“Nomadism is born of wide expanses,
ground too barren for the farmer to
cultivate economically – savannah, steppe,
desert and tundra, all of which will support
an animal population providing that it moves.
For the nomad, movement is morality.
Without movement, his animals would die.
Nomads never roam aimlessly from place to place,
as one dictionary would have it. A nomadic migration
is a guided tour of animals around a
predictable sequence of pastures…
For life in the black tents has not significantly
changed since Abraham, the Bedouin sheikh,
moved his flock on his 'journeys from the south
even unto Bethel, where his tent had been
at the beginning.'” (Genesis 13:3)
– Bruce Chatwin,
What Am I Doing Here?
p.219-220 (1988)