The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

Note. The Pleiades in Primitive Calendars. 369according to their position in the heavens, morning and evening,do they cut down the forest, burn, plant, and reap. The Malaysare obliged to follow their example, or their lunar year wouldsoon render their farming operations unprofitable.” 1029 Whenthe season for clearing fresh land in the forest approaches, awise man is appointed to go out before dawn and watch for thePleiades. As soon as the constellation is seen to rise while it isyet dark, they know that the time has come to begin. But notuntil the Pleiades are at the zenith before dawn do the Dyaksthink it desirable to burn the fallen timber and to sow the rice. 1030However, the Kenyahs and Kayans, two other tribes of Sarawak,determine the agricultural seasons by observation of the sunrather than of the stars; and for this purpose they have devisedcertain simple but ingenious mechanisms. The Kenyahs measurethe length of the shadow cast by an upright pole at noon; andthe Kayans let in a beam of light through a hole in the roofand measure the distance from the point immediately below thehole to the place where the light reaches the floor. 1031 But the1029 Spenser St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East, Second Edition(London, 1863), i. 214. Compare H. Low, Sarawak (London, 1848), p. 251.1030 Dr. Charles Hose, “Various Modes of computing the Time for Plantingamong the Races of Borneo,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal AsiaticSociety, No. 42 (Singapore, 1905), pp. 1 sq. Compare Charles Brooke, TenYears in Sarawak (London, 1866), i. 59; Rev. J. Perham, “Sea Dyak Religion,”Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 10 (Singapore,1883), p. 229.1031 Dr. Charles Hose, op. cit. p. 4. Compare id., “The Natives of Borneo,”Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxiii. (1894) pp. 168 sq., wherethe writer tells us that the Kayans and many other races in Borneo sow therice when the Pleiades appear just above the horizon at daybreak, though theKayans more usually determine the time for sowing by observation of thesun. As to the Kayan mode of determining the time for sowing by the lengthof shadow cast by an upright pole, see also W. Kükenthal, Forschungsreisein den Molukken und in Borneo (Frankfort, 1896), pp. 292 sq. Some Dyaksemploy a species of sun-dial for dating the twelve months of the year. SeeH. E. D. Engelhaard, “Aanteekeningen betreffende de Kindjin Dajaks in hetLandschap Baloengan,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde,