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.
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