Clarence Day, Jr.

“ They say simply, 'It's the wrong time.' Following up this clue I have noticed that not only is the time for performing an act supposed to be sometimes 'wrong' and sometimes 'right,' but that the idea of time in general governs all your people like a tyrant. You can scarcely imagine a life without calendars and clocks. And just as the Waam-folk are unconsciously obsessed by their hut-thought, and see everything from that angle, so you have drifted into an unthinking fetishistic regard for time. ”

“ He doesn't typify the Waam Islander point of view—and he isn't a mat—but he can easily be discovered by examining your huts and your conversation. No, I'm not talking of money, or power, or success: you may bow down to these,—but not blindly. You at least know what you're doing. The worship of a G'il is unconscious, and hence more insidious. Even when an explorer points it out, you won't see its importance. It will seem insignificant to you. And yet, while the Bashwa to whom you build temples is only occasionally deferred to, this G'il of yours sways you in all things. ”

“ On the breasts or the wrists of your women, and in every man's pocket you see a G'il amulet, a watch, to remind them constantly of time. What other god was ever so faithfully worshiped? In every hut in the land you will find his altar, and in your large huts you will find one in every principal room. No matter how free and unconventional their owners may be, no matter how those rooms may vary in their arrangement, richness, furnishings, there stands always in the most prominent place the thing railed a mantel; on it, ceremonially flanked by two candlesticks, or vases, sits G'il, the timepiece ”