Tropic Days

Tropic Days

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Title: Tropic Days
Author: E. J. Banfield
Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7324] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 14,
2003]
Edition: 10

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROPIC
DAYS ***

Produced by Col Choat

TROPIC DAYS (1918)
BY
E. J. BANFIELD
AUTHOR OF "THE CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER" AND
"MY TROPIC ISLE"

"Peace and silence. . . combined with the large liberties of nature."
De Quincey
TO
MY BROTHER BEACHCOMBERS; Professing, Practising

AUTHOR'S NOTE

In my previous books the endeavour was to give exact if prosaic details
of life on an island off the coast of North Queensland on which a few of
the original inhabitants preserved their uncontaminated ways. Here is
presented another instalment of sketches of a quiet scene. Again an
attempt is made to describe--not as ethnological specimens, but as men
and women--types of a crude race in ordinary habit as they live, though
not without a tint of imagination to embolden the better truths.
I thankfully acknowledge indebtedness to my friends Mr. Charles
Hedley, of the Australian Museum (Sydney); Dr. R. Hamlyn-Harris,
Director of the Queensland Museum; and Mr. Dodd S. Clarke, of
Townsville, N.Q., for valuable aid in the preparation of my notes for
publication.
DUNK ISLAND.

CONTENTS

PART I--SUN DAYS.
IN IDLE MOMENT ETERNAL SUNSHINE FRAGRANCE AND
FRUIT THE SCENE-SHIFTER BRACE PLANTS SHADOWS
"SMILING MORN" ANCESTRAL SHADE QUIET WATERS "THE
LOWING HERD" BABBLING BEACHES THE LOST ISLE

PART II--THE PASSING RACE.
THE CORROBOREE THE CANOE-MAKER TWO
LADIES--NELLY, THE SHREW; MARIA DANCES SOOSIE BLUE
SHIRT THE FORGOTTEN DEAD EAGLE'S-NEST FLOAT
NATURE IN RETALIATION "STAR RUN ABOUT" BLACKS AS
FISHERMEN HOOKS NARCOTICS AND POISONS FLY-FISHING

PART III--MISCELLANEA.
PEARLS WHAT IS A PEARL? A PEARL IN THE MAKING
STRANGE PEARLS PEARLS AND HIGH TRAGEDY SNAKE AND
FROG PRATTLE THE BUSH TRACK THE LITTLE BROWN MAN
UP AND AWAY "PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING" TIME'S
FINGER THE SOUL WITHIN THE STONE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
AT HOME ON THE TROPIC STRAND "DEBIL-DEBIL" NATURE'S
PUZZLE: FIND THE BIRD ORCHID (PHAIUS GRANDIFOLIUS)
ORCHID (BULBOPHYLLUM BAILEYI) A SPIDER CRAB A

SPIDER CRAB DISGUISED CASUARINAS TOURNEFORTIA
ARGENTA MACARANGA TANARIUS UMBRELLA TREE
SHADOWS SUN-SALUTED TREE FERNS "THE LOWING HERD"
PERFECT HAPPINESS GIGANTIC OYSTER (OSTREA CRISTA
GALLI) SANDSPIT SWIRL GLOOM AND GLEAM COWRIES
"SOOSIE'S" TYPE TAPES LEAF VARIATIONS (FICUS OPPOSITA)
TYPICAL FORM RIGHT HAND TOP CORNER TELLINA A
SHELL COLLECTION TRITON DOMESTIC DUTIES
PEARL-ENTOMBED FISH AND RACEMOSE PEARL CATTIERS
PEARL-IMPRISONED CHITON TWO STRANGE PEARLS TWO
BUBBLE SHELLS PEARL JOSSES WHITE APPLE (EUGENIA
CORMIFLORA) CYCADS DESERTED CYCAD AND PALMS
WIND-TORMENTED FIG-TREE THE IDLE OCEAN

PART I--SUN DAYS

IN IDLE MOMENT

"'Are you not frequently idle?' 'Never, brother. When we are not
engaged in our traffic we are engaged in our relaxations.'"--BORROW.
On the smooth beaches and in the silent bush, where time is not
regulated by formalities or shackled by conventions, there delicious
lapses--fag-ends of the day to be utilised in a dreamy mood which
observes and accepts the happenings of Nature without disturbing the
shyest of her manifestations or permitting 'the-mind to dwell on any but
the vaguest speculations.
Such idle moments are mine. Let these pages tell of their occupation.
As the years pass it is proved that the administration of the affairs of an
island, the settled population of which is limited to three, involves
pleasant though exacting duties. It is a gainful government--not gainful
in the accepted sense, but in all that vitally matters--personal freedom,
absence of irksome regulations remindful of the street, liberty to enjoy
the mood of the moment and to commune with Nature in her most
fascinating aspects. Those who are out of touch with great and dusty
events may, by way of compensation, be the more