The Nomadic Alternative – Page 132

streaks of red and black; yet scarcely any two were exactly alike ..."

Levi-Strauss is surely correct in his view that face and body painting confers on the individual his dignity as a human being, as opposed to a cultureless unadorned animal. The uniqueness of each pattern identifies the individual and marks the place in his kinship system.

But possessions did have one important function. They were used as gifts in an exchange cycle which regulated diplomatic relations with their neighbours and among themselves. A man's influence was measured in how much he gave away, not by how much he had. The Yaghan acted on one great truth, "No Thing is irreplaceable."

Theirs was not a property-less society. They simply estimated property at its correct value, by giving it lower priority than freedom of movement. Stored provisions, complicated tools and clothing would have burdened them unbearably. No Yaghan could stand being hemmed in, even temporarily. "Each one of them", Gusinde wrote, "returns with delight to his canoe." Above all they refused to work for long periods, enjoying any reasonable activity so long as it lasted a short time. Europeans mistook this inability to concentrate for apathetic stupidity. This was not true. Their unwillingness to overstrain themselves merely signified a confidence in the resources of their lands and their own skill in getting them. Work undermined their health, and when later they found employment on sheep stations they either went to sleep at intervals or quit.

Hunting was not so much work as a game - a great game of chance to be accepted and enjoyed by every male. The chase was often dangerous but was an exciting stimulant, which demanded the fullest use of his mental and physical powers. A boy's education aimed at turning him into a good hunter, and actively discouraged weaknesses of character. But on the whole children learned without coercion. Education was a road of active self-improvement, not of regimentation.

The women, scavengers of vegetable food and shellfish, swam fearlessly among beds of kelp, a seaweed whose streamers would drag down all but the strongest swimmers. A woman also cared for the canoe