The time-indications from the phases of the climate and of Nature are only approximate: they themselves, like the concrete phenomena to which they refer, are subject to fluctuation. Even in the tropics, where the regularity of the climatic changes is greater than in our latitudes, the beginning of the rains, the dry season, or monsoons may be to some extent advanced or retarded. In the temperate zones the fluctuations are very perceptible. In the year in which I write this (1916) the corn harvest has been delayed by nearly a month, not only on account of bad weather in harvest-time but also owing to the unusually low temperature of the past summer. Even the townsfolk notice that the days are shorter and the weather is colder than is usual at the time of harvest. Further, incidents of plant and animal life—e. g. the blossoming of certain trees and plants, the arrival of the migratory birds—vary somewhat in different years. In general primitive man takes no notice of these variations: the Banyankole, for instance, are indifferent as to whether the year is one or even three weeks longer or shorter, i. e. whether the rainy season opens so much earlier or later[465]. The days are not counted exactly, but the people are content with the concrete phenomenon. More accurate points of reference are however especially desirable for an agricultural people, since, although the right time for sowing can be discerned from the phenomena and general conditions of the climate, yet a more exact determination of time may be extremely useful. The possibility of such a determination exists—and that at a far more primitive stage than that of the agricultural peoples—in the observation of the stars, and especially in the observation of the so-called ‘apparent’ or, more properly, visible risings and settings of the fixed stars, the importance of which has already been explained (pp. 5 ff.) The observation of the morning rising and the evening setting is extraordinarily wide-spread, but other positions of the stars, e. g. at a certain distance from the horizon, are also sometimes observed[466]. The Kiwai Papuans also compute the time of invisibility of a star. When a certain star has sunk below the western horizon they wait for some nights during which the star is ‘inside’; then it has ‘made a leap’, and shews itself in the east in the morning before sunrise[467].

Any reader of the classics will be familiar with the risings and settings of the stars: Virgil, for example, mentions them often. With him however they are pre-eminently a traditional ornament of poetic style: the richest sources are the peasants’ rules of Hesiod, in which the stars are mentioned as time-indications along with phenomena of plant and animal life, and appear just as frequently as the latter, often in combination with them. But Homer not only knows several stars but is also acquainted with the rising and setting. A much quoted passage in the Iliad runs:—

The lines refer to the morning rising of Sirius at the beginning of the fruit-harvest, which about 800 B. C. took place on the 28th of July (Julian). A modern reader, thinking only of the splendour of the star as it shines in the sky at night, entirely fails to understand the darker and more fateful side of the simile. Only when it is realised that the time of the morning rising of Sirius is the time of the greatest heat and sickness, a period believed to be induced by the rising of this star at the beginning of the fruit-harvest, is the right idea obtained. Like Sirius appearing in the sky in the morning twilight of later summer, Achilles stands out upon the battle-field, eclipsing all others and bringing destruction to the Trojans[469]. A difficulty has been found in the passage in that Sirius at his rising is only just visible and therefore does not shine in his brightest splendour. But Sirius is for the poet the typical brightest fixed star, just as he speaks of the heavens as ‘starry’ even when the sun is ascending in them[470]. On every day of the opōre Sirius rises higher and shines more brightly—one must not think only of the actual first rising, the first day of the star’s appearance. Hence the star becomes the symbol of the opōre, ὀπωρινὸς ἀστήρ[471]. Since it is a star of evil omen it is also called ‘the disastrous-shining star’[472]. A star-setting is implied in the words ‘the late-setting Arcturus’[473]. The ‘late’ refers to the fact that the circle which Arcturus describes in the heavens is great, since he stands so far north. Here belongs also the observation that the Great Bear alone of the (greater) stars does not dip down into the ocean[474]. The stars further serve as a guide to navigation[475]:—

The Pleiades, the Hyades, and Orion are also mentioned, but not in any special connexion with the indication of time[476]. The morning-star helps to determine time on a night journey[477].

Hesiod says that at the time when the thistle blooms and the cricket chirps Sirius burns heads and knees[478], and that when the late autumn rains come men feel relieved, since the star Sirius is not passing over their heads for so long a time but uses the night more[479]. Commentators of classical times have indeed here taken Sirius to mean the sun. But wrongly; for Sirius, whose rising introduces the time of greatest heat, is for the Greeks the cause of the heat, just as the Pleiades are for the Australians, and as all stars are held to be the causes of those climatic changes which are connected with any of their risings or settings[480]; when Sirius rises earlier, i. e. remains in the heavens for some hours during the night-time, the heat declines. The other passages are:—vv. 564 ff., evening rising of Arcturus (60 days after the winter solstice, Feb. 24, Julian), followed by the coming of the swallow, messenger of spring, before this time the vines should be pruned; vv. 597 ff., the winnowing of the harvested corn at the morning rising of Orion (July 9); vv. 609 ff., when Orion and Sirius are in the middle of the heavens and the dawn sees Arcturus (morning rising Sept. 18), it is the time of the vine-harvest; vv. 615 ff., at the (morning) setting of the Pleiades (Nov. 3), of the Hyades, and of Orion (Nov. 15) it is time to think about sowing; vv. 619 ff., when the Pleiades, fleeing from Orion, fall into the sea, storms rage, and the ship should be drawn up on land. Alcaeus says:—“Drink wine, for the star (viz. Sirius) revolves”[481].

The time-indications from the stars are therefore much older in Greece than the lunisolar calendar, and always existed alongside of the latter—which was of a religious and civil character—as the calendar of peasants and seamen, who must hold to the natural year and its seasons. The watchman who speaks the prologue of the Agamemnon of Aeschylus says:—

The discovery of star-observation and of its use in time-reckoning and navigation is ascribed to the heroes Prometheus and Palamedes. The latter is regarded by the tragic poets as the founder of all the elements of intellectual culture, and so also of the science of the stars[483]. And Prometheus, who glories in having brought to men every advance in civilisation, includes therein the knowledge of the risings and settings of the stars:—

Later, the phases of the stars have become so familiar to everyone that Sophocles can say, ‘a time of six months from spring to Arcturus’, i. e. the morning rising of Arcturus on Sept. 18[485].

