BEACHCOMBING 59 



of security, the first outward and visible sign of home, the 

 guardian of the sacred rights of private property, the em- 

 bodiment of the exclusive. Better so than lying inert 

 under foot on the deck of the barque thrashing through the 

 cold grey seas of the Baltic, or scudding before the un- 

 scrupulous billows of Biscay. 



Moreover, what notable and precise information this 

 derelict timber gave as to the strength and direction of 

 ocean currents. The wreck took place on the 26th October 

 1900, in 1 8 deg. 43 min. S. lat, 147 deg. 57 min. E. long., 

 72^ miles in a direct line from the port of Townsville, and 

 about 200 miles from Dunk Island. She broke up, after 

 all the cargo had been salvaged, early in January 1901, and 

 on Tuesday, 5th February, at 10 a.m., the seas landed the 

 first of the broken planks in Brammo Bay. Then for a 

 few days the arrivals were continuous. For over 50 miles 

 along the coast the wreckage was scattered, very little 

 going farther north. 



Nothing goes south on this part of the coast. Yes, 

 there is one exception during my experience. A veritable 

 cataclysm coincided with a stiff north-easterly breeze, and 

 hundreds of bunches of bananas from plantations on the 

 banks of the Johnstone River 25 miles away landing- 

 stages and steps, and the beacons from the mouth of the 

 river, drifted south. Most of the more buoyant debris, 

 however, took the next tide back in the direction whence 

 it came. 



When there are eight or ten islands and islets within an 

 afternoon's sail, and miles of mainland beach to police, 

 variety lends her charms to the pursuit of the Beachcomber. 

 Landing in one of the unfrequented coves, he knows not 

 what the winds and the tides may have spread out for 

 inspection and acceptance. Perhaps only an odd coco-nut 

 from the Solomon Islands, its husk riddled by cobra and 

 zoned with barnacles. The germ of life may yet be there. 

 To plant the nut above high-water mark is an obvious duty. 

 Perhaps there is a paddle, with rude tracery on the handle, 

 from the New Hebrides, part of a Fijian canoe that has 



