--- a/configure.in	Fri Sep 15 10:05:06 1995 +0000
+++ b/configure.in	Fri Sep 15 10:13:17 1995 +0000
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 ### along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
 ### Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
 
-AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.135 $)
+AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.136 $)
 AC_PREREQ(2.0)
 AC_INIT(src/octave.cc)
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
@@ -371,7 +371,6 @@
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(short)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(int)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(long)
-AC_C_BIGENDIAN
 
 ### Does the C compiler handle alloca() and const correctly?
 

--- a/src/load-save.cc	Fri Sep 15 10:05:06 1995 +0000
+++ b/src/load-save.cc	Fri Sep 15 10:13:17 1995 +0000
@@ -1698,10 +1698,8 @@
 //
 // Gag me.
 
-#if defined (WORDS_BIGENDIAN)
-  if (mopt == 0)
+  if (octave_words_big_endian && mopt == 0)
     swap = 1;
-#endif
 
   // mopt is signed, therefore byte swap may result in negative value.
 
@@ -1903,21 +1901,9 @@
   is.read (magic, magic_len);
   magic[magic_len] = '\0';
   if (strncmp (magic, "Octave-1-L", magic_len) == 0)
-    {
-#if defined (WORDS_BIGENDIAN)
-      swap = 1;
-#else
-      swap = 0;
-#endif
-    }
+    swap = octave_words_big_endian;
   else if (strncmp (magic, "Octave-1-B", magic_len) == 0)
-    {
-#if defined (WORDS_BIGENDIAN)
-      swap = 0;
-#else
-      swap = 1;
-#endif
-    }
+    swap = ! octave_words_big_endian;
   else
     {
       if (! quiet)
@@ -2859,11 +2845,7 @@
 {
   if (format == LS_BINARY)
     {
-#if defined (WORDS_BIGENDIAN)
-      stream << "Octave-1-B";
-#else
-      stream << "Octave-1-L";
-#endif
+      stream << (octave_words_big_endian ? "Octave-1-B" : "Octave-1-L");
 
       char tmp = (char) native_float_format;
       stream.write (&tmp, 1);

--- a/src/sysdep.cc	Fri Sep 15 10:05:06 1995 +0000
+++ b/src/sysdep.cc	Fri Sep 15 10:13:17 1995 +0000
@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@
 // The floating point format on this system.
 floating_point_format native_float_format = OCTAVE_UNKNOWN_FLT_FMT;
 
+// Nonzero if the machine we are running on is big-endian.
+int octave_words_big_endian;
+
 #if defined (HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H)
 #include <floatingpoint.h>
 #endif
@@ -249,6 +252,22 @@
     panic ("unrecognized floating point format!");
 }
 
+static void
+ten_little_endians (void)
+{
+  // Are we little or big endian?  From Harbison & Steele.
+
+  union
+  {
+    long l;
+    char c[sizeof (long)];
+  } u;
+
+  u.l = 1;
+
+  octave_words_big_endian = (u.c[sizeof (long) - 1] == 1);
+}
+
 #if defined (EXCEPTION_IN_MATH)
 extern "C"
 {
@@ -292,6 +311,8 @@
 #endif
 
   octave_ieee_init ();
+
+  ten_little_endians ();
 }
 
 // Set terminal in raw mode.  From less-177.