A breast ornament rei-miro is housed in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia. The following words are noteworthy: "Another [rei-miro], obtained during Geiseler's visit to Easter Island and now in the Australian Museum (216, p. 149), is also decorated with signs, many of which are similar to those on the tablets. According to Geiseler's report (87, p. 35) and the label which accompanies the specimen (216, p. 149), it belonged to the king's family for many generations. After the kidnapping of Maurata, it was left to a chief called Hangeto. However, the signs engraved on this rei-miro look like crude imitation of the original symbols. They have been marked with little care, and symmetry has been neglected. As far as one may infer from the photograph, a steel implement was used to incise them" (Métraux 1940: 232). I should like to stress that not all the allographs of the glyphs have the symmetrical shape on the "classical" artifacts numbered A - X and PS (the Paris Snuffbox). The first glyph inscribed on the left edge of the Sydney rei-miro (see figure 1) represents a star, its standard variant is glyph 7 tuu. But the similar unusual sign is a petroglyph, and it corresponds to glyph 7 as well (Rjabchikov 1996). The second glyph represents a spear, it is a variant of glyph 135 vero. Interestingly, the words tuu (tu) and vero (vevero) are included in the religious formula associated with the birth of a Rapanui king from the Manuscript E: Ka ea te ata o te ariki. Te huhu. Kai rangi. Te vevero. Kai rangi. Tu kaka. Kai rangi. Tu mani. Kai rangi. Ata uri toou e te ariki e. Ata mea toou e te ariki e. Ata tea toou e te ariki e (Barthel 1978: 345; comments in 179-81). The analogous text is taken down on the Great Santiago tablet (Sa 2-3) (Rjabchikov 1999: 18). It contains the terms rangi 'sky' and ata 'shadow; image; representation'. The text L inscribed on a London rei-miro correlates with the birth formula as well (Rjabchikov 1995: 46-8). This is no surprise, since such pendants were in particular insignia of the kings (Métraux 1940: 231). Hence the above-mentioned text can be interpreted as 'Rise, oh, the shadow/image of the king! The feathers huhu. The solar eclipse (1) -- THE SKY. The spear (the bright rays of the sun). The solar eclipse -- THE SKY. The fire is coming (2). The solar eclipse -- THE SKY. The bird is coming. The solar eclipse -- THE SKY. It is a black shadow/image of the king. It is a red shadow/image of the king. It is a white shadow/image of the king'. I think that here the birth of the king compares with the appearance of the sun after a full solar eclipse. Besides, the words hakahiti i oho ro mai ai i te ata o te ariki o Tuumaheke of the Manuscript E (Barthel 1978: 345) correlate with the words he hakahiti, he oho mai i te ata o te ariki he tuu ki runga ki te ariki ki a Tuumaheke (3) and hakahiti i te ata o te ariki o Tuumaheke of the legend "Hotu-Matua" (Métraux 1940: 60). So an idea about the rising of the shadow/image of the king is repeated several times.
One can distinguish four different segments of the glyphs on the Sydney rei-miro:
7 135 12 15 29 3 64 6 Tuu vero Ika roa. Rua Hina. Mea. Ha. 'The bright rays of the Great Fish (the sun, the sun god Tangaroa) (4) are coming. The moon Rua (associated with disapearing of the sun) (5). It is the red (colour). The Breath'.
30-44 Anataha (Anakena) '(The bay) Anakena'. Really, Anakena was a residence of the ruling kings of Easter Island (Barthel 1978: 39).
14 4 44 4 Hau -- ata -- Taha -- ata. 'The king (6) -- the shadow/image -- the tribal union Te Kena of the Miru tribe (7) -- the shadow/image'.
7 64 3 149 52 52 52 52 52 Tuu mea Hina. Hatuhatu. Hiti, hiti, hiti, hiti, hiti. 'The red colour of the moon is coming. The birth. Five days' (8).
