We have evidences from two very different quarters of the universality of the division of the year into two parts by means of the Pleiades. On the one hand we learn from Hesiod that the Greeks commenced their winter seasons in his days by the setting of the Pleiades in the morning, and the summer season by their rising at that time. And Mr. Ellis, in his _Polynesian Researches_, tells us that "the Society Islanders divided the year into two seasons of the Pleiades, or _Matarii_. The first they called _Matarii i nia_, or the _Pleiades above_. It commenced when, in the evening, these stars appeared at or near the horizon, and the half year during which, immediately after sunset, they were seen above the horizon was called _Matarii i nia_. The other season commenced when at sunset these stars are invisible, and continued until at that time they appeared again above the horizon. This season was called _Matarii i raro_, i.e. _the Pleiades below_." Besides these direct evidences we shall find that many semi-annual festivals connected with these stars indicate the commencement of the two seasons among other nations. One of these festivals was of course always taken for the commencement of the year, and much was made of it as new-year's day. A new-year's festival connected with and determined by the Pleiades appears to be one of the most universal of all customs; and though some little difficulty arises, as we have already pointed out, in fixing the date with reference to solar calendars, and differences and coincidences in this respect among different nations may be to a certain extent accidental, yet the fact of the wide-spread observance of such a festival is certain and most interesting. The actual observance at the present day of this festival is to be found among the Australian savages. At their midnight culmination in November, they still hold a new-year's _corroboree_, in honour of the _Mormodellick_, as they call the Pleiades, which they say are "very good to the black fellows." With them November is somewhat after the beginning of spring, but in former days it would mark the actual commencement, and the new year would be regulated by the seasons.