Whether the Romans made use of time-indications from the stars before they borrowed them from the Greeks is uncertain; in any case they had their own names for some constellations:—vesperugo, iubar = lucifer, the evening star, septentriones or iugulae, the Great Bear, vergiliae, the Pleiades. Suculae, the Hyades, and canicula, the Dog-star, are translations of the corresponding Greek names[486].

At a later period the risings and settings of the stars, together with the climatic phenomena accompanying them or believed to accompany them, were brought into a calendar, which was then arranged according to the signs of the zodiac, or later according to the months of the Julian or Egyptian solar year. The Greek lunisolar year was unsuitable for the purpose, since it varied in reference to the sun and the stars. How both were adjusted to practical needs is shewn by the remains of two stone calendars found at Milet. On the stone are inscribed the risings and settings of the stars, arranged according to the signs of the zodiac: by the side of these are holes into which little tablets containing the days of the lunisolar calendar could be fitted, these tablets being arranged according to the relation of every lunisolar year to the solar one[487].

The Arabians also carefully observed the stars, and many of their proverbs couple the risings of the stars with natural events[488]. Since these constellations are the so-called lunar stations their use here is not primitive, but must have been added on to a primitive usage. The Pleiades were observed throughout their course, and about most of the positions which they take up mnemonic verses were made. Mohammed swears by the setting Pleiades in the 53rd chapter of the Koran.

We return once more to the primitive peoples. It may be well first to show by a few examples how far they were acquainted with the stars and saw in them images of terrestrial things. The Chukchee give names to the most important constellations. Among divinities are reckoned ‘the Motionless Star’ or ‘the Nail-star’ or ‘the Pole-stuck Star’, the Pole-star, ‘the Front Head and the Rear Head’, Arcturus and Vega, and pchittin, a part of Aquilo. Orion is an archer with a crooked back, who has shot a copper arrow, Aldebaran, against a ‘group of women’, the Pleiades. His wife is Leo, ‘the Standing Woman’. Capella is a reindeer-buck which is tied behind the sledge of a man driving with two reindeer; a fox approaches from the side. Six of the stars of the Great Bear are men throwing with slings, the seventh is a fox gnawing at a pair of antlers. The Twins are two elks running from two hunters who are driving two reindeer-teams. Corona is the paw of the Polar Bear. Delphinus is a seal, Cassiopeia represents five reindeer-bucks standing in the middle of a river[489].

The Eskimos of Greenland have a good knowledge of the stars. The Great Bear is a reindeer, or the little stool on which they fasten their ropes and harpoons, Aldebaran is the eye of the bull, the twins are the breast-bone of the heavens, the belt of Orion is composed of three ‘scattered ones’—Greenlanders who were taken up into the sky and could not find their way back—Sirius has a man’s name, the Pleiades are to be regarded as baying hounds with a bear among them, Cygnus as three kayaks which have been out seal-hunting. Venus is the follower or man-at-arms of the sun. When one planet crosses the path of another it is a wife and a concubine who have one another by the hair, or else it is a visit of two stars[490]. By the Ammasalik names are given to Vega (‘the Foot of the Lamp’), which, like the moon, is the brother of the sun, to the Great Bear, the Pleiades (‘the Barkers’), the belt of Orion, and Aldebaran; Jupiter is the mother of the sun[491]. Among the Konyag of the island of Kodiak, off the south coast of Alaska, two months are named after the risings of the Pleiades and Orion respectively[492]. Of the Thlinkit it is said that few constellations or stars appear to have been named by them: those to which names are given are ‘the Great Dipper’, which by night used to serve as a guide, the Pleiades (sculpin), ‘Three-men-in-a-line’ (probably the belt of Orion), Venus as the morning star (‘Morning-round-thing’), and Jupiter (?) as the evening star (‘Marten-month’ or ‘Marten-moon’). If the morning star comes up above a mountain south-east of Sitka, it means bad weather, if well over in the east, good weather[493]. Otherwise the North American Indians have paid less attention to the stars: but it is exaggerated to say[494] that the sum-total of their astronomical knowledge was the ability to point to the Pole-star from which they took their way when they travelled at night, which however they did unwillingly. The tribes of Pennsylvania had names for a few stars, and observed their motions: the Pole-star shewed them by night the direction they must take in the morning[495]. The Omaha called the Pole-star ‘the Not-moving-star’, the Pleiades were called by an old name, ‘the Deer’s Head’; this name, which had a religious significance, was not commonly used, the popular name being ‘Little-duck’s-foot’. The Great Bear was ‘the Litter’, Venus ‘Big-Star’[496]. For the Klamath are mentioned only the three stars in the belt of Orion[497], for the Biloxi and Ofo ‘Stars-all-heads’ (?) (three large stars near the Pleiades), ‘Stars-in-circle’ (the Pleiades), and ‘Big Star’, the morning star[498]. The Luiseño of southern California name the most important stars. The associated stars form much larger groups than those common among us. The stars were chiefs among the first people. Those most frequently mentioned are Antares and Altair. Arcturus is the right hand of Antares, it rises before the latter and announces his coming, the other stars around Antares are his suite. Other chiefs are Spica, Fomalhaut, and the Pole-star. Orion and the Pleiades are always mentioned together; the latter were seven sisters, pursued by Aldebaran. The Diegueño constellations are altogether different from the Luiseño, and are based upon totally different ideas: it has not been possible however to obtain an accurate account of them[499]. Of the natives of Guadeloupe it was reported at their discovery:—In other places they merely reckon the day by the sun and the night by the moon; these women however reckoned by other stars, and said that when the Great Bear rose or a certain star stood in the north it was time to do this or that[500].

