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 con- 

 tributions 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 pass- 

 age of the months are the alternations of the north- 

 east 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 



