What is time? Saint Augustine answered, in effect: if you do not ask me, I know what it is; it is only when I am asked to express it in words that I have a problem. Ideas about time, modes of reckoning it, ways of using it—these form one sphere among a universe of beliefs and customs viewed through the distinctive cultural lenses of diverse indigenous peoples. These ideas differed greatly from the temporal notions held by the Europeans who came to these shores half a millennium ago. The …