THE EYESIGHT OF SAVAGES.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR...) SIR,—Tour article on the subject of the vision of partially civilised men (Spectator, November 17th) prompts me to send you the record of an experience I had in Montenegro. where the men have, generally, an extraordinary range of vision. I had a horse-boy aged about sixteen, born in Podgoritza, who could see with the naked eye the moons of Jupiter. I had an excellent field-glass, by Ross, of a magnifying power of thirty diameters, with which I was able to test the accuracy of his vision, by making him give me the relative positions of the moons on paper. My ow-n vision, as tested by trials with the sailors on the look out in numerous sea voyages, was keener than that of the gener- ality of sailors, but it was curiously inferior to that of this lad. I took the pains to test his powers by objects at con- eiderable terrestrial distances, when he described to me objects which I could only see as moving specks, and which he resolved into horsemen, women on horseback, or sumpter beasts with invariable accuracy, as tested by my field-glass. I made the tests absolutely rigorous and repeatedly, so that there could be no chance of deception, intentional or not. His sight was immensely superior to mine, and I have never found that to be the case in any comparison with a civilised man, sailor or landsman, though I have lived with backwoods- men whose meat, like that of the Boers, depended largely on [We can name an ordinary London citizen who can do the same thing. The point is not whether individuals have special sight, but whether any race has.—ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
