Posted by Robert Dilley on September 12, 2003 at 17:15:13 from 65.39.15.66 user rdilley.
I have SW in front of me now. In the illustration "Taking Bearings" (p 73 of the 1942 Cape Edition) John is clearly looking down at a compass held in front of him at waist level. This seems to rule out a prismatic or sight-line compass (and the compass in the illustration, though small, shows no signs of any lift-up attachment).
In the text, p 72, it is Roger who "put the compass on the ground for steadiness and straddled above it". That makes it plain (to me) that it was the simple, cheap compass Peter Ceresole (I believe) described. No sighting mechanism, not oil-filled to steady the needle. Good enough to play at being surveyors. And obviously marked in points: it is Roger who identifies the kraal as "Jolly nearly east-south-east". If the compass had had degrees on it, Roger would have given the sighting in degrees, even if John then translated it into points.
I don't often think I've had the last word in a TARBoard debate, but I don't think there's much room for manoeuvre here.