In the Indian Archipelago the observation of the Pleiades is the most general and frequent means of determining the time for tillage. Hence these stars are mythologically regarded as the originators of the rice-culture. The Dyaks of Sarawak say that Si Jura on a sea-voyage once found a fruit-tree with its roots in the sky and the branches hanging downwards. He climbed up into it, and since his comrades sailed away, he was obliged to climb on and on until he reached the roots and found himself in a strange land--the country of the Pleiades. There Si Kira received him kindly, and invited him to eat. “Those little maggots?” replied Si Jura. Si Kira answered:--“They are not maggots, but boiled rice”, and he explained to his guest how the rice was cultivated and reaped, and then let him down by a long rope near to his father’s house. Si Jura taught the Dyaks how to cultivate rice, and the Pleiades themselves tell them when to farm; according to the position of these stars in the heavens, morning and evening, they cut down the forest, burn, plant, and reap[588]. In another legend the Pleiades are six chickens which the hen follows, invisible; formerly there were seven, and at that time men did not know of rice, but lived on the products of the forest. One of the chickens had come down to earth, where men gave it to eat: it would not eat, however, but brought them a fruit with three husks, in which there were contained three kinds of rice, that would ripen in four, six, and eight months respectively. The hen was angry, and wished to destroy both men and the chicken: the former were saved by Orion, but only six chickens were left. During the time in which the Pleiades are invisible, the hen is brooding, but the cuckoo calls as long as they are visible[589]. The Sea-Dyaks determine the time of sowing by observing the Pleiades. Some tribes determine the approach of the time of rice-sowing from the observation of the stars. The Kayan of Borneo know the most important constellations, although they do not observe them and their motions with a practical end in view[590]. However one of the joint authors just quoted says in another place that although the Kayan more usually determine the time of sowing by the observation of the sun, yet both they and many other races in Borneo sow the rice when the Pleiades at daybreak appear just above the horizon[591]. When the time to clear fresh land in the forest draws near, a wise man is appointed to go out before dawn and watch for the Pleiades. As soon as they are seen to rise while it is still dark, the people know that the time has come to begin work, but not until they are at the zenith before dawn is it considered desirable to burn the fallen timber and sow rice. The Dyaks begin the rice-planting when the Pleiades reach the same position at about 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning as the sun reaches at 8 o’clock. Old and experienced men are on the watch to determine the spot exactly. Then a feast begins[592].