4 COMPUTING TIME IN BORNEO. 



the wood damp until the leaves fall from the twigs, and then 

 the land is often left untilled, for it is nearly useless. When 

 the lire has passed over the fallen timber, deep layer of ashes 

 and charred trunks is ail that is left. The partially burnt wood 

 is helped round a stump and again ignited, till little save ashes, 

 occasional stumps, and islands of green trees left to preserve 

 valuable fruit, are to be seen in the clearing. The rice is then 

 dropped by the women, a few grains at a time, into holes made 

 by the men with pointed sticks; perhaps cucumber, maize and 

 other sundry plants are sown round stumps or where the ash 

 is especially thick ; and the crop is left to the weeding of the- 

 people and the fertility of a warm, moist climate and virgin 

 soil. •"- 



The Kenyahs and Kayans judge the seasons by the sun, 

 and the method they adopt displays a wonderful knowledge of 

 the precautions necessary to accuracy. The Kenyahs measure 

 the shadow cast at midday with an instrument the Greeks would 

 have called a gnomon. It is a pole set up near the village, 

 guarded by a fence to keep away mischievous children and ani- 

 mals. In height it is more than a fathom by the span of the 

 thumb and first finger. A piece of string weighted at each end 

 and thrown over the top shows when it is perfectly upright. 

 The length of the shadow is measured by a stick called " asu 

 do" which is marked with notches gradually approaching one 

 another more closely as they get further from the pole. 



The interval between successive notches represents the 

 change in the length of the shadow in three days. Midday is 

 known to be the time when the shadow cast by the sun is at its 

 shortest, and the Kenyahs are also aware of the fact that the 

 direction of the shadow at noon, though sometimes to the north 

 sometimes to the south, is always in the same straight line. The 

 Kayan method, which differs more in practice than in theory 

 from the Kenyan, is to let in a beam of light through a hole in 

 the roof and measure the distance from the point immediately 

 beneath the hole to the place where the light reaches the floor. 

 Their measure is a plank, made level so that round discs do not 

 roll on it, and fixed in position and direction by chocks placed 

 at the side. This shows that they know the sun to be always 

 due north or due south at noon. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



