250 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



causing the collapse of the clouds had taken away his 

 inclination. 



But the other boy was not to have his theories as to 

 the weather brushed aside lightly. It was " that fella along 

 a mountain," who caused the trouble, or else " another boy 

 alonga Hinchinbrook !" Having thus completely and 

 satisfactorily settled the point, his face assumed a slow, 

 wise smile, and his agitated mind rested. Was it not all 

 another palpable proof, a precedent to be cited, of the 

 manner in which a no-good-boy wantonly brought about 

 a big wind ? 



Most of the dainties are forbidden the young members 

 of the camp. Bony bream and bony herring will be passed 

 on to the boys and girls, and, so too, the rough parts of 

 turtle ; but the sweet fish and flesh are retained by 

 the old and lusty men, who proclaim that they alone may 

 eat of such things with impunity. No youngster will 

 dare to partake of echidna (" coom-be-yan ") at the risk 

 of the prescribed consequences ; and to the old men 

 the fiction stands in the place (as was recently pointed 

 out) of an annuity or old age pension. 



A DINNER-PARTY 



To fare sumptuously every day was not the lot of the 

 natives of Dunk Island. In excessively rainy weather they 

 were often glad of the coarsest and hardest of foods. 

 Certain sharks are eaten with avidity whenever they are 

 secured ; but some species are too rank and tough to be 

 endurable under any but extraordinary circumstances. 

 Oysters were always plentiful, but a diet restricted to the 

 most delicate of molluscs palls on the palate even of a 

 black fellow. Ordinarily, food was abundant. For the 

 most part it had only to be picked up and cooked. 

 Frequently it was eaten on the spot, fresh from bountiful 

 Nature's hands ; but blacks appreciate changes of diet 

 even when the change is retrogressive from the well- 



