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

Note. The Pleiades in Primitive Calendars. 371discovered.” 1036 The Battas or Bataks of central Sumatra datethe various operations of the agricultural year by the positions ofOrion and the Pleiades. When the Pleiades rise before the sun atthe beginning of July, the Achinese of northern Sumatra knowthat the time has come to sow the rice. 1037Scattered and fragmentary as these notices are, they suffice Attention paid tothe Pleiades byto shew that the Pleiades have received much attention fromthe natives ofsavages in the tropical regions of the world from Brasil in the Africa, Greeks, andeast to Sumatra in the west. Far to the north of the tropics the rude Romans.Kamchatkans are said to know only three constellations, the GreatBear, the Pleiades, and three stars in Orion. 1038 When we pass toAfrica we again find the Pleiades employed by tribes in variousparts of the continent to mark the seasons of the agriculturalyear. We have seen that the Caffres of South Africa date theirnew year from the rising of the Pleiades just before sunrise andfix the time for sowing by observation of that constellation. 1039“They calculate only twelve lunar months for the year, for [316]which they have descriptive names, and this results in frequentconfusion and difference of opinion as to which month it reallyis. The confusion is always rectified by the first appearance ofPleiades just before sunrise, and a fresh start is made and thingsgo on smoothly till once more the moons get out of place, andreference has again to be made to the stars.” 1040 According toanother authority on the Bantu tribes of South Africa, “the risingof the Pleiades shortly after sunset was regarded as indicatingthe planting season. To this constellation, as well as to several1036 W. Marsden, History of Sumatra, Third Edition (London, 1811), p. 71.1037 F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie,i. (Leipsic, 1906) p. 428.1038 S. Krascheninnikow, Beschreibung des Landes Kamtschatka (Lemgo,1766), p. 217. The three stars are probably the Belt.1039 See above, vol. i. p. 116.1040 Rev. J. Macdonald, Light in Africa, Second Edition (London, 1890), pp.194 sq. Compare J. Sechefo, “The Twelve Lunar Months among the Basuto,”Anthropos, iv. (1909) p. 931.