ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with aspect of indigenous navigation, but it is an important one. It explains the often surprising ability of navigators to find small targets, not only after planned ocean passages but also when storm drifted unfortunates have to seek desperately for shelter. Techniques for 'expanding' the size of the target are an integral part of Polynesian and Micronesian navigation. For purposes of expanding one's target, then, a reasonable estimate would be that brown boobies would generally be encountered up to 30 miles out and the other two species up to 40 or 50. The majority are either observation by ships' officers unversed in indigenous navigation, or else rather vague statements about Islanders making use of the clues clouds afford. Study of indigenous navigation leads to the conclusion that the effectiveness of its methods substantially exceeds what recent scholarship would allow.
