of G on side a of H. Then 233 at Ha5-17 can be reduced
to 233 - 112 = 121 (which also Gb1-3 will have
if we take away 112):
54
54
Ga5-10 (121)
Ga7-6
Ga7-7 (177)
Gb1-2 (232)
112 = 8 * 14
Ha5-17 (121)
Ha5-18
Ha5-19
Ha5-20 (124)
Ha5-21
Ha5-22 (126)
Ha5-23
Ha5-24 (128)
We
will not come close to 180 because winter
solstice (according to G) lies 63 days (or
rather 60 days if the 3 intercalated days are
disregarded) before the beginning of side a. 233
- 112 + 60 = 181, but Gb1-1--2 could be
intercalated days increasing the waning sun half
of the year to 2 + 177 + 3 = 182:
Ga8-26
Gb1-1
Gb1-2
Gb1-3
Too
many uncertainties makes it impossible (at least
for the moment) to make a definite statement as to the structure of
the beginning of side a of H. It should be noted,
however, that Ha5-18 is a unique variant (both
in H and G) of the no-legs-honu which, we
have learnt, probably indicates solstice. Of the
45 honu glyphs in H listed in the
catalogue there are 9 (redmarked below) such
'solstice honu' glyphs:
Ha1-9
Ha1-13
Ha1-22
Ha5-18
Ha6-102
Ha6-125
Ha6-144
Ha7-5
Ha7-13
Ha7-104
Ha8-14
Ha8-34
Ha10-5
Ha10-6
Ha10-35
Ha10-109
Ha11-106
Ha11-109
Ha11-112
Ha11-121
Ha11-129
Hb2-2
Hb2-35
Hb3-3
Hb5-10
Hb5-54
Hb6-4
Hb6-6
Hb6-45
Hb7-7
Hb7-10
Hb7-13
Hb7-32
Hb7-39
Hb7-50
Hb8-114
Hb8-117
Hb8-136
Hb9-1
Hb9-2
Hb10-4
Hb11-7
Hb11-47
Hb11-48
Hb12-45
It ought to be valuable if we could use
these 'solstice honu' to map the
overall structure of the H text, and we will
therefore make a little detour for that
purpose here.
I feel it necessary to prepare for
the 'detour' here (in the translations part) rather than to try a more
direct approach in the dictionary.