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