TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

At Aa1-45 another Tahitian word was used, fenua instead of the Easter Island henua:


Aa1-42	Aa1-43	Aa1-44	Aa1-45
e ia toa tauuruuru	raaraa	e ia toa tauuru	i te fenua* - e ia toa tauuru*

Aa1-46	Aa1-47	Aa1-48
ma te hokohuki - e ika* no te tagata*	ma te tauuru ki te ragi	e tauuru no te henua

Remarkably, Metoro then returned to his native tongue with îka in Aa1-46. As will be shown this was not a slip of the tongue but a conscious change.

For the moment it is enough to consider the possibility that Metoro saw what we have seen, viz. a reversal in Aa1-46 (presumably indicating a change in the 'substance' of the calendar) and that he may have tried his best to inform Bishop Jaussen by using two different Polynesian dialects.

Metoro may have used his method more times, because he said fenua 5 times more:

Bb6-13

kua motu te pito o te fenua


Ab2-46	Ab2-47	Ab2-48	Ab2-78	Ab2-83	Aa1-45
e tapamea - no te tagata - maú i te fenua		ka hora te fenua	i te fenua	i tuu ki te fenua* - ki te ragi*	i te fenua* - e ia toa tauuru*

The distribution in A possibly means fenua is a denomination for the backside 'country' ('Hiva').

In the texts of H/P/Q there is no parallel to Aa1-46:


Ha5-43	Ha5-44	Ha5-45	Ha5-46		Ha5-47	Ha5-48

Pa5-25	Pa5-26	Pa5-27	Pa5-28	Pa5-29	Pa5-30	Pa5-31

Qa5-33	Qa5-34	Qa5-35	Qa5-36	Qa5-37	Qa5-38	Qa5-39

Working with numbers we can guess that Qa5-36 alludes to 5 * 36 = 180 and that the sequence Pa5-28--31 alludes to the ordinal numbers of the nights at the end of a month. Ha5-48 can be 'read' as 5 * 48 = 240 (maybe a way to say that the 24 hours of a diurnal cycle are ending).

Disregarding these 'imaginations' it can anyhow be stated that the missing parallels to Aa1-46 presumably indicates it has a special function in A (not necessary in H/P/Q or not thought of by the creators of these texts).

The numerical type of exercise described above can be applied also to Aa1-46, and then we should remember that the total number of glyphs in Tahua is 1,334 = 46 * 29.

And we should not miss that Ha5-46 has 'fire' (5) connected with 46.

Metoro used the word hokohuki at Aa1-46. We need not understand its meaning. It is enough to use it as a cue for looking at the other two glyphs where he also used this word:


Aa1-16	Aa1-17	Aa1-18	Aa1-19	Aa1-20	Aa1-21

Aa1-22	Aa1-23	Aa1-24	Aa1-25	Aa1-26	Aa1-27

Aa1-28	Aa1-29	Aa1-30	Aa1-31	Aa1-32	Aa1-33

Aa1-34	Aa1-35	Aa1-36

Once again working with numbers we will at Aa1-29 think of the dark night of the month. From that we realize that Aa1-23 similarly is one more than 22 (alluding to π).

29 is one more than the 28 moonlit nights in a month and 23 is one more than a cycle which probably has to do with the sun (and which Homeros may have used for hinting that the blinding of Polyfemos was an event at midsummer).

From this we can hesitantly conclude that 46 also belongs in the same category - a 'black' number which is one more than a 'light' number (here = 45).

5 * 46 (in Ha5-46) = 230 = 10 * 23.

Next we remember that 'dark' glyphs tend not to be counted. If we let Aa1-47 be the 1st glyph of the day and count from there, avoiding the 'dark' hokohuki glyphs, we will get this refined day calendar:


Aa1-46	Aa1-47 (1)	Aa1-48

Aa1-16	Aa1-17 (4)	Aa1-18 (5)	Aa1-19	Aa1-20	Aa1-21

Aa1-22	Aa1-23	Aa1-24 (10)	Aa1-25	Aa1-26	Aa1-27 (13)

Aa1-28	Aa1-29	Aa1-30 (15)	Aa1-31	Aa1-32	Aa1-33

Aa1-34 (19)	Aa1-35	Aa1-36

I have redmarked the reversed tapa mea glyphs, which we will leave aside. There are 24 glyphs in the table above. We have eliminated 3 because Metoro said hokohuki and we have eliminated 3 because they are reversed tapa mea (and because the newly defined ordinal numbers indicate so - 4, 13 and 19 are numbers for ends of cycles). 24 - 6 = 18.

