Patteran

She said that the trail was called patteran, because the gypsies of old were in the habit of making the marks with the leaves and branches of the trees, placed in a certain manner. ❋ George Henry Borrow (1842)

There is also another kind of patteran, which is more particularly adapted for the night; it is a cleft stick stuck at the side of the road, close by the hedge, with a little arm in the cleft pointing down the road which the band have taken, in the manner of a signpost; any stragglers who may arrive at night where cross-roads occur search for this patteran on the left-hand side, and speedily rejoin their companions. ❋ George Henry Borrow (1842)

She said that the trail was called patteran, because the gypsies of old were in the habit of making the marks with the leaves and branches of trees, placed in a certain manner. ❋ George Henry Borrow (1842)

“What is the Romany patteran?” she broke off to ask. ❋ Unknown (2010)

When the patteran was fashioned, he tossed it on the trail before him and noted that Selim passed over without treading upon it. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Thus, on the ranch here, a patteran could be made of manzanita and madrono, of oak and spruce, of buckeye and alder, of redwood and laurel, of huckleberry and lilac. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Two sprigs, crossed in certain ways and left upon the trail, compose the patteran. ❋ Unknown (2010)

She danced like a moth in a flame -- a wandering woman in the fire unquenchable that burns convention out of gipsy hearts, and makes the patteran -- the trail -- the only way worth while. ❋ Mundy, Talbot, 1879-1940 (1920)

It looks to me as if Will has claimed her by patteran* law. ❋ Mundy, Talbot, 1879-1940 (1920)

All that he had been able to think of was that he must get to her at once, follow the _patteran_ at top speed. ❋ George Gibbs (1906)

"It's the _patteran_," he replied, "and it points to the west road." ❋ George Gibbs (1906)

Markham had destroyed his road map and now they followed the _patteran_, leaving their destiny to fortune. ❋ George Gibbs (1906)