The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-01-19
FIXING TIME OF SEASONS.
Some Strange Customs That Are
Observed by Far Eastern
People.

| OF their agricultural seasons as were
used by the early Britons and in
Egypt between 1000 and 1000 B. c..
says the Journal of the Asiatic soci-
ETY.. They rely, that is to say, on the
time of rising of certain consultations
| just before the sun-known to astron-
omers as their heliacal rising. Many
ancient temples are found to be orr
| ented to the point of the horizon
which marks the heliacal rising of the
| Pleiades On May morning.
The natives of Borneo are using the
! rising OF the same constellation as a
guide to the proper time to prepare
their ground to grow their food sup
ply. When the dry season is per-
celved to be approaching two men are
sent out into the jungle to observe.
There they watch, perhaps a few
nights, Perhaps a month, until the
Pleiades are seen on the horizon just
before the increasing sunlight causes
| the stars to fade. Then they return
to the village and announce the fact.
The inhabitants now know that work
| on the forest must be commenced. If
by any means they have missed the
heliacal rising Of the Pleaides and have
! delayed 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 rubbish.
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 a
stick at noon to determine their sea-
sons. Situated as they are between
the tropics, the shadow is cast on the
to The time of year. The length of the
shallow also varies as the sun passes
from Cancer to Capricorn and back
The shadow is measured by means OF
notched stick. The notches repre-
sent the lengths of shadow which ex-
perience has shown to correspond
with favorable times for their various
agricultural operations.
The Samoans, on the other hand, fix
their seasons by the appearance of
curious marine worm, which they call
the palolo. The vai-palolo, or time OF
the paloio, is the name of one of theil
seasons, as spring is one Of ours. This
strange worm livos in the interstices
of the coral reefs, and at certain sea-
sons makes its appearance in the oper
sea in immense numbers. It is eager
ly gathered and eaten by the natives
If the swarm appears, say, at three
o'clock in the morning it has totally
disappeared by nine O'Clock. Bott
male and female worms break up into
innumerable fragments, and the egg:
are 'fertilized in the water. The com
ing of The palolo is regulated by thu
moon, and yet, strange to say, in thu
long run it keeps solar time. If thu
dates of it's appearances were separat
ed by Il lunar months, then, reckon
ing by The day Of the month, it would
be II days earlier each, year. On thu
other hand, If it came every 13 months
it would be 10 days later each year
This is rectified by having In every
cycle of three years one interval Of
l3 and two Of IL months. FINALLY, by
the addition of an extra interval of Il
months in cycle of 20 years the erro1
is less than one day in a century.