I’ve been reading Tristan Gooley recently (The “Outdoor Signs…” one. There are sufficient of his titles to wonder if there is much repetition/overlap, but the one I"m reading is full of goodness.)
There are many natural ways to tell north, and many (ok, some?) people probably use some of them subconsciously. I vaguely recall he mentioned Australian Aboriginal people in one context but cannot find the reference and I’m only halfway through it. But I’d wager that any Aboriginal person used to living in the bush could tell you north instinctively but would have to think about WHY they knew it was north and what indicators they used, if you asked them. They might have magnetic sensitivity, but I’d also wager that would never be one of the indicators they said they used. There are so many other ways of knowing north in any natural setting that magnetic sensitivity might almost be redundant.
