CHAPTER II.
CALENDAR.;
Formation o f a calendar makes a certain step in the progress
o f civilization among all nations.—Javanese, the only nation
o f the Archipelago that had a national calendar.— Javanese
divisions o f the d a y .-W e e k o f five days.— Week o f -
s e v e n d a y s . — Civil year.— Rural year ; description o f it.
_ Hindu calendar and era.—Era o f Salivana still current
in the island of Bali.— How modified by the J a v a n e s e -
Lunar time o f the Arabs, adopted by all the tribes convert,
edto Mahomedanism except the Javanese.— Cycles— Eclipses.—
Calendar o f the Bugis o f Celebes.
A n attention to the division of time, and the formation
of a calendar, appear in all nations, and
among all tribes, to characterize a certain early period
of the progress of civilization. This period appears
to be that in which religion begins to acquire
a powerful ascendancy over the minds ofmen, and the
national worship to assume a systematic form; An.
attention to the motions of the heavenly bodies, and
the regulations of the seasons, becomes in such a
state of society a powerful instrument in the hands of
the priesthood; and it is certainly from this cause
that the science of astronomy receives an attention,
which, in so rude a state of society, appears otherwise
premature. Religious< motives gave rise then, in