The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-06-19
FIXING The SEASONS.
some Peoples StiI7 Follow the An
cient Egyptian Methods.


some Peoples stiIl Follow the An
Client Egyptian Methods
The inhabitants of Borneo make use
of the same means for fixing the times
OF their agricultural seasons as We're
used by the early Britons and in Egypt
between 1000 and 1000 B. c., says the
Journal Of the Asiatic Society. They
rely. that is to say, on the time of ris-
Ing of certain consultations just be-
fore the sun, known 10 astronomers
as their heliacal rising. Many an
Gent temples are found to be oriented
to the point of the horizon, which
marks the heliacal rising of the Plei-
AIDES on May morning.
The natives of Borneo are using the
rising of the same constellation as
guide to the proper time TO prepare
their ground TO grow their food sup
ply. When the dry season is perceiv-
ed to be approaching two men are sent
out into the jungle 10 observe. There
they watch, perhaps a few nights, per
haps q month. until the Pleiades are
seen on the horizon just before the in
creasing sunlight causes the stars TO
fade Then they return to the village
and announce the fact The inhabit-
ants now know that work on the for
est must be commenced. If by any
means they have missed the heliacal
rising of the Pleiades and have delay
ed operations till Orion's belt is seen
rising just before the sun. they know
that they must work double shift The
ground being cleared, they then wait
till the Pleiades are at the zenith at
sunrise before they set fire to the rub
bish.
The above Is the method adopted by
the Dyaks. Other neighboring tribes,
the Kenyahs and Kayans, make use Of
the length of the shadow cast by 3
stick at noon to determine their sea
sons. Situated as they are between
the tropics, the shadow is cast on the
north or south of the stick, according
to the time of year. The length of the
shadow also varies as the sun passes
\ from Cancer to Capricorn and back.
\ The shadow is measured by means OF
! a notched stick. The notches repre-
sent the lengths of shadow which ex-
\ perience has shown to correspond with
\ favorable times for their various agri-
cultural operations.
The Samoans, on the other hand, fix
their seasons by the appearance of 4
curious marine worm, which they call
the palolo The val palolo, or time OF
the palolo, is the name of one of their
seasons, as spring IS one of ours. This
strange worm lives in the interstices
of the coral reefs and at certain sea
sons makes its appearance in the Oper
sea in immense numbers. 1t is eagerly
gathered and eaten by the natives.
If the swarm appears, say, at
o'clock in the morning. it has totally
disappeared by 8 o'clock Both male
and female worms break up into IN
Vulnerable fragments, and the eggs arc
fortified in the water The coming
of the palolo is regulated by the moon
and yet, strange to say, in the long ruT
it keeps solar time. If the dates of its
appearances were separated by twelve
lunar months, then, reckoning by the
day of the month, it would be clever
days earlier each year. On the othe
hand, if it came every thirteen months
it would be eighteen days later eacl
year. This is rectified by having II
every cycle of three years one interva
of thirteen and two of twelve months
, Finally by the addition of an extra in
; terval of thirteen months in cycle o
, twcnty-nine years the error is les
than one day in century.