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With a nocturnal, one can use the relationships between the pole star and
the Big Dipper, or Little Dipper, or Cassiopeia to determine time, and
therefore, longitude.

Perhaps a chance for liberal-arts major to add something. 

But how could natives remember what they saw from day-to-day and
place-to-place?  Interesting question.  Note that tribal African cultures
studied by sociologists (before they were enlightened with reading, writing,
arithmetic and religion) possessed photographic memory.  They could, for
example, watch a chess game and play it back move-by-move from memory.  Also
of interest, when shown a photograph of something they knew, such as an
elephant, they had not a clue as to what they were looking at!

> When the author showed the natives modern charts, they couldn't understand
them.

Sadly, as westerners we regard them as primitive cultures.  IMHO, they are
just different cultures that solved problems in others ways.

I find it quite possible that they had an "almanac" stored between their
ears, especially as they spent most of their time outdoors.

I have experienced this to a small degree myself.  After a month of living
on the shore in Connecticut, I no longer needed tables to know what the
tide, set and drift were doing and when.  Conscious and subconscious clues
just took over.  Flying kites on the beach on weekends gave me a good feel
for what onshore and offshore breezes were doing without ever really
thinking about it.

Having spent only nine months with cel nav and the stars to date, with
perhaps 100 hours or less looking at the night sky, find I myself getting a
gut feel for it.  Working on a web site in earnest, I thought it was about
11:30 p.m. and went outside for a break.  Looking up expecting to see the
Summer Triangle, I noticed the sky was all wrong.  There was Orion's belt.
Looking at my watch, I found it was 4 a.m.  Surprise!

Or delivering a sailboat from Lake Superior to the Chicago area, and looking
out on a clear day and seeing the lake outlined in the sky by clouds.
Amazing.

And I am just a recreation sailor and beginner in cel nav.  I can only
imagine the instincts and methods "professional" voyagers of old who spent
their time under the Sun and stars, and on the water, possessed.  Perhaps
not having to remember where the car keys are, how much time is needed to
nuke four ears of sweet corn, or the stats on your favorite sports team has
its advantages ;-)

Bill

   

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