Buoy Deity

This is a cryptogram of a buoy god. Such talismans once littered the south Pacific seaways. They were carved from light and porous wood by islanders, coated with pitch and offered to the sea gods at low tide.

By the mid-nineteenth century, buoy deities constituted a major nautical hazard, so efforts were undertaken to round them up. A bounty was offered and the sea lanes were cleared. Islanders were taught to appease new gods. The collected icons were burned.

All that remains are cryptographs. No one thought to donate a single buoy to a museum. They were but flotsam to generations of sailors.