From: "Gene Smith" <SmithFrow@worldnet.att.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: [baidarka] Anthro Measurements
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 13:16:56 -0000
Wanda the Wonder Cat's Friend wrote:
>The measurements used in all this work were taken from parts of the human
>body, as usual among Pacific races. But it is worth noting that for
>consistency's sake they were taken from the body of a single man -- the
>grey-beard himself, whose title, te tia-baire (the measurer) indicated his
>functions. The standards were as follows:
I suspect that many things derived from the "measure of man" long before it
was formalized in any culture. I remember plunking on a string bass years
ago, when I was baffled by all string instruments that lacked frets. As I
moved my fingers, I noted that they tended to fall "on" the notes - rather
than in between them. Then a little lightbulb went on in my head and I
realized that most instruments had evolved over milennia to the measure of
the human hand - give or take a Te ari-ni-bai.
Gene Smith
thanking the rain spirits for a little overcast in Houston, Texas