The Indians of South America have observed the stars in much greater detail. The descriptions of von den Steinen are well known, in particular for the Bakairi of Central Brazil. Orion is a large frame on which manioc is dried, the larger stars are the tops of posts, Sirius is the end of a great cross-beam supporting the frame from the side. The Pleiades are a heap of grains of meal that have fallen out at the side: a larger mass, ‘the father of the heap’, is Aldebaran. Capella is a little capsule such as the Bakairi wear in their ears, two other stars of Auriga are the ear-rings of the Kayabi, the feathers of which are stuck backwards. One star, probably Procyon, is an ear-piercer, or more properly the hole bored in the ear. Castor and Pollux are the holes of a great flute. Canopus has no name. The Southern Cross is a bird-snare on a twig, and the two large stars of the Centaur represent two canes belonging to it. In the snare a mutum cavallo (crax) was taken, and this could be seen in a dark patch of the Milky Way close beside. A Sokko heron with a little basket full of fish corresponds approximately to the stars of Pisces and Argo. The Scorpion is a drag-net for children, the Milky Way is a huge drum-stick, and the holes in it (the dark spots) are observed and explained by stories. The Paressi have a name for the Southern Cross, above which they see an ostrich whose figure is to be recognised in a dark spot of the Milky Way: other animals are also found in the sky. To the Bororo the Southern Cross represents the toes of a great ostrich, the Centaur a leg belonging to them, Orion is a Jabuti turtle and in the parts verging on to Sirius a cayman, the Pleiades are the bunches of blossom on the angico tree. The name of Venus was not translatable[501]. The Karaya of Central Brazil knew many constellations, and drew some of them in our informant’s sketch-book. The Southern Cross, for example, is a ray (the fish), the two stars of the Centaur above it represent an ostrich, upon which a jaguar, Scorpio, is leaping[502]. Of the natives of Brazil in general it is stated that there is hardly a single important constellation which does not explain to them some event, or represent some idea in connexion with things that happen upon the earth, though they certainly have no heroes to set in them. Myths of Orion, of the Pleiades, and of Canopus were related[503]. E. Nordenskiöld has repeatedly visited the border districts between the Argentine, Bolivia, and Brazil. Of the Chané and Chiriguano Indians he says that they do not give names to many constellations, but they know them very well. The part of the Milky Way lying nearest to the Southern Cross is called the Ostrich Way, the Southern Cross together with a few neighbouring stars is the head of the ostrich, and the two largest stars of the Centaur are its collar. Orion with his sword is called ‘Birds-meet-each-other’, another constellation is ‘the Roe-buck’s Horn’, still another ‘the Tapir’; the Pleiades are the most important constellation, they are called yehu, but the natives do not know the meaning of the name. Venus is called coemilla, ‘morning’. The Guarayu call Orion ‘the Black Vulture’; at his side lies a heap of snake’s bones (the sword). The Southern Cross with the stars around it is an ostrich, the two large stars of the Centaur are a roe-buck, the Great Bear is a road, a cluster of stars in the south is ‘the Eel’s Nest’. The Pleiades are called piangi, a word of unknown meaning; when, on their return after their period of invisibility, they are surrounded by a circle, it is a good omen: if the circle is missing, all men will die. Venus is called ‘the Big Star’[504]. The Karai tribes called α, β Centauri the ostrich’s feet, the body is the neighbouring ‘coal-pit’ (the dark spot of the Milky Way), the Southern Cross is a fresh-water ray, the Pleiades are a flock of parakeets, Orion is the burning roça, the tail of the Scorpion is called unze. The Ipurina of Rio Purus call Orion a beetle, the Pleiades a serpent, the Hyades a turtle, the Cross forest-folk[505]. In a Chilean word-list there are words for star, constellation, the Pleiades, Orion, planet, Venus[506].

In Africa the comparatively more civilised negro Tribes seem to have paid less attention to the stars than the more primitive tribes of the south. The Ho tribe considers the stars to be the children of the moon: it recognises and names the most important constellations, the morning star (‘the Clucking Hen’), and the stool-bearer of the moon, a star always situated in the vicinity of that planet. The Milky Way is composed of stars forming a cord[507]. Of the Ibo-speaking tribes we are told that they seem to be singularly incurious about heavenly bodies and occurrences; however names were got for the following constellations:—The Pleiades (‘Hen and Chickens’), the belt of Orion (‘Three and Three’), for the Great Bear two names not translated were given, Venus (‘the Wise-Man-who-can-talk’)[508]. In French Guinea η ursae is an ass, and the little star above it is a thief pursued by the six other stars, members of the tribe to which the stolen animal belongs. For other peoples the Great Bear is the star of the camel, Cassiopeia is that of the ass, the Pleiades have the name ‘murmur’, i. e. a confused thing. Jupiter (?), the companion and guardian of the moon, is held in particular veneration. The marabout in the morning awaits the rising of Venus, and announces by cries, or sometimes by blows on a gong, the hour of prayer. Everyone has his good and bad stars, which the magician takes carefully into account[509]. The intrusion of astrology is not striking, since the people are Mohammedans, while the names of the constellations must be of native origin. The Bakongo call the three stars in Orion’s belt ‘the Dog’, ‘the Palm-rat’, and ‘the Chief Hunter’; Venus is the wife of the moon. The people think that the rain comes from the Pleiades, who are regarded as the ‘Caretakers-who-guard-the-rain’, and if, at the beginning of the rainy season, this constellation is clearly seen, they expect a good rainy season, i. e. rain for their farms without superabundance[510]. The Bangala call the Pleiades a group of young women; five stars in Lepus, kole, are a man with head, hands, and feet; the belt of Orion represents three rowers; five stars in Orion are bundles of thunder and lightning; the evening star also has a name. From the appearance of the Milky Way they draw conclusions as to the lack or abundance of rain; when it is bright and clear there will be much rain[511]. Ten star-names of the Shilluk are given, but only two are translated: the Pleiades are ‘the Hen’, and ‘Three Stars’ is Uranus (sic!). Venus and a fore-runner of Venus are known[512]. The Wagogo know the Milky Way, the Pleiades, and the belt of Orion; the western star of the last-named is to them a boar, the middle star is the dog, and the eastern the hunter[513]. Of the Thonga it is further stated that the stars play a remarkably small part in their ideas. Venus is the best known, the Pleiades is the only constellation with a name; they have no notion whatever of constellations, their mind seems not to have tried to group the stars, or to have seen figures of animals or objects in the sky[514]. In Loango the following constellations are distinguished:—the false Southern Cross (‘the Turtle’), the Scorpion (‘the Serpent’), the Pleiades (‘Ants’), Orion (‘the Fish’), his belt (‘the Line of the Hunter’, who leads a dog), Sirius (‘the Rain-star’). The natives are aware that certain stars move; Jupiter is called ‘the Great Star’, Venus as the evening star is the wife of the moon, as a morning star she is the liar, spy of the moon, or false moon, illusory moon[515].

