OUR ISLAND 15 



the circumference of a circle. Trees come to the water's 

 edge from the abutment of the bold eminence. Dome- 

 shaped shrubs of glossy green (native cabbage Sccevola 

 Kcenigii], with groups of pandanus palms bearing massive 

 orange-coloured fruits ; and here and there graceful umbrella- 

 trees, with deep-red decorations, hibiscus bushes hung with 

 yellow funnells, and a thin line of ever-sighing beech oaks 

 (casuarina} fringe the clean untrodden sand. Behind is 

 the vistaless forest of the flat. 



Run the boat on the sand at high-water, and the first 

 step is planted in primitive bush fragrant, clean and 

 undefiled. An empty jam tin or a broken bottle, spoors 

 of the rude hoofs of civilisation, you might search for in 

 vain. As difficult would it be to find either as a fellow to 

 the nugget of gold which legend tells was used by a naked 

 black as a sinker when he fished with hook of pearl shell 

 out there on the edge of the coral reef. 



One superficial feature of our domain is distinct and 

 peculiar, giving to it an admirable character. From the 

 landing-place rather more up towards the north-east cusp 

 than the exact middle of the crescent bay extends a flat 

 of black sand on which grows a dense bush of wattles, 

 cockatoo apple-trees, pandanus palms, Moreton Bay ash and 

 other eucalypts, and the shapely melaleuca. This flat, here 

 about 1 50 yards in breadth, ends abruptly at a steep bank 

 which gives access to a plateau 60 feet above sea-level. The 

 regularity of the outline of this bank is remarkable. Run- 

 ning in a more or less correct curve for a mile and a half, 

 it indicates a clear-cut difference between the flat and the 

 plateau. The toe of the bank rests upon sand, while the 

 plateau is of chocolate-coloured soil intermixed on the 

 surface with flakes of slate ; and from this sure foundation 

 springs the backbone of the island. On the flat, the 

 plateau, and the hillsides, the forest consists of similar 

 trees alike in age and character for all the difference in 

 soil the one tree that does not leave the flat being 

 the tea or melaleuca. In some places the jungle comes 

 down to the water's edge, the long antennae of the 



