Primitive Time-reckoning: A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoplesNilsson, Martin P. (Martin Persson)
History
Primitive Time-reckoning: A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoples
Nilsson, Martin P. (Martin Persson)
Chronology
For the indication of a point of time within the day the reference
to the course of the sun is the means that lies nearest to hand,
and the indication can indeed be given quite concretely by means
of a gesture in the direction of the heavens. This language of
signs is especially common in Africa. The Cross River natives of
Southern Nigeria indicate the time by pointing to the position in
the heavens which the sun occupies at that time of the day[36]. When
someone asked a Swahili what time it was, he answered, “Look at the
sun”, although this tribe knew other ways of indicating time[37].
The Wagogo in order to shew the time of day indicate with the hand
the position of the sun in the heavens[38]. In Loango the people
indicate the time satisfactorily enough from the motion of the sun,
in divisions of two hours, by dividing the vault of the sky with
outstretched arm, often using both arms as indicators[39]. Moreover
most peoples have descriptive expressions for parts of the day, as
for instance the inhabitants of the Lower Congo[40], the Masai of
East Africa, who estimate the time of day from the position of the
sun[41], and the Hottentots, who express with certainty and clearness
both points and duration of time by referring to the position of the
sun[42]. In Dahomey the natives tell the hours by means of the sun;
they say that the sun is here or there, in order to give the time
of day[43]. The Caffres are able to give the exact time of day by
pointing with outstretched arm to the spot at which the sun appears
at the time they wish to indicate. So, for example, when the Caffre
wishes to shew that he will come at two o’clock in the afternoon of
the next day, he will say, “I will be here to-morrow, when the sun
is there”,--pointing to the position occupied by the sun at 2 p.
m.[44]. The Waporogo of German East Africa estimate the divisions
of the day from the position of the sun, which they indicate with
outstretched arm. When the arm is vertically raised, that means 12
o’clock noon, and the other hours of the day they are able to give
with a sure instinct by means of a greater or lesser inclination
of the arm towards the body, corresponding to the position of the
sun[45]. In other parts of the world we find the same thing. Thus in
the New Hebrides the hours of the day are indicated by pointing with
the finger to the altitude of the sun[46]. If a native of Australia
is asked at what time anything took place or is going to take place,
his answer will take the form of pointing to the position which the
sun occupied or will occupy in the sky at that particular time[47].
The Bontoc Igorot of Luzon point to the heavens in order to indicate
the position the sun occupied when a particular event occurred[48].
The Kanyans of Sarawak, if asked at what time anyone will arrive,
point to the sun and say, “When the sun stands there”[49]. In the
Dutch East Indies the time of day is given from the position of the
sun[50].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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