Glyph 29 rua 'setting-place of the sun' denotes the 29th crescent, otherwise the 29th day/night Mauri-kero on the Berlin fish tablet (9). Actually, the time between two next days of new moons (when solar eclipses are possible theoretically) lasts either 29 or 30 days. If the interval lasts 30 days and the count of days begins with the 29th day, the five days are Mauri-kero, Mutu, Hiro (the new moon), Tireo (Tueo) and Ata.
It is well known that pendants rei-miro are decorated with the figures of crescents traditionally (Métraux 1940: 232). The Sydney specimen falls in this category (see figure 2). On the basis of the RedShift 2 computer program, the phase of the moon depicted on the ornament corresponds to the moon age (day/night) Ata. Such a crescent could denote the beginning of light phases of the moon, otherwise the birth of the moon when the death of the sun was impossible. This symbol is directly relevant to the birth formula discussed above. Interestingly, some pendants (Heyerdahl 1976: photos 44b; 48b; 49b; 50a; 50b) are decorated with crescents demonstrating the transition from the phase Ata to the phase Ari (Ariari).
One of proper names presented in a genealogy of the Small Santiago tablet (Gv 6) is repeated in the three parallel texts (Hr 11, Pr 11 - Pv 1, Qv 2) (Rjabchikov 1988). It is the king's name 56-6 17 Poha Tea (10) 'The full moon' or Hina Riru 'The angry moon goddess' (Rjabchikov 1994: 3). Let us consider the text of the Great Santiago tablet (Hr 11), see figure 3, fragment 1.
It reads ... 4 3 12 24 44 6 84 56-50 21 35 21 56-6 15 17 56-50 84 44-19 44 5 8 24 25 6 4 56 26 26-4 14 26-4 ... Ata -- hina Ika Ari. Taha a ivi -- poi. Kope ko Poha Roa, Tea. Poi -- ivi. Taku ta Ata matua ai hua -- a Ata, po maa matua, hau matua. '... Ata ('shadow; image; representation; dawn; 3rd moon') -- (the 4th moon) Ari. (The king's) family is increased -- the dawn. The son Poha Roa, Tea (Hina Riru). The dawn -- (the king's) family. A wizard is carving (the moon crescent) Ata ('shadow; image; representation; dawn; 3rd moon') of a boat (rei-miro) (associated) with the birth -- Ata ('shadow; image; representation; dawn; 3rd moon'), (i.e.) the bright moon of the boat (rei-miro), the king of the boat (rei-miro)' (11).
Fragment 2 (Qv 2) of the Small St. Petersburg tablet and fragment 3 (Pr 11) of the Great St. Petersburg tablet are written before the texts which are similar to fragment 1 (symbolised by {}). Both fragments are fertility records. The article 6 a is specific to the word 4 Ata mentioned at the beginning of fragment 1.
Fragment 2 reads ... 45 45 45 27 6-45 41 6 {} ... pu(a), pu(a), pu(a) -- rau, hapu -- ere. A {} 'Births -- the fertility. A pregnancy -- a child'.
Fragment 3 reads ... 45 163 45 30 6-45 41 6 {} ... pu(a), karu, pu(a) -- ana, hapu -- ere. A {} 'A birth, a seed, a birth -- the fertility. A pregnancy -- a child' (12).
One glyph and three ones are engraved on a rei-miro housed in the Musée Calvet, Avignon, France (Forment 1993: 207, figure 129: "series of script signs on a rei miro"). Glyph 30 has a non-symmetrical form. I read the word 30 ana, cf. Hawaiian ana 'to have enough or too much' (13), as well as the word 6 159-159 haipoipo 'marriage; to marry'. It is possible that this pendant was worn to have many children. No wonder that a design of rei-miro (cf. the corresponding glyph 8 matua 'parent') in red depicted below the door of the chicken-house was a sign of the fertility of hens (Routledge 1998: 242; Barthel 1978: 145). It is interesting to note that the pendants rei-miro of the women were called rei-mata-puku (Métraux 1940: 231), cf. Rapanui mata puku 'embryo, fruit'.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I should like to thank Antje Sonntag (the Australian Museum) for kindly sending me photos of the Sydney rei-miro.
