By virtue of my observation, having taken pains, I have divided time and space. I now have a means to count the hours and to tell North from South, East from West. My Compass Rock is a plain invention, simple stone upon stone. I cannot hope to fully articulate what it means to me.
My reasoning is simple. My methods, equally so. I have placed a stick at the center of the rock, and with it confirmed the latter day leads the shadow towards the area to my left when I am facing my cave. This implies that the cave, and the mountainside that I have supposed behind it, are all to the north. Southward leads to the decline. Having arrived at the rock now, as the sun nears the western horizon, I can know west with reasonable precision. This gives me all four directions.
My only reservation is that time may not be entirely precise. The sun’s time in the sky can never reflect more than the length of the day. If I remember my basic horology, this is subject to the season, as well as my position’s distance from the equator.
If this isn’t the equator, I can’t imagine how hot it is down there.
I suppose that over time, I could begin to get at this information by measuring the length of the day as my time here passes. If it remains the same, then I’m on the equator, or nearly so. If It varies with the seasons, and I’m assuming that there are still only 365.25 days in a year, then I can know by the extremity how far I am.
The clock can only measure the length of the day. The measure of the night is another matter.
Why is time so important to me now? The question strikes me as queer. I remember very little of my former life, but I suppose that this is the sort of thing that we’re used to being preoccupied with. Here, it has no purpose, except for reminding me when darkness approaches.
The day is waning. I have decided that I will spend the night in my cave. I have my small kit of detritus from the dead animal. I have fern branches bundled in the animal’s hide. I have stones. I will return to my cave, and in the darkness, attempt to make a fire.