142 



Reviews. [,st "o" t. 



"TROPIC DAYS." 



["Tropic Days," by E. J. Banfield, author of "The Confessions of a 

 Beachcomber" and " My Tropic Isle" ; with 37 illustrations. London: T. 

 Fisher Unwin Ltd. 8vo, pp. 313. Price, 16/ net.] 



Our member and versatile writer, Mr. E. J. Banfield, of Dunk 

 Island, North Queensland, is the author of another new book. 

 It has been noticed that three rolling billows, greater than the 

 surrounding sea, frequently follow each other, so on " Beach- 

 comber " Banfield's bay there have been three literary waves — his 

 " Confessions," his " Tropic Isle," and now his " Tropic Days." 

 The last book, due, no doubt, to dire war time, does not aim at 

 being so pretentious as either of its forerunners. It is dechcated 

 to his " brother beachcombers, professing, practising," and is 

 divided into three parts — " Sun Days," " The Passing Race," 

 and " Miscellanea." 



With the exception of one or two chapters in Parts II. and III., 

 the chief interest for the field naturalist is centred in Part I., which 

 might be called " Halcyon Days "—winter and spring upon a 

 salubrious, verdure-clad, hill-topped islet, where one wears a truly 

 dolce far niente air, and is surrounded by all that is lovely and 

 free in nature. Of course, mosquitoes, sand-flies, scrub-ticks, and 

 other tropical pests never enter into the poetry of the situation, 

 nor does the season of cyclones, oft with death and destruction. 



Mr. Banfield's style, always graceful, being poetical, imaginative, 

 and ethical, lends itself especially to nature subjects. 



" Beach Plants " is a poetical chapter, where sighing sheoaks 

 (Casuarinas) are called " the harps of the beach," and sea- 

 coast laburnums have leaves of loveliness, " hoary with silvery 

 fur as soft as sealskin," and convolvuli creep " with tireless 

 tentacles." Of wattles,- " the young shoots of Acacia flavescens 

 are covered as with a golden fleece, and its globular flowers are 

 pale yellow. Acacia aitlacocarpa (hickory wattle) displays in 

 pendent masses golden tassels rich in fragrance," while a huge 

 " wind-tormented fig-tree supporting other trees, epiphytal 

 orchids, and ferns not a few, is a pillar of flora in itself." 

 " Fragrance and Fruit " makes a charming word-picture. " Quiet 

 Waters " is descriptive of the reaches of a river on the mainland 

 opposite to Mr. Banfield's island home, where the mangroves 

 that margin the stream are inflorescent during October " with 

 hawthorn-like flowers breathing perfume as from an orangery." 

 " Snake and Frog Prattle," an evergreen subject, makes a 

 " creepy " chapter, and the one on " Pearls " is instructive. 



The publishers are possibly not serious when they claim tliat 

 the ethnology will appeal to those " especially interested." In 

 the gracefully worded strands of these silky stories one does not- 

 know whether fact, fiction, or legend is intended by the author. 



Adverting again to birds, it would have been interesting to 

 R.A.O.U. members had Mr. Banfield given the ornithological 

 name of the "cheeky" Honey-eater that invaded his premises 



