S8 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Jan. 1,- 188G. 



of the savages who first sought to use the senses with 

 which natiire had endowed them, and to embody the 

 images so gained in signs and sounds, in order to share 

 theni witli each other. 



THE SOUTHERN SKIES FOR JANUARY, 



Bt lilCUAKD A. Pkoc'tor. 



10 begin with, I must expLxin that the map 

 illustrating the Southern skies in Janiiary 

 is merely tentative. I have included in 

 it all the stars down to the fourth mag- 

 nitude, inclusive ; but I think the map is 

 thus made too crowded, and that the 

 series would be improved by excluding 

 all fourth magnitude stars, except here and there some 

 which complete well-known star groupings. Then as 

 regards the delineation of stars and lettering : — I had 

 decided to let professional draughtsmen prepare the 

 charts from my drawings ; but a careful ox:imination of 

 the present map has changed my opinion. My delinea- 

 tion and especially my lettering may h^ inferior to the 

 work of professional draughtsmen in regard to technique, 

 but for the purposes T have ia view in such rnaps as 

 these, my own work is I think on the whole better.* 

 Again I have decided to use numbers hereafter for the 

 soiithern constellations as I did for the northern. Any 

 one who wants to learn the constellations can surely be iil 

 the pains to turn from the map to the list of names, to 

 see what each number represents, and by freeing the map 

 from overmuch lettering the plan makes them much 

 clearer and more effective. 



The map shows the starry sky as seen in Australia, 

 New Zealand, Tasmania, Cape Colony, &c. (anywhere 

 between i.outh latitudes -'SO" r,nd 45°) at .about nine o'clock 

 at night in the beginning of Janup.ry, and at about seven 

 o'clock at the end of the month. 



Turning to the south, we find no polar star : (Mr. 

 Hampden says that there is no pole, but mistakes). The 

 nearest star to the pole in our mf.p is /5 Octantis, a fourth 

 magnitude star. Below the pole we see the Triangle 

 (Southern) with Pavo (the Peacock) on the right or west, 

 Musca (the Fly) and Cru.e- (the Cro.'^s). These constella- 

 tions with Apiis (the Bird of Paradise) just below the 

 pole, Chama-leoti, Vulans (the Flying Fish), I'idor (the 

 Painter's Easel, — oh, those dullards who made the south 

 polar constellations!). Dorado the Swordfish, Ee<tc?(ZM»» 

 (the Net), Hijdrus (the Water- Snake), and Toucan (the 

 Toucan), are always visible in the southern region named, 

 being circumpolar. 



High up in the south-east we see the great ship Argo, 

 wrong side up with care, the stars marked Carina showing 

 the Keel, Pupjns the Poop, and Vela the Sails. Naturally 

 the sea-serpent Hydra, is flourishing her mighty length 

 along the horizon underneath the masts and sails of the 

 ship. 



Due east is Cauis, the Greater Dog, high up, and on 



* Tlie pairs o£ southern and northern maps which have already 

 appeared in monthly Knowledge for November and December 

 will enable the student to decide whether my mapping or the pro- 

 fessional's is better for the purpose of these charts. The northern 

 map in each case (that towards the right) is his, the southern map is 

 mine. Of course my lettering, &c., may be very obviously the work 

 of the amateur draughtsman, yet it serves its purpose; and J think 

 I have managed to bring out the star groupings more clearly, 

 T'nfortunately the "process" by which the blocks are made is very 

 unequal in its work — occasionally showing all the sharpness of the 

 originals, but too often giving woolly and otherwise imperfect 

 results. 



his back, the Dove, Cohlmha being perched on the Dog's 

 hind feet. 



In the north-east we see Orion on his head, but he 

 makes nearly as fine a figure if his shoulder stars for our 

 hemisphere are made leg stars for the Southern, and 

 vice versd. Gemini, the Twins, stand also on their heads, 

 and by no means suggest the idea of Twins. 



Taurus is the chief constellation towards the north at 

 this time, just as from our hemisphere he is the chief 

 constellation towards the south. Of cour.-e, it will be 

 understood that the movement of Orion, Taiirus, and all 

 these other constellations in the northern skies of the 

 Southern hemisphere, is from east to west, or from right 

 to left. 



Overhead, the winding streams of the river Eridaniis 

 extend from near ft of Orion to between Pluenix and 

 Hydrus, where the bright Achernnr (a Eridani) is seen — 

 a star now too far south to be seen from those places in 

 the northern hemisphere where it used to be seen in the 

 lime when it received its name. 



In the south-west quarter of the sky we see the 

 Northern Triangle, Aries (the Ram), Pisres (the Fishes), 

 Veins, the Sea Monster, and Aqiiarint, the Water Bear'er. 



It would be idle to describe more fully the indications 

 of a map which is only ex]>crimenti'.l, and not altogether 

 a succes.s, to my mind. 



INDIAN MYTHS, 



By " Stella Occidens.' 



Jlost beloved by Hiawatha 

 Was the gentle Chibiabos, 

 He tlie best of all musicians, 

 He the sweetest of all singers. 



All the hearts of men were softened 

 By the pathos of his music, 

 For he sang of peace and freedom ; 

 Sang of beauty, love, and longing : 

 Sang of de,^th, of life undying 

 In the Islands of the Blessed, 

 In the kingdom of I'onemah, 

 In the land of the Hereafter. 



HERE is an old saying, that one half of the 

 world knows not how the other half lives. 

 For instance, it is gener,^,lly supposed that 

 the North American Indian is but a wild, 

 untutored savage, differentiated from other 

 savages only by his wigwam and his 

 wampum, his war-paint and his toma- 

 hawk. In reality, he has thoughts and feelings of his 

 own, and, above all, originality in his manner of ex- 

 pressing them. Mrs. Ei'.stmr.n, who lived seven years 

 among the Sioux Indians, writes* that " The war-song, 

 death-song, the song of victory, the cradle-chant, the 

 lament for the slain — these are the overflowings of the 

 essential poetry of their untaught souls. Their eloquence 

 is jiroverbially .soaring and figurative ; and, in spite of 

 all that renders gross and mechanical their ordinary mode 

 fif marrying and giving in marriage, instances are not 

 rare among them of love as true, as fiery, and as fatal, as 

 that of the most exalted hero of romance. Their legends 

 embody poetic fancy of the highest and most adventurous 

 flight ;" their religious ceremonies refer to things unseen 

 with a directness which shows how bold and vivid are 

 the conceptions of the imaginative." 



The Indian has not much depth of thought, it is true. 

 If anything puzzles him, he does not trouble himself to 



* Mrs. Eastman's " Legends of the Sioux." 



