Malays and Pacific islanders, who more vaguely The 



and crudely revere 'the central fires,' and „ eia 



. ... j i . u Month, 



even so primitive and remote a people as the 



Abipones of the Paraguay River country wor- 

 ship them as their Great Spirit — Grocuperikie, 

 or Grandfather — and chant hymns of joy to 

 this Pleiad -Allfather when, after the vernal 

 Equinox, the mysterious cluster once more 

 hangs visible in the northern sky. 



It would be impossible, in a brief paper, to 

 cover the ground of the nomenclature, of the 

 literature, of scientific knowledge and specula- 

 tion concerning the Pleiades. A long chapter 

 in a book might be given to Alcyone alone — 

 that bright particular star of which it has been 

 calculated that, in comparison, our Sun would 

 sink to a star below the tenth magnitude. 

 Indeed, though the imagination strains after 

 the astronomer's calm march with dazzled 

 vision, our solar brilliancy is supposed to be 

 surpassed by some sixty to seventy of the 

 Pleiadic group, for all that our human eyes 

 have from time immemorial seen therein only 

 a small cluster of tiny stars, the ' seven ' of 

 Biblical and poetic and legendary lore, from 

 ' the Seven Archangels ' to the popular ' Hen 

 and her six chicks.' Alcyone, that terrible 

 torch of the ultimate heavens, is eighty-three 

 times more refulgent than that magnificent 



267 



