In a recent issue we commented upon a theory advanced by Mr. A. Watkins, of Hereford, in a book on “Early British Trackways,” that long before the Romans came to this country there was a well-established system of roads or tracks, and that these were planned on a survey by sighting by means of natural or artificial mounds, pools, etc. That this method was a recognised institution amongst other aboriginal peoples seems to be shown by a quotation from an American contemporary, which recently said: “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. After a time, however, one notices that one heap is generally about 3ft. high and the other about 1ft. 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 rock-faced 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.”
Source info: Cuttings agency.
Here the Estates Gazette reprints the cutting from the Toronto Star, which in turn credits the Christian Science Monitor.