Various methods of computing the time 



for planting among the races 



of Borneo. 



By Dr. Charles Hose. 



Agriculture, even if rude, is at once a token and a cause 

 of primitive culture. The native of Borneo has no special reason 

 to pay attention to the phenomena among- which he lives, unless 

 he is a farmer. He may, like the Punan, know the lie of the 

 land for miles around, and be able to judge the slightest indica- 

 tions of the jungle, but that is hardly knowledge which leads to 

 civilization. The farmer, on the other hand, has to study the 

 course of the seasons, the nature of the soil and the variability 

 of animals and plants. 



There are certain special problems which have presented 

 themselves to the uncultured farmer in Borneo, which would not 

 cause the least difficulty to an European in a temperate climate. 

 In the tropics as everywhere else, agriculture is performed with 

 the yearly regularity which is so familiar that to us it seems in 

 no way remarkable. Near the equator, of course, seasons have 

 not as a rule the same striking character that they have in higher 

 latitudes. In Borneo from October to April the wind is usually 

 from the north-east, and brings rain, more to some districts than 

 to others, while during the rejst of the year the monsoon is re- 

 versed, but there is little else to distinguish one month's weather 

 from another. It is almost impossible to tell the time of year 

 from temperature or moisture, and quite impossible to do so with 

 any accuracy. 



The farmers have found, nevertheless, that certain seasons 

 are more favourable than others to their operations. It is not 

 so much the crop which requires to be sown and reaped at par- 

 ticular times, as the ground, whose preparation is difficult in 



R. A. Soc, No. 42, 1904. 



