In travelling over the plains of Western Texas one now and then comes upon little isolated heaps of rock, in twos, that at first glance seem not at all remarkable, says “Science Siftings.”
After a time, however, one notices that one heap is generally about three feet high and the other about a foot lower. The two are always within a few feet of each other and usually on an elevation or a plateau commanding a view of the country for five miles or more. The rocks are roughly heaped together, as if left by children at play.
You may see an Indian crouch down behind the taller heap, sight over the low one, and mark the farthest object in a straight line, which is likely to be a clump of bushes on the horizon. Then he rides towards these bushes and finds—not water, as he expected, but two other heaps of rocks.
Sighting as before, and taking a rockfaced cliff, perhaps toward the south-west, as a goal, he rides a couple of miles farther, and there, trickling out from beneath the cliff’s rocky brow, is a spring of fresh, clear water.
It is said that whenever a band of Indians came upon a new spring they built the rock heaps along the trail. At any rate, it appears that these rude signposts lead either to water or places that show traces of a former water course.
The above methods appear to be closely akin to these which Mr. Watkins describes in his recent book, “Early British Trackways,” as being in vogue in Britain before the Romans came. He found, however, the British straight tracks, sighted from hilltop over large mounds and moats, to be of wider scope and character, although sometimes ending in a traditional well.
Source info: Cuttings agency.