Speaking of them collectively, they are not good workers, and attempts to get them to work together in an organized way for their mutual profit have not been successful. An attempt was made some years ago by a Cape Town firm to introduce a fish-curing industry and to get them to export sheep, but the islanders did not pull together and the scheme failed. They themselves give as a reason that they were being exploited and that the return was totally inadequate.
It is possible that due consideration was not given to their insularity and limitations of outlook, and that the use of a little more patience and diplomacy might have met with better results. I doubt very much, however, whether these islanders would ever settle down to a daily routine of work, having all their lives been more or less their own masters and able to decide when they shall or shall not work. Nevertheless, the necessities of life compel that the days spent at home be few, and the qualities of hardihood to which I have referred are not developed by doing nothing.
It has been stated also that through intermarriage there are numerous signs of deformity and mental degeneration. There are very few of these signs. As to mental degeneration, I considered these islanders to be very intelligent. They are uneducated, limited in outlook, and generally “insular,” but how could they be anything else in their peculiar circumstances? They are bright, quick to see humour and enjoy a joke, and are morally much sounder than many civilized peoples. They live on good terms, with little quarrelling, crime is unknown, and petty misdemeanours are rare.
One youth is dumb and is peculiar in manner, but works and carries out ordinary duties with quite average intelligence. Of deformities: one old woman (the island midwife) has two thumbs on each hand, but is otherwise normal. One man, a particularly noticeable case, has stunted arms, with ill-developed hands and absence of some fingers. Otherwise, he is strong, level-headed and intelligent, works as a shepherd, and in his duties roams far and wide over the hills. There are no other signs of mental or physical degeneration. The man with the stunted arms is able to do wonderful things, can carry small packages, hold a cigarette, feed himself, and, most extraordinary of all in this community of illiterates, can write. He was taught by a former missionary to the island, Mr. Dodgson (brother of Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice in Wonderland”). It is surely a triumph of patient teaching. In carrying it out, the paper is placed on the floor and the man lies down. Though the writing is large and scrawly, it is legible.
I devoted as much time as possible to conversation with different people, trying to learn what I could of their manners and customs.
In religion they are mostly Protestant, but there are some who were baptized as Roman Catholics at Cape Town. There is, however, no distinction made between the religions, and they intermarry. There have been several Protestant missionaries on the island at one time and another, but never a Roman Catholic priest. Young men and women wishing to marry select their own mates by mutual agreement and are uninfluenced by their parents. The marriage service is conducted (in the absence of a missionary) by Bob Glass, who reads it from the Prayer Book. There is generally no fuss and no sort of function, but occasionally they have a dance afterwards in one of the houses. All the women go to hear the marriage service read, and such of the men as are about and have nothing better to do. I noticed in talking of weddings that the women spoke with an absence of enthusiasm and showed none of the interest that such a subject would arouse amongst civilized feminism.
Photo: Dr. Macklin
TRISTAN WOMEN TWISTING WOOL