February 4, 1909] 



A^A TURE 



403 



woman, whose devolion to her husband and his dreams 

 i> pure and true. All men approve of that kind of 

 woman, and wish her and her book every success. 

 Mention must be made of an excellent introduction 

 b\ Mr. William Cabot, which summarises the work 

 of |irevious travellers in Labrador; also of a good map 

 b\ Mrs, Hubbard at the end of the volume, which 

 will be of great service to future travellers. 



J. G. MiLLAIS. 



.4 TROPIC ISLE.' 



" TF a man does not keep pace with his companions, 



J. perhaps it is because he hears a different 



drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears." 



Our beachcomber is a squatter in search of the " simple 



its own dung heaps. The swamp pheasant plays 

 " hawk " to the fowls. The bee-eater and wood swal- 

 low make bee-keeping impossible. The eagle is a de- 

 tective, deadly foe to snakes of land and sea. The 

 nutmeg pigeon brings news twice a year from the out- 

 side world, and other pigeons perennially express their 

 doleful remonstrances at the poor crops of figs on the 

 banyan trees. Lastly, the sea birds have returned, and 

 the owner has been driven off his own paths, annexed 

 for their breeding fairs. There is, loo, the Echidna, 

 dainty morsel for the aged blacks, and the story of 

 the snake and the nest eggs is charming. Of insects 

 we desire to hear more. 



In one bay is a garden of coral, killed ofT by brown 

 iiiud after a storm, but sprouting afresh from out the 

 slimy mass. It is pictured as a July garden — the island 

 is situated within the Great Barrier Reef — but vet the 



P'lG I. — A Protected Coral Garden. From " The Confessions of a Beachcombe 



life." He takes up a little island off the coast of 

 (Jueensland, determined to make it his home and him- 

 self master of all the lore that is thereon. Dunk 

 Island, as it is called, is situated about lat. i8° S., 

 and, being really a part of Australia, with high hills 

 and fringing reefs of coral, presents a picture which 

 may well serve in miniature for any tropic isle of con- 

 tinental origin. The rainfall is abundant, and the 

 jungle is a well-described medley of trees, ferns, and 

 lianes, chief of tliem the climbing palm. 



A little of the ground is cleared, the homestead is 

 erected, the praises of the papaw and banana are sung. 

 The beachcomber has enough and contends no more. 

 Birds delight him and guns are taboo. However, 

 civilisation will out, and a census is taken, social as 

 well as numerical. The sagacious megapode hatches 

 its enormous egg (12 per cent, of its own weight) i); 



■ " The Confessions of a Beachcomber." By E. J. Banfield. Pp. xii+ 

 336. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908.) Price15j.net. 



KO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



most cruel battlefield of nature. Corals grow over and 

 smother all they can. Molluscs are murderers and 

 cannibals. " No creature at all conspicuous is safe, 

 unless it is agile and alert, or of horrific aspect, or 

 endowed with giant's strength, or is encased in 

 armour." The clam sits on the coral, and becomes 

 embedded as it grows up around. Serpula is more suc- 

 cessful, raising its anemone-like head well above the 

 surface of the coral in a tube of lime. Fish are like 

 gigantic butterflies hovering over flowers. Bivalves 

 tunnel the coral, and sea-urchins grind to powder its 

 limestone ramparts, gnawing off the crumbs of coral 

 which fill up the greater part of their digestive organs. 

 The hechc-de-mer is there too, and oysters of many 

 kinds. Then there is the dugong in herds, frolicking in 

 the water, human in its affection for its young. It is 

 a seaweed feeder ; it does no harm — but it makes good 

 bacon. Is the love for all nature, so markedly pro- 

 fessed, consistent with its destruction? The descrip- 



