᾽ΙΟ.
JOHN ST. ]ΟΗΝ
οί weather, fog, blizzard, blight, by night or day, I
know within
5" (usually within
2°) the direction in
which I faced when I left that tent or hut.
And if I
happen to have observed its compass bearing, of course
I can deduce North by mere judgment of angle, at
which I am very accurate.
Further, I keep a mental record, quite unconsciously,
of the time occupied on a march ; so that I can always
tell
the time within five minutes
or
so without
consulting my watch.
Further,
I
have another automatic
recorder which
maps out distance plus direction.
Suppose
I were
to start from Scott’s and walk (or drive; it’s all the
same to me) to Haggerston Town Hall (wherever
Haggerston may be; but say it’s Ν.Ε.)͵ thence to
Maida Vale.
From Maida Vale I could take a true
line for Piccadilly again and not go five minutes walk
out of my way, bar blind alleys, etc., and I should
know when
I got close to Scott’s again before I
recognised any of the surroundings.
It always seems to me that I get an intuition of the
direction and length of line A (Scott’s to Haggerston
bee—line
; in spite of any winding, it would make little
odds if I went via Poplar), another intuition of line B
(Haggerston to Maida Vale), and obtained my line C
(back to Scott’s) by “ Subliminal trigonometry.”
In this example I am assuming that I had never been
in London before.
I have done precisely similar work
in dozens of strange cities, even a twisted warren
like Tangier or Cairo.
I am worse in Paris than
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