ABSTRACT
Across the flat central desert of Australia, the Pitjantjatjara-, Ngaanyatjarra-and Pintupi-speaking Aboriginal people are early risers. The coldness of the last hour of darkness, or something more ineffable, awakens them from their outdoor sleep and brings them to stir the fires which have kept them warm through the night and which have waned with inattention during the late hours. Possibly one and a half to two hours before the visible sunrise, Aboriginals begin sitting up cross-legged from their sleep to warm themselves by their fires or walk off into the bush for more wood and to urinate. All the stirring and movement makes enough noise to awaken late sleepers by the neigboring fires, and through the darkness a dozen or more fires gradually begin to grow in strength.
