166 British War Dogs 



helpless without the aid of a compass. On this point Mr. 

 Alfred Russell Wallace, however, has very definite ideas 

 as to how this home-finding is accomplished by human 

 beings. He says : 



" Let us consider the fact of Indians finding their way 

 through forests they have never traversed before. This 

 is much misunderstood, for I believe it is only performed 

 under such special conditions, as at once to show that 

 instinct has nothing to do with it. A savage, it is true, 

 can find his way through his native forests in a direction 

 he has never traversed before ; but this is because, in infancy, 

 he has been used to wander in them, and to find his way by 

 indications which he has observed himself, or learned from 

 others. Savages make long journeys in many directions, 

 and their whole faculties being directed to the subject, 

 they gain a wide and accurate knowledge of topography, 

 not only of their own district, but of all the regions round 

 about. Everyone who has travelled in a new direction 

 communicates his knowledge to those who have travelled 

 less, and descriptions of routes and localities and minute 

 incidents of travel, form one of the main staples of con- 

 versation round the evening fire. Every wanderer or 

 captive from another tribe adds to the store of information, 

 and as the very existence of individuals, and of whole 

 families and tribes, depends upon the completeness of this 

 knowledge, all the acute, perceptive faculties of the adult 

 savage are devoted to acquiring and perfecting it. The 

 good hunter or warrior thus comes to know the bearing of 

 every hill and mountain range, the directions and functions 

 of all the streams, the situation of each tract characterized 

 by peculiar vegetation, not only within the area he has 

 himself traversed, but perhaps for a hundred miles round 

 it. His acute observation enables him to detect the 