Far greater knowledge is possessed by the Hottentots, who know the planets accurately. Venus is ‘the Fore-runner of the sun’, or the star at whose rising men run away (i. e. from illicit intercourse), Mercury ‘the Dawn-star’, or the star that comes when the udders of the cows (which are milked morning and evening) are filled again: as an evening star he is not observed. Venus as an evening star is recognised to be the same celestial body as the morning star, and is called ‘the Evening Fugitive’, since it does not remain long in the sky. Jupiter is known, but is sometimes identified with Venus; when however he is seen in ‘the middle of the sky’ he is called ‘the Middle Star’. The six stars of the belt and sword of Orion are grouped together as ‘the Zebras’: δ, ε, ζ are three fugitive zebras against the middle one of which the hunter ι shoots his arrow θ and c. The Pleiades, on account of their thick cluster of stars, are called by a name derived from a verb meaning ‘assemble’, or are otherwise known as ‘the Rime-star’. The Milky Way is called ‘(glowing) Embers’, the Magellanic Clouds ‘Embers’ in the dual. Of single fixed stars our author heard only Sirius called by a name, ‘the Side-star’[516]. The Bushmen divide the stars into night-stars and dawn-stars: of the latter they relate very fine and complicated myths, such as that of the connexion between ‘the Dawn’s Heart’ (Jupiter) and a neighbouring star, his daughter (Regulus or α leonis). Achernar is ‘the Star-digging-stick’s-stone’, or ‘the Digging-stick’s-stone of Canopus’; the Pointers to the Southern Cross are three male lions; α, β, γ crucis are lionesses; Aldebaran is a male hartebeest, α Orion is a female hartebeest, Procyon a male eland, Castor and Pollux his wives, the Magellanic Clouds a steinbok, Orion’s sword three male tortoises hung upon a stick, his belt three female tortoises so hung[517].

The Toda of S. India know the Pleiades, Orion’s sword (‘the Porcupine-star’), the Great Bear, and Sirius, and relate about them myths which are probably borrowed from the neighbouring Badaga[518]. The pagans of the Malay Peninsula know the evening and the morning stars, and the stars of the astrological seasons (sic!), or the Pleiades[519]. In the Indian Archipelago the observation of the Pleiades as a sign of the arrival of the season for sowing is very common. Of the Kayan of Borneo it is stated that though they do not observe the stars or their movements for practical purposes, they are familiar with the principal constellations, and have fanciful names for them and relate mythical stories about the personages they are supposed to represent. The Klementan call Pegasus ‘the padi store-house’, the Pleiades are ‘a well’, the constellation to which Aldebaran belongs is ‘a pig’s jaw’, Orion is a man whose left arm is missing[520].

The natives of Australia have a rich stellar mythology[521]. The evening star has its name and its myths. The Pleiades are women who in the Alcheringa period lived at Intitakula: this is believed by all the tribes whom our authority studied. Orion they regard as an emu, and the stars in general as camp-fires of natives who live in heaven. As a general rule, however, the natives appear to pay very little attention to the stars in detail, probably because these enter very little into anything which is connected with their daily life, more especially with their food-supply. By the northern Arunta and the Kaitish the Magellanic Clouds are supposed to be full of evil magic, which sometimes comes down to earth and chokes men and women in their sleep[522]. According to another author acquainted with the Arunta the Pleiades are seven maidens who had danced at the circumcision ceremony and then ascended into heaven. Two stars in the neighbourhood of the Magellanic Clouds are called ‘the two Gland-poison Men’: the Clouds are the smoke of their fires; the dark patch in the Milky Way is an article of adornment (ngapatjinbi), the Southern Cross ‘an eagle’s foot’. The morning star is also known[523]. The tribes of S. E. Australia give names to many stars and group some of them together in constellations, among which are the sons of Bunjil. The Wiiambo thought that the stars were once great men. The Southern Cross is an emu, Mars an eagle, another star is a crow. The Pleiades, according to the Wotjo-baluh, are some women, corona australis is ‘the Laughing Jackass’, a small star in Argo is ‘the Shell Parakeet’[524].

A very high stage of development in stellar science and mythology is reached among the Euahlayi tribe of the north-west district of New South Wales; anyone interested in the catasterisms of ancient mythology should read the full account given for this tribe. Venus is called ‘the Laughing Star’—the reason for her laughter is a coarse jest—, the Milky Way is an overflow of water. The stars are fires which the spirits of the dead have lit in their journey across the sky, and the dusky haze—i. e. presumably the dark patches without stars, which interest primitive peoples as much as the stars themselves—is the smoke of the fires. A waving dark shadow which you will see along the Milky Way is a crocodile. Two dark spots in Scorpio are devils who try to catch the spirits of the dead; sometimes they come down to earth and make whirlwinds. The Pleiades are seven sisters, ice-maidens; two have been dulled because a man caught them and tried to melt the ice off them: they succeeded in escaping to heaven, but do not shine so brightly as their sisters. The sword and belt of Orion are boys who on earth loved and followed the Pleiades, but after death were turned into stars. In order to remind people of them the Pleiades drop down some ice in the winter, and it is they who make the winter thunderstorms. Castor and Pollux are two hunters of long ago. Canopus is ‘the Mad Star’: he went mad on losing his loves. The Magellanic Clouds are ‘the Native Companions’, mother and daughter, pursued by Wurrawilberoo. ‘The Featherless Emu’ is a devil of water-holes, who goes every night to his sky-camp, ‘the Coal-pit’, i. e. the dark spot beside the Southern Cross. Corvus is a kangaroo, the Southern Crown an eagle-hawk, the Cross the first spirit-tree, a huge yaraon which was the medium for the translation to the sky of the first man who died on earth. The white cockatoos which used to roost in the branches of this tree followed it and became the Pointers[525].

Ridley has obtained from the former chief of the Gingi tribe a long series of star-names. Especially noteworthy for the observation of the risings is the following. The Northern Crown is called mullion wollai, ‘the Eagle’s Nest’, when it stands exactly north on the meridian. Altair rises, and is called mullion-ga, ‘Eagle-in-action’, the eagle springs up to guard his nest. Later Vega rises, and is also called mullion-ga. The ‘holes’ are also well known. The dark spot at the foot of the Cross (the zuu tree) is called an emu, the bird sits under the tree[526]. Elsewhere the star at the head of the Cross is an opossum fleeing from a pursuer—the ‘hole’ between the fore-feet of Centaurus and the Cross[527].

As to the stellar science of the Melanesians we are very variously informed. The tribes of the Torres Straits have a richly developed mythology and observation of the stars[528]. They distinguish the planets from the fixed stars, at least they notice that Venus does not twinkle[529]. The Banks Islanders never travel by night, and consequently do not use the stars in navigation; in consequence of this, says our authority, no definite information about the names of stars or constellations could be obtained. A native gave a few names, but could not point out the stars which they were said to denote[530]. The Moanu of the Admiralty Islands understand the moon and the stars, but the Matankor know neither stars nor moon[531]. A statement such as this must be received with great reserve, especially when it comes from a native of another tribe. In any case it would constitute an exception, since extremely primitive tribes know the stars quite well, the natives of New Britain and of the Solomon Islands even very well. The Pleiades and corona borealis play an important part (cp. below, p. 141). The former are called in Lambutjo kiasa, on the Gazelle Peninsula ‘the People-at-the-feast’, and on Bambatana and Alu the year is reckoned according to them: the Crown is called in Lambutjo ‘the Fisher’, in Buin ‘Taro-leaf-greens’, on the Gazelle Peninsula ‘the Thornback’. Further star-names are:—for the Hyades in Buin ‘Earth-rat’, in Lambutjo kapet, a large net for deep water, on the Gazelle Peninsula kakapepe, a kind of small fish, the star in the middle of the constellation is called ‘Hog-fish’. Cygnus is called in Buin ‘Hog-bearer’, in Lambutjo ‘the Three Men’. ‘The Dog’ or ‘Shark’ is a large star ‘that pursues the Fishes’. Many myths are told of the stars[532]. Another authority remarks that the natives of the Solomon Islands are more concerned about the stars than the eastern Polynesians, perhaps because of their longer sea-voyages. The possibility of influence from the astronomically learned Polynesians must also probably be entertained. The people of Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands excel all others in their practical astronomy. The natives of Banks Island and the northern New Hebrides content themselves with distinguishing only the Pleiades, by which the approach of the yam-harvest is marked, and with calling the planets masoi from their roundness, as distinct from vitu, ‘star’. In Florida the early morning star is called ‘the Quartz-pebble-for-setting-off-to-sea’: when it rises later, however, it is ‘the Shining-stone-of-light’. The Pleiades are ‘the Company of Maidens’, Orion’s belt is ‘the War-canoe’, the evening star ‘Listen-for-the-oven’ because the daily meal is taken as evening draws on. All stars are called dead men’s eyes. At Saa the Southern Cross is a net with four men letting it down to catch palolo, and the Pointers are two men cooking what has been caught—because the palolo appears when one of the Pointers rises above the horizon. The Pleiades are called ‘the Tangle’, the Southern Triangle is ‘Three-men-in-a-canoe’, Mars is ‘the Red Pig’[533].

The Polynesians are very learned in astronomy, and their bold and wide sea voyages have helped to make them so, since in these the stars are their principal guide. The Tahitian, Tupaya, who accompanied Cook on his first voyage, could always point out to him the direction in which Tahiti lay[534]. When the Society Islanders put to sea in the evening, as was most commonly the case in their voyages, one constellation, preferably the Pleiades, was chosen as a point to steer by[535]. A detailed report is given for the Marshall Islands:—In the journey from atoll to atoll the course of the boat is commonly directed from a certain passage, island, or promontory to a passage or promontory of the atoll to be reached. Above this spot stands the star that gives the direction. It is the sailor’s business to know for how many hours a star can serve him as compass, so that immediately after the apparent turning of the star from east to west he may choose another. Of great interest also is the idea of the connexion between the atmospheric and other phenomena and the stars. Certain periods of bad weather recur every year with tolerable regularity, so that the sailors attribute them to the immediate influence of the stars. When, for instance, at 4 o’clock in the morning—at which time the signs of the weather are observed—the stars stand just above the eastern horizon, they stop up the east, so to speak, and prevent the free passage of the wind. But if the pernicious star in question is at the given time 20° or 30° above the horizon, there is enough space between star and horizon for the wind to be released. This strong wind will last until another influential star arises under the first. This lower star acts like a wind-chute placed against an open hut. The strength of the wind is therefore reduced. This explains why every storm is followed by a wind favourable for sailing. For example when Spica is 20° above the horizon a violent storm is developed, but this only lasts until Arcturus some time later becomes visible on the eastern horizon. The most important of the stars that bring bad weather are Spica, Arcturus, Antares, the claw of the Scorpion, Altair, Delphinus, β, μ, λ and γ, ξ, π Pegasi. With the rising of Cassiopeia the time of calms begins. Jedada (γ, ζ, π aquilae) ‘disembowels the heavens’. Altair is regarded as a bad fellow. When he rises in the east before dawn it is commonly a time when food supplies have run low, so that quarrels arise: only when he rises higher and the hot season (June-August) brings plenty of food, do reconciliation and goodwill return. Of ‘King Jäbro’, the Pleiades, long myths are related: when they emerge from the horizon joy prevails, but tears are shed when they vanish again into the west[536]. The knowledge of the stars was often a carefully guarded secret, but through prevailing European influence it has now fallen entirely into decay. In Samoa it is now an exception for a native to know the name of this or that constellation, since an islander engaged in the fishing trade can only indicate and name this or that star if it marks the beginning of some important native occupation[537].

