The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

io6 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
village this duty is entrusted to a man who makes
it his profession to observe the signs of the seasons.
This work is so exacting that he is not expected to
cultivate a crop of padi for himself and family, but
is furnished with all the padi he needs by contributions
from all the other members of the
village.
It is essential to determine the approach of the
short dry season, in order that in the course of it
the timber may be felled and burned. In Borneo,
lying as it does upon the equator, the revolution of
the year is marked by no very striking changes of
weather, temperature, or of vegetation. In fact,
the only constant and striking evidences of the passage
of the months are the alternations of the northeast
and the south-west monsoons. The former blows
from October to March, the latter from April to
September, the transitions being marked by variable
winds. The relatively dry season sets in with the
south-west monsoon, and lasts about two months
but in some years the rainfall during this season is
hardly less abundant than during the rest of the
year.
The ** clerk of the weather" (he has no official
title, though the great importance of his function
secures him general respect) has no knowledge of
the number of days in the year, and does not count
their passage. He is aware that the lunar month
has twenty-eight days, but he knows that the dry
season does not recur after any given number of
completed months, and therefore keeps no record
of the lunar months. He relies almost entirely
upon observation of the slight changes of the sun's
altitude. His observations are made by the help
of an instrument closely resembling the ancient
Greek gnomon, known as tukar do or aso do
(PI. 60).
A straight cylindrical pole of hardwood is fixed
;