The Toronto Star of July 6 last has a note on a method of marking trails leading to springs of water which is practised by Indians of Western Texas. Two heaps of rock roughly heaped together, one about three feet high, the second a little lower, are placed beside the track, usually on an elevation commanding a view of the country for some five miles or more. A sight is taken from behind the larger heap, over the smaller, to some object on the horizon, such as a tree or clump of bushes. Near this object will be found a second pair of heaps of rock sighting on a second objective. This process is continued until the spring is reached. This primitive method of sighting a trail is of interest in connexion with the suggestions put forward by Mr. Alfred Watkins in his “Ancient British Track-ways,” recently noticed in these columns. He argued that many of the older roads in this country could be assigned to pre-Roman times on the evidence of what it was presumed were sighting marks, which must have been used in much the same way as the Indians are said to make use of these heaps of rocks. Mr. Watkin’s theory, as was pointed out when it was under notice, undoubtedly holds good in many cases, especially in connexion with natural objects; in others, particularly in the case of mounds, moats, churches, etc., it appears more open to criticism.
Source info: Cuttings agency; checked in library.