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The idea of GD49 (huega)

showing a thigh made me reconsider (once again) and see this structure:

The 4 'pillars' (Aa1-5--8) holding the sky up depict stylized arms (GD32, toko te ragi) and the 'elbow' is at left (at the back side of the glyphs).

In Aa1-9--10 we can probably see the 'persons' standing on a 'leg' with 'knee' towards right (at the front side of the glyphs). There is a shift from arm with elbow on the back side of the glyphs to leg with knee on the front side of the glyphs. Such a shift in position suggests that between Aa1-8 and Aa1-9 a turnaround is located.

This is affirmed by the glyphs which are parallel with Aa1-8, where we see double 'sun' signs, maybe one 'sun' for 'arm'-and-'elbow' time, one for 'leg'-and-'knee' time):

According to this idea GD49 obviously belongs to the time after the turnaround - possibly we should think 'during the 2nd half of the year'. The 4 toko te ragi presumably have a more active role than what is suggested by 'pillars holding up the sky'. We probably should 'read' that they show an active 'pushing up with all their might the sky oppressing us in 'winter'.

One conclusion is that on Easter Island there is no pushing up the sky with the legs as Tane did in New Zealand, instead the pushing is accomplished by four strong arms.

The 8-fold structure above is similar to the 8-fold structure in the Mamari moon calendar. Maybe we should understand Aa1-11--12 as analogous to the last quarter of the month?

That time should be like when waiting for death, appropriately marked with GD45 (ihe tau).

And the little flying moon in Aa1-10 may be the same one as that seen in the 6th period of the (Mamari) moon calendar (Ca8-6):

Number 8 has a strong mythical power:

"1. Easter Island (te pito o te kainga) is the last of all known islands. Seven lands lie before it, but these do not recommend themselves for settlement.

Easter Island is the 'eighth land' (te varu kainga). Actually, we are dealing here with a figure of speech because 'seven' and 'eight' used as qualifying quantities play a traditional role in Oceania (Barthel 1962a). While the number seven is known as a topos in MQS., HAW., and MAO., the topos of the number eight goes far beyond eastern Polynesia (MQS., HAW., TAH.).

In TON., the number eight is 'a conventional term signifying many or a well-balanced number' (McKern 1929:17), and on Malaita in the southern Solomon Islands, the physical world in its entirety is referred to as 'eight islands (wālu malau) (Ivens 1927:400).

I remember that one of the old names the Japanese people had for their island world was 'The Eight Islands', a curious expression I thought at the time when I read about it - there are many more important islands in Japan than eight.

The number eight not only means 'many' but also denotes perfection. Thus, when Easter Island was called 'an eighth land', the expression contained first of all the idea of a 'last' island - an island farthest away from the rest of the islands that make up the oceanic world. At the same time, the expression indicated a special position among the other islands. The idea of groups of seven, which are surpassed by an eight element, seems to belong to the cosmology of Asian high cultures. For example, there are seven planets circling the world axis, which represents the eighth, and therefore central, position." (Barthel 2)

In other words, I think, number 8 is similar to number 5. Both numbers indicate 'the central power'. 5 is like the top of a (square) pyramid and 8 is like the head of an octopus. Though 5 is an odd (unlucky) number whereas 8 is the 3rd member in the (lucky) series 2, 4, 8 ...

My 'name' for GD49, huega, is based on Metoro's words at Aa1-77:

'ma te huega'. There are though not many examples of this type of glyph and it is not possible to check whether he was consistent in saying huega or not.

I think huega is a good word, because there is a heavy load of meaning in it, e.g.the Marquesan huevaevae, calf of the leg, and huefenua, the terrestrial globe:

The relationship between hue and heu is also worth thinking about (like egg and newly hatched chicken).

In Pa5-68

we possibly can see a 'vase with a large aperture' (at top right).

Talking about the words of Metoro we must also see what he said about the 8 glyphs:

At Aa1-12 ki te henua does not feel wrong - 'towards the earth' (?) could indicate that the X-area is 'just around the corner'; with the X-area similar to the primordial 'mound' recorded by Captain Cook:

Captain Cook recorded (the first record of Polynesian mythology ever made) this Tahitian account of the Creation: 'Ta'aroa tahi tumu, Ta'aroa origl. stock - most commonly Ta'aroa or Te Tumu - existed before everything except of a rock (Te Papa) which he compressed and begat a daughter (Ahuone) that is Vegetable Mole.*

* Ahuone means 'earth heaped up' - a widespread name for the Polynesian first woman. It sounds as if Cook also heard the term applied to the banks of humus and rotting material on which taro is grown. In the English of his day this was known as 'vegetable mould'.

At Aa1-11 maro may refer to the two marks 'slashed across the throat'. The two marks could alternatively signify 'strings around the throat' (for reeling in the sun like a fish):

... string games could be resumed after it was clear that the Sun had managed to leave the horizon and was rapidly gaining in altitude: 'Before the sun starts to leave the horizon ... when it shows only on the horizon, ... then string games were no longer allowed as they might lacerate the sun. Once the sun had started to go higher and could be seen in its entirety, string games could be resumed, if one so wished. So the restriction on playing string games was only applicable during the period between the sun's return and its rising fully above the horizon ... (Arctic Sky)

A more probable reason for maro, though, is that Metoro knew other parallel texts which had maro explicitly mentioned (that would not be the first time Metoro used his knowledge of other texts when explaining for Bishop Jaussen). In H, P and Q we can see maro at this place:

At Aa1-10 hora indicates summer, but the Easter Island calendar shows that Hora Iti and Hora Nui arrive just after winter solstice:

I have painted the solstice months to see them clearly. According to Vanaga they said 'toga hora' - as I believe - to make clear that it was 'winter' summer they referred to:

'Ancient name of summer (toga-hora, winter summer). Vanaga.'

As for Churchill he seems still to remain north of the equator:

'1. In haste (horahorau). 2. Summer, April; hora nui, March; vaha hora, spring. 3. 'Hour', 'watch'. Churchill.'

But his notes still carry value. Vaha hora is followed by hora nui, the summer season is first opened up (vaha) before the real (nui) summer arrives. In the spring months nature is in a hurry (horahorau) and the sun takes great strides forward. The word hora therefore carries a meaning of quickness (life). The last comment (3) about 'hour' makes us think about the horizon, Horus, and the system of measuring the advance of the sun.

Tetea means 'to have many descendants' (according to Vanaga) and the little word ka is possibly a sign if 'affirmative imperative' (yes, indeed):

At this point I become aware of the fact that Metoro used moa 5 times (Aa1-5--9). I think he continued with moa at Aa1-9 because the 'person' was looking forward (towards right from us seen). At Aa1-10 he couldn't go on with moa, because (obviously) the en face 'person' is fully grown - no more a youngster (moa). However, in my eyes Aa1-10 belongs to the same group as the moa (in contrast to the 'death marked' Aa1-11--12). That the 'leg' tells me.

From this I think we should reconstruct the structure into: