I do not follow Fischer's suggestion that the beginning of the text might be with line no. 12. Instead the start will be with line no. 1. I cannot find any good reason why the text should not begin there. Fischer:

"The thin end measures only 5.7 cm, the thick end 6.4 cm in diameter. The damage on one half of the thick end evidently came from resting this end diagonally on stony ground for many years, probably each time the bearer stood with the artefact."

"My own investigations ... have identified as the text's first line Philippi's / Barthel's line 12 - the three-quarter line that commences with an exceptional half-sized glyph some 35 cm in from the thin end of the 'Staff'. This is just below the point where the thumb of a c. 190 cm-tall, right-handed man would touch the artefact whose thick end is resting on the ground, next to the instep of the left foot, tilted diagonally to the left (as deduced from this end's damage and from the position that is most comfortable for the bearer of this heavy artefact)."

Twirling the staff 180^o around its long axis and held with the left hand (diagonally with the thick end towards the instep of the right foot) would suit a righthanded person better I think. The right hand should be free for gesticulating when performing. And even if the thicker end was placed on the ground, that does not automatically means that the reading should start where Fischer suggests.

The text is divided into series of triple glyphs, which Fischer argues follow the Polynesian pattern for the generation of the manifestations in our world: e.g. A couples with B generating C.

To find Fischers line numbers we must add 3 to the Barthel line numbers.