The Polynesian material for star-names is exceedingly abundant, and can here only be represented in outline, so as to give some idea how far astronomy may advance at this stage of civilisation[538]. The Marquesas Islanders know and name a great number of constellations and separate stars, e. g. ‘the Little Eyes’ (the Pleiades), ‘the Rudder’ (Orion’s belt)[539]. Constellations mentioned as being known to the Society Islanders are:—the Pleiades, Orion’s belt, Sirius (‘Big Star’), the Magellanic Clouds (the upper and lower ‘Haze’), the Milky Way (‘the Long-blue-cloud-eating-shark’), Venus, called sometimes ‘Day-star’ or ‘Herald-of-the-morning’, and sometimes ‘Taurna-who-rises-at-dusk’, Mars (‘the Red Star’), Jupiter, and Saturn[540]. The people of Nauru, west of the Gilbert Islands, observe the stars, chiefly the Pleiades, Orion, Sirius, and the morning and evening stars[541]. For the Marshall Islands see above, p. 125. For Tahiti names are given for Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Pleiades (‘Star-of-the-nest’), Sirius (‘Big Star’), and the belt of Orion, and it is further stated that many other stars are known by separate names[542]. The Hawaiians had names for many constellations, and they also knew the five planets[543]. An apparently distinguished native astronomer, named Hoapili, stated that he had heard from others (Europeans?) that there was one more travelling-star, but he had never observed it, and was acquainted only with the five[544]. The Maoris had names for all the principal stars and for a great number of constellations. The most important of the latter is ‘the Canoe of Tamarereti’, which consists of the following parts:—the three stars of Orion’s belt form the stern, matariki (the Pleiades) is the prow, te toke o te waka is the mast, the Southern Cross is the anchor, and the two Pointers are the cables. Further, Orion’s belt is called ‘the Elbow of Maui’; the Scorpion is ‘the House-of-Te-Whiu-and-his-slaves’; Waka mauruiho and Waka mauruake are the husbands of Hurike and Angake, and their daughters are Tioreore and Tikatakata, the two Magellanic Clouds, whose husbands are Taikeha and Ninikuru. By the position of the Magellanic Clouds the natives think they can tell from what quarter the wind will blow. One constellation is called ‘the Garment of Maru’, which he let fall as he ascended into heaven. Unfortunately the names corresponding to our star-map are not given, and I have omitted many which are not translated[545]. Some stars are mentioned below in the account of the Maori calendar of months[546].

The Micronesians know the stars well; long lists of star-names come from the Carolines. 18 names are given for Ponape, among them names for the Pleiades, the Southern Cross, and the Magellanic Clouds; from Lamotrek come 24, e. g. ‘the Leather-jacket-fish’ (the Southern Cross), ‘the Broom’ (Ursa Minor), ‘the Virile Member’ (Aldebaran), ‘the Body-of-the-animal’ (Sirius), ‘the Centre-of-the-house’ (Arietes), ‘the Two Eyes’ (Scorpio), ‘the Fowling-net’ (Corona), ‘the Tail-of-the-fish’ (Cassiopeia), etc.; from Mortlock 23, e. g. (Ursa Minor) fusa-makit, ‘the Seven Mice’, or it may mean ‘the Star-that-changes-its-position’ (sic!), Leo, ‘the Rat’, the Southern Cross (perhaps), ‘the Shark’, Delphinus and Cygnus, ‘the Bowl-in-the-midst-of-Sota’, Sirius, ‘the Animal’, Orion and Aldebaran, ‘The Branch-of-the-tree’, not identified, ‘the Fish-net’; from Yap 25, unidentified[547]. The Fijians on the other hand knew little about the stars. They had no names even for the most important constellations. The evening and morning stars were known, under the names of ‘Marking-day’ and ‘Marking-night’, but the natives did not distinguish between the planets and the fixed stars. Their ignorance is ascribed to the fact that they never undertake voyages beyond the limits of their groups, and are bad navigators in the technical sense, although good sailors[548].

Stellar science and mythology are therefore wide-spread among the primitive and extremely primitive peoples, and attain a considerable development among certain barbaric peoples. Although this must be conceded, some people are apt to think that the determination of time from the stars belongs to a much more advanced stage: it is frequently regarded as a learned and very late mode of time-reckoning. Modern man is almost entirely without knowledge of the stars; for him they are the ornaments of the night-sky, which at most call forth a vague emotion or are the objects of a science which is considered to be very difficult and highly specialised, and is left to the experts. It is true that the accurate determination of the risings and settings of the stars does demand scientific work, but not so the observation of the visible risings and settings. Primitive man rises and goes to bed with the sun. When he gets up at dawn and steps out of his hut, he directs his gaze to the brightening east, and notices the stars that are shining just there and are soon to vanish before the light of the sun. In the same way he observes at evening before he goes to rest what stars appear in the west at dusk and soon afterwards set there. Experience teaches him that these stars vary throughout the year and that this variation keeps pace with the phases of Nature, or, more concretely expressed, he learns that the risings and settings of certain stars coincide with certain natural phenomena. Here, therefore, there lies ready to hand a means of determining the time of the year, and one which is indeed much more accurate than a method depending on a reference to the phases of Nature. However it would seem as if this mode of indicating time would require a greater knowledge of the stars, such as only few peoples possess,—as if it would constantly be necessary to observe a fresh star for each of the smaller divisions of time. This is not the case, since, as appears from statements already made, for the purpose of determining the seasons a star may be observed when it is stationed at other positions in the sky than on the horizon, e. g., very conveniently, at its upper culmination, but other positions, expressed by us in so many degrees above the horizon, may also serve. Just as the advance of the day is discerned from the position of the sun, so the advance of the year is recognised by the position of certain stars at sunrise and sunset. Stars and sun alike are the indicators of the dial of the heavens. A determination of this kind, however, is not so accurate as that from the heliacal risings and settings. Hence the latter pass almost exclusively or at least pre-eminently under consideration wherever, as in Greece, a calendar of the natural year is based upon the stars: sometimes however the upper culmination (μεσουράνημα) is also given. Finally the stars can also be observed at other times of night than just before sunrise or after sunset[549]: the Marshall Islanders, for instance, were accustomed to observe the signs of the weather at 4 a. m. With the lack of a means of accurately telling the time such an observation is very uncertain and unpractical, and is therefore seldom found.

In order to determine the time of certain important natural phenomena it is therefore sufficient to know and observe a few stars or constellations with accuracy and certainty. The Pleiades are the most important[550]. It has been asked why this particular constellation, consisting as it does of comparatively small and unimportant stars, should have played so great a part, and the answer given is chiefly that its appearance coincides (though this is true of other stars also) with important phases of the vegetation. This is correct, but something else must be added. To create constellations in which terrestrial objects, animals, and men are arbitrarily seen requires no inconsiderable degree of imaginative power. The Pleiades however form themselves into a group without any aid from the imagination, and can without difficulty be recognised as such. It is because they are easy to recognise immediately that the observation of these stars plays so important a part. A similar case is that of the Magellanic Clouds, which, where they are visible, belong to the best known phenomena of the heavens, and we may also compare the dark starless patches which so largely occupy the attention of primitive peoples, although neither of these two phenomena is used in determining time, since neither can be observed at the favourable moment, viz. the twilight.

An account of the Bushmen shews how extremely primitive peoples may also observe the risings of the stars, may connect them with the seasons, and—which is indeed somewhat rare—may even worship them. The Bushmen perceive Canopus; they say to a child:—“Give me yonder piece of wood that I may put (the end of) it (in the fire), that I may point it burning towards grandmother, for grandmother carries Bushman rice; grandmother shall make a little warmth for us; for she coldly comes out; the sun shall warm grandmother’s eye for us”. About the same time as Canopus, Sirius appears, and a similar ceremony takes place. Sirius comes out: the people call to one another:—“Ye must burn (a stick) for us (toward) Sirius.” They say to one another: “Who was it that saw Sirius?” One man says to the other: “One brother saw Sirius.” The other man says to him: “I saw Sirius.” The other man says to him: “I wish thee to burn a stick for us towards Sirius, that the sun may shining come out for us, that Sirius may not coldly come out.” The other man says to his son: “Bring me the piece of wood yonder, that I may put it in the fire, that I may burn it towards grandmother, that grandmother may ascend the sky, like the other one”, i. e. Canopus. The child brings him the piece of wood, he holds it in the fire. He points it burning towards Sirius, he says that Sirius shall twinkle like Canopus. He sings; he points to them with fire that they may twinkle like each other. He throws fire at them[551]. Canopus and Sirius appear in winter, hence the cold is connected with them. The ceremony just described is obviously a warming-incantation. It is said also that it will make the stars rise higher, for the higher they stand above the eastern horizon at sunrise and the more brightly they twinkle, the more nearly winter draws towards an end. The Hottentots connect the Pleiades with winter. These stars become visible in the middle of June, that is in the first half of the cold season, and are therefore called ‘Rime-stars’, since at the time of their becoming visible the nights may be already so cold that there is hoar-frost in the early morning. The appearance of the Pleiades also gives to the Bushmen of the Auob district the signal for departure to the tsama field[552].

The Euahlayi tribe also connect the Pleiades with the cold: they call the stars ‘the Ice-maidens’, imagine them to be covered with ice, and say that in winter they let ice drop on the earth and also cause the winter thunderstorms[553]. Another tribe danced in order to win the favour of the Pleiades; the constellation is worshipped by one body as the giver of rain, but should the rain be deferred, instead of blessings curses are apt to be bestowed on it[554]. The Arunta say that the Pleiades are seven maidens who ascended into heaven, but after many wanderings came back to Okaralyi, where they again gathered ugokuta fruit and danced in the women’s dance. During this period the Pleiades are not to be seen in the sky, i. e. it is the time between the evening setting and the morning rising. Here therefore the constellation is connected with a phase of Nature, and the whole is mythologically explained. According to another Arunta myth the Pleiades are maidens who had danced at a circumcision ceremony. After they had taken part in all the ceremonies in which to-day the assistance of women is still requisite at this festival, they went back to their native district, whence they ascended to heaven and are now to be seen as the Pleiades. Not without reason did the circumcision most frequently take place at the season when the Pleiades rise at evening in the east and remain in the sky all night long (this is the case in the summer months), so that this prominent constellation was regarded as a spectator of the festivities connected with the rite[555]. The Pleiades therefore serve to determine the time of the feast, and this circumstance is again invested with a myth. A tribe of Western Victoria connected certain constellations with the seasons. The Pleiades are young maidens playing to a corroboree-party of young men, represented by the belt and sword of Orion. Aldebaran, ‘the Rose-crested Cockatoo’, is an old man keeping time for the dancers. This group corresponds with the months of November and December. As the year advances Castor and Pollux appear: they are two hunters who pursue and kill a kangaroo, Capella. The Mirage is the smoke of the fire at which the kangaroo is cooked by the successful hunters. Those two groups set forth the period of the summer. The breaking up of a prolonged drought is thus explained:—Berenice’s Hair, which culminates in March, is a tree with three big branches. When a shower of rain has come, every drop is nevertheless sucked up by the dusty earth. A small cavity formed at the junction of the three branches has however retained a little water, and here it is imagined some birds drink. The winter stars are Arcturus—who is held in great respect since he has taught the natives to find the pupae of the wood-ants, which are an important article of food in August and September—and Vega, who has taught them to find the eggs of the mallee-hen, which are also an important article of food in October. The natives also know and tell stories of many other stars[556]. Another authority states that they can tell from the position of Arcturus or Vega above the horizon in August and October respectively when it is time to collect these pupae and these eggs[557]. An old chief of the Spring Creek tribe in Victoria taught the young people the names of the favourite constellations as indications of the seasons. For example when Canopus at dawn is only a very little way above the eastern horizon, it is time to collect eggs; when the Pleiades are visible in the east a little before sunrise, the time has come to visit friends and neighbouring tribes[558].

The Chukchee form out of the stars Altair and Tarared in Aquila a constellation named pchittin, which is believed to be a forefather of the tribe who, after death, ascended into heaven. Since this constellation begins to appear above the horizon at the time of the winter solstice, it is said to usher in the light of the new year, and most families belonging to the tribes living by the sea bring their sacrifices at its first appearing[559].

Among the N. American Indians the determination of time from constellations is rare. The Blackfeet Indians regulate their most important feasts by the Pleiades, a feast is held about the first and the last day of the occultation of these stars. It includes two sacred vigils and the solemn blessing and planting of the seed, and is the opening of the agricultural year[560]. According to another legend of the same tribe, the Pleiades are seven children who ascended into heaven because they had no yellow hides of the buffalo calves. Therefore the Pleiades are invisible during the time when the buffalo calves are yellow (the spring). But when these turn brown, in autumn, the lost children can be seen in the sky every night[561]. Among the Tusayan Indians of Arizona the culmination of the Pleiades is often used to determine the proper time for beginning a sacred nocturnal rite[562].

