Throughout the collection, indigenous (native) communities are often portrayed as having a closer, more intuitive understanding about nature and its relationship to humanity than those whose relationships are defined more by purpose and intention than by proximity (i.e. explorers, colonizers, industrialists). Examples of this portrayal can be found in the Eskimos (Part 2, "A Reflection on White Geese"), the Anasazi (Part 3, "Gone to the Earth" and Part 9, "Searching for Ancestors"), the Navajo (Part 4, "Landscape and Narrative") ,