NOTES
1. Cf. Rapanui ku kai a te raa 'the sun in eclipse' (lit. 'the sun being eaten') (Métraux 1940: 52).
2. Cf. Rapanui ka 'dawn; to set fire to'.
3. Cf. Rapanui tehe mai te ata 'dawn' (Métraux 1940: 52), ata 'dawn'.
4. See Buck 1966: 439.
5. Cf. Maori rua 'setting-place of the sun'.
6. Cf. Tahitian hau 'king'.
7. See my interpretation of the rongorongo glyphs on the Spanish Treaty. See also Rjabchikov 1997: 31.
8. Cf. Tahitian hotu 'to produce fruit', Samoan fotu 'to appear; to blossom out, to come into blossom'. Cf. Maori whiti 'to shine', whiti, rawhiti 'east', whitinga 'rising', Rapanui hitihanga 'the sunrise', hiti 'to rise; to appear; to wake up'.
9. Cf. Rapanui uri 'black', kero 'to finish one's work'.
10. Cf. Maori poha 'full'.
11. Cf. Rapanui taha 'to go hither and thither', Marquesan taha 'to go', Rapanui poipoi 'morning; to get up at dawn', ivi 'bone; parent; family; ancestry', Mangarevan ivi 'parent; family; genealogy', Rapanui taku 'prediction; prophecy; to predict', tangata taku 'wizard', Rapanui ta 'to strike; to draw; to copy; to design; to record; figure', Tahitian ta 'to strike; to tattoo; to write', Samoan ta 'to strike; to hit', Maori matua 'hull of canoe', Rapanui hua ai 'descendants; birth', Maori ma 'white, pale, clean'. It is well to bear in mind that the Small St. Petersburg tablet (Q) includes some errors of a copyist. I take into consideration the possibility of doublings of morphemes as well as the rules of gradual phonetic evolution of the Polynesian languages.
12. Cf. Old Rapanui pu 'to bear; to produce', Maori whakarau 'to multiply', Samoan malaulau 'to grow vigorously', Rapanui raua 'to form', Tahitian rahu 'to create', Maori, Tahitian hapu 'pregnant', Mangarevan akaere 'to recite genealogies; to show descent', Maori rere 'to be born', reretahi 'one child born at a birth', Rapanui karu 'seed', Hawaiian ana 'to have enough or too much'.
13. Cf. also Rapanui anaana 'shine; to shine; shining'.
REFERENCES
Barthel, T.S., 1978. The Eighth Land. The Polynesian Discovery and Settlement of Easter Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Buck, P.H. (Te Rangi Hiroa), 1966. The Coming of the Maori. Wellington: Maori Purposes Fund Board, Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd.
Forment, F., 1993. "You are Crab, Crayfish and Octopus": Personal and Group Symbols in Rapanui Wood Sculpture. In: S.R. Fischer (ed.) Easter Island Studies. Contributions to the History of Rapanui in Memory of William T. Mulloy. Oxbow Monograph 32. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 206-13.
Heyerdahl, T., 1976. The Art of Easter Island. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Métraux, A., 1940. Ethnology of Easter Island. Bishop Museum Bulletin 160. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1988. Note on Butinov and Knorozov's Investigation. Rapa Nui Journal, 2(2): 6.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1994. Khronologiya rapanuyskoy istorii. Krasnodar: DENOS.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1995. Tayny ostrova Paskhi. Vol. 4. Krasnodar: Ecoinvest.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1996. On an Easter Island Rock Drawing. Rapa Nui Journal, 10: 22.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1997. Rongorongo versus Kai-kai: A Second Look at Themes Linking Easter Island's Mysterious Script with Its String Figure Repertoire. Bulletin of the International String Figure Association, 4: 30-55.
Rjabchikov, S.V., 1999. Astronomy and Rongorongo. Rapa Nui Journal, 13: 18-9.
Routledge, K., 1998. The Mystery of Easter Island. Kempton: Adventures Unlimited Press.
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