The Nomadic Alternative – Page 149

the sexes flares up. The men lounge about and gamble. And as I write this on the Greek island of Patmos, I learn that a similar situation exists among the sponge divers of neighbouring Kalymnos.

Sponge diving is of itself a sort of hunt, a lucrative but perilous business that annually takes its toll among the men. During the summer diving season, relations between men and their wives glide along in serene harmony, both partners aware of a common danger.

But in the lethargy of winter the men barricade themselves into the cafeneion and gamble away the profits of summer, while the women shriek scorn on this senseless waste.

Sudden sensations of guilt and gratitude flood over the successful hunter towards the animal that has consented to die. He may pretend it was an accident that sent his spear flying. "He did not mean to kill you; your time had come"; thus the Pygmies try to placate the soul of a dead elephant. Colin Turnbull has said of the Mbuti,

1. "The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence." Hunters often believe the spirit of the animal to reside in its bones, and for this reason the Nemadi always bury them for fear their own dogs may defile them. Eskimo carvings of seals or polar bears also show this same intuitive love and understanding of animals.

But a guilty conscience at taking an animal's life is far from universal. The Bushmen and the Hadza regard the welfare of animals with cool detachment, and howl with laughter when one is wounded. The Hadza, in particular, see no virtue in hunting except as a source of meat.

Confidence in the continued availability of game matches the hunter's confidence in his ability to catch it. The French Jesuit, Le Jeune, wrote of the Montagnais in Labrador in the early 17th Century. "They behave as though the game they were to hunt were locked up in a stable." But Doughty noticed the same of the Solubba in Arabia. "Those we will have for today", they said, contemplating a herd of antelopes on the horizon, "as for those other heads over there, we can take them after tomorrow." The landscape is a living larder for those who are clever enough. Why bother to take more than