Overview

Myriads of Blazing Suns

The Southern Cross

How to Tell the Time

An Infallible Direction Indicator

Outstanding Stars

Stars of the Centaur

Strange Aboriginal Folklore

A Glowing Mass of Stars

Super Suns of the Heavens

The False Cross

The Southern Triangle

Ara and The Scorpion

Other Stars

an infallible direction indicator

To the bushman, the Southern Cross is an infallible direction indicator. In observing its gyrations, one can scarcely have failed to notice that a bright star has followed it round the circle, keep­ing almost exactly opposite. An imagin­ary line from the head to the foot of the Cross, continued on about seven times the length of the Cross, will always find this bright star, which is called Achernar, or the End of the River.

The centre of the "dial" of our star-clock is near the mid-point of this imaginary line, and that point is always due south. The night traveller has in this a dependable compass to guide him.