Now we are closing in on our goal.

I suggest the remaining 5 (as in 'fire') tapa mea glyphs are distributed over the day like this:


Aa1-19	Aa1-21	Aa1-25	Aa1-31	Aa1-36
a.m.		noon	p.m.

The power of the sun is gradually diminishing from the powerfully drawn a.m. tapa mea pair over the single noon glyph (with 25 = 5 * 5), to the slimmer p.m. pair.

Metoro has also distinguished them, judging from his words:


Aa1-19	Aa1-21	Aa1-25	Aa1-31	Aa1-36
i uhi tapamea	e uhi tapamea	e uhi *tapamea*	e uhi tapamea	e uhi tapamea

These are the only tapa mea glyphs where he said uhi tapamea. The remaining 5 are beautifully arranged too:


Aa1-17 (4)	Aa1-23	Aa1-27 (13)	Aa1-29	Aa1-34 (19)
ka tapamea	e hokohuki	ki te henua	ma te hokohuki	te tapamea

The division of the day into 3 parts (a.m., noon, p.m.) is here being refined into 2 + 1 + 2 = 5.

The last page of the excursion:

It remains to look again at the night calendar. We must eliminate Aa1-46--48 because they evidently belong to the day. Only 9 glyphs are 'left' in an ordered group 2, 3, 4:

from dusk to midnight
	Aa1-37	Aa1-38

	Aa1-39	Aa1-40	Aa1-41
midnight
midnight	Aa1-42	Aa1-43	Aa1-44	Aa1-45

The power of darkness seems to be gradually increasing from the rather slim pair Aa1-37--38, and judging by how broad the toa glyphs have been drawn. But Aa1-41 (the 5th glyph) is special in suddenly being thin. Metoro noticed it and said e tauru papagete (withouth mentioning toa).

Discounting Aa1-41 there are 2 + 2 + 4 = 8 glyphs in the 'night', the same number as the number of periods in the Mamari moon calendar.

At Aa1-43 Metoro said raaraa presumably alluding to the sun god Raá. But there is a Tahitian word toraaraa which means 'to raise up'.

His expression raaraa is, though, even more intriguing:

Raga

1. To run together, forming small lakes (of rainwater) ku-raga-á te vai. 2. Fugitive (in times of war or persecution); to take refuge elsewhere; to move house; homeless; poki poreko raga, child born while its parents were fugitives. 3. Said of fish swarming on the surface of the sea: he-raga te îka, ku-mea-á te moté, te nanue para..., you can see many fish, fish are swarming, mote, nanue para, etc. Ragaraga: 1. To float on the surface of the sea: miro ragaraga i ruga i te vai kava, driftwood floating on the sea. 2. To move ceaselessly (of people), to pace back and forth (te eve o te tagata); to be restless: e-ragaraga-nó-á te eve o te tagata, the man is nervous, worried, he paces back and forth. 3. E-ragaraga-nó-á te mana'u is said of inconstant, fickle people, who cannot concentrate on one thing: e-ragaraga-nó-á te mana'u o te ga poki; ta'e pahé tagata hônui, ku-noho-á te mana'u ki ruga ki te aga, children are fickle; they are not like serious adults who concentrate their work. Vanaga.

1. Captive, slave, to take captive; hakaraga, to enslave. Mq.: áka, conquered. 2. To banish, to expel, to desert; ragaraga, to send away, to expel; hakaraga, to banish, to drive off. Mq.: áka, wanderer, vagabond. Ragaraga, to float, to fluctuate; eve ragaraga, ennui, to weary. T Mgv.: raga, to swim or float on the surface of the water. Mq.: ána, áka, to float. Churchill.

Sa.: langa, to raise, to rise. To.: langa, to raise up the soil; fakalanga, to raise up. Uvea, Fu.: langa, to raise. Niuē: langa, to rise against; langaaki, to raise up. Nukuoro: langa, to float. Ha.: lana, id. Ma.: ranga, to raise, to cast up. Mgv.: ranga, to float on the surface of water. Pau.: fakaranga, to raise, to lift up. Ta.: toraaraa, to raise up. Mq.: aka, ana, to swim on the surface. Vi.: langa, to be lifted up, said of a brandished club ... Churchill 2.

The small pieces of flotsam appear again. Those who have been expelled from one island may collect as fugitives (raga) on another island. It sounds like The Stranger King (who will be raised up, raga, as supreme ruler on the new island).