The S. American Indians have much greater knowledge of the stars, and in consequence frequently connect stellar phenomena, especially those of the Pleiades, with phases of Nature. In north-west Brazil the Indians determine the time of planting from the position of certain constellations, in particular the Pleiades. If these have disappeared below the horizon, the regular heavy rains will begin. The Siusi gave an accurate account of the progress of the constellations, by which they calculate the seasons, and in explanation drew three diagrams in the sand. No. 1 had 3 constellations:—‘a Second Crab’, which obviously consists of the three bright stars west of Leo, ‘the Crab’, composed of the principal stars of Leo, and ‘the Youths’, i. e. the Pleiades. When these set, continuous rain falls, the river begins to rise, beginning of the rainy season, planting of manioc. No. 2 had 2 constellations:—‘the Fishing-basket’, in Orion, and kakudzuta, the northern part of Eridanus, in which other tribes see a dancing-implement. When these set, much rain falls, the water in the river is at its highest. No. 3 was ‘the Great Serpent’, i. e. Scorpio. When this sets there is little or no rain, the water is at its lowest[563]. The natives of Brazil are acquainted with the course of the constellations, with their height and the period and time of their appearance in and disappearance from the sky, and according to them they divide up their seasons. In the valley of the Amazon it is said that during the first few days of the appearance of the Pleiades, while they are still low, birds, and especially fowls, roost on low branches or beams, and that the higher the constellation rises the higher the birds roost also. These stars bring cold and rain: when they disappear the snakes lose their poison. The canes used for arrows must be cut before their appearance, or else the arrows will be worm-eaten. The Pleiades disappear, and appear again in June. Their appearance coincides with the renewal of the vegetation and of animal life. Hence the legend says that everything that has appeared before the constellation will be renewed, i. e. its appearance marks the beginning of spring[564]. The Bakairi reckoned by natural phases, but were also well acquainted with astronomical signs, and spoke of certain constellations which reappeared at the beginning of the dry season: they referred to stars in the vicinity of Orion, ‘the Manioc-pole’[565]. The Tamanaco of the Orinoco called the Pleiades ‘the Mat’. They recognised the approach of winter from the signs of Nature[566], but also from the fact that the Pleiades at sunset were not too far distant from the western horizon: the evening setting falls at the beginning of May[567]. The Lengua Indians of Paraguay connect the beginning of spring with the rising of the Pleiades, and at this time celebrate feasts which are generally of a markedly immoral nature[568]. The Guarani of the same country recognised the time of sowing by the observation of the Pleiades[569]. The Guarayu call the Pleiades piangi; when they disappear the dry season begins, and when Orion is no longer visible a period of cold dew begins. The Chacobo of north-eastern Bolivia regulate the time of sowing by the position of the Pleiades in relation to the spot where the sun rises[570]. The Chané and Chiriguano do the same. When the Pleiades rise above the horizon very early in the morning, the time for sowing has come: it is important for this to be finished before the rainy season sets in[571]. Still further tribes, for which I refer to Frazer, relate myths about the Pleiades, worship them, and celebrate feasts at their appearance. So did the inhabitants of ancient Peru, who called the Pleiades ‘the Maize-heap’[572]. It might probably be thought that the observation of the Pleiades has spread from this ancient civilised people among the inhabitants of S. America, but it is of so primitive a character that it rather appears to have been one of the rudiments of the astronomical knowledge of the people of the Incas.

In Africa also the observation of the stars, and above all of the Pleiades, is wide-spread. In view of the dissemination of this knowledge all over the world it is making a quite unnecessary exception to state that it came into Africa from Egypt. Moreover this assertion does not correspond with the facts, since among the Egyptians Sirius, and not the Pleiades, occupied the chief place. The observation of the appearance of Canopus and Sirius we have already found highly developed among the Bushmen, that of the Pleiades among the Hottentots. The Bechuana of Central S. Africa are directed by the positions of certain stars in the heavens that the time has arrived in the revolving year when particular roots can be dug up for use, or when they may commence their labours of the field. This is their likhakologo (‘turnings’ or ‘revolvings’), at what we should call the spring-time of the year. The Pleiades they call selemela, which may be translated ‘cultivator’ or ‘the precursor of agriculture’ (from lemela, ‘to cultivate for’, and se, a pronominal prefix, distinguishing these stars as the actors). When the Pleiades assume a certain position in the heavens it is the signal to commence cultivating their fields and gardens[573]. The Caffres determine the time of sowing by observing the Pleiades[574]; the Bantu tribes of S. Africa regard their rising shortly after sunset as indicating the planting-season[575]. The Amazulu call the Pleiades isilimela, which has the same meaning as the Bechuana name, since they begin to dig up the soil when the Pleiades appear. The people say: ‘isilimela dies and is not seen’, and at last, when winter is coming to an end, it begins to appear, one of its stars first and then three, until, continuing to increase, it becomes a cluster of stars and is perfectly clearly seen when the sun is about to rise. Then they say: ‘isilimela is renewed’, ‘the year is renewed’, and they begin to dig[576]. Among the Thonga the Pleiades are the only constellation which bears a name—shirimelo; it rises in July and August, when tilling is resumed[577]. At the southern corner of Lake Nyassa the rising of the Pleiades early in the evening gives the sign to begin the hoeing of the ground[578]. The Kikuyu of British East Africa say that this constellation is the mark in the heavens to shew the people when to plant their crops: they plant when it is in a certain position early in the night. A dancing-song begins:—“When the Pleiades meet the moon, the people assemble etc.”[579] The Masai know whether it will rain or not according to the appearance or non-appearance of the Pleiades, and the last month of the period of the great rains, in which their evening setting falls, is named after them. When they are no longer visible the people know that the great rains are over, and they are not seen again until the following season—the season of showers—has come to an end. The Masai call the sword of Orion ‘the Old Men’, and his belt ‘the Widows’ who follow them[580].