[Fig. 1.  Sketch of cross as described].

Marks with Stones.—­Marks cut on Stone.—­I have observed a very simple and conspicuous permanent mark used in forest-roads, as represented in fig. 2.  The stone is 8 inches above ground, 3 1/2 wide, 8 inches long:  the mark is black and deeply cut.  An arrow-head may be chiselled in the face of a rock and filled with melted lead.  With a small “cold” chisel, 3 inches long and 1/4 inch wide, a great deal of stone carving may be readily effected.

[Sketch of stone with incised cross].

Piles of Stones.—­Piles of stones are used by the Arabs in their deserts, and in most mountain-tracts.  “An immense length of the road, both in the government of the Don Cossacks and in that of Tambov, is marked out on a gigantic scale by heaps of stones, varying from 4 to 6 feet high.  These are visible from a great distance; and it is very striking to see the double row of them indicating the line of route over the Great Steppe — undulations which often present no other trace of the hand of man.”  (Spottiswoode.)

[Sketch of piled stones].

Gipsy Marks.—­When gipsies travel, the party that goes in advance leaves marks at cross-roads, in order to guide those who follow.  These marks are called “patterans;” there are three patterans in common use.  One is to pluck three large handfuls of grass and to throw them on the ground, at a short distance from one another, in the direction taken; another is, to draw a cross on the ground, with one arm much longer than the rest, as a pointer—­a cross is better than any other simple mark, for it catches many different lights. (In marking a road, do not be content with marking the dust—­an hour’s breeze or a shower will efface it; but take a tent-peg, or sharpened stick, and fairly break into the surface, and your mark will be surprisingly durable.) The third of the gipsy patterans is of especial use in the dark:  a cleft stick is planted by the road-side, close to the hedge, and in the cleft, is an arm like a signpost.  The gipsies feel for this at cross-roads, searching for it on the left-hand side. (Borrow’s ‘Zincali.’) A twig, stripped bare, with the exception of two or three leaves at its end, is sometimes laid on the road, with its bared end pointing forwards.

Other similar marks of direction and locality, in use in various parts of the world are as follows:—­Knotting twigs; breaking boughs, and letting them dangle down; a bit of white paper in a cleft stick; spilling water, or liquid of any kind, on the pathway; a litter made of paper torn into small shreds, or of a stick cut into chips, or of feathers of a bird; a string, with papers knotted to it, like the tail of a boy’s kite—­tie a stone to the end of it, and throw it high among the branches of a tree.

Paint.—­Whitewash (which see), when mixed with salt, or grease, or glue size, will stand the weather for a year or more.  It can be painted on a tree or rock:  the rougher the surface on which it is painted, the longer will some sign of it remain.