14 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



that's gone?" Why recall the memory of those acheful 

 days, when all the pleasant and restful features of the 

 island are uncatalogued ? Before the rains began we had 

 comfortable if circumscribed shelter. Does not that suffice ? 

 Our dwelling consisted of one room and a kitchen. Per- 

 force the greater part of our time was spent out of doors. 

 Isolation kept us moderately free from visitors. Those 

 who did violate our seclusion had to put up with the 

 consequences. We had purchased liberty. Large liberties 

 are the birthright of the English. We had acquired most 

 of the small liberties, and the ransom paid was the abandon- 

 ment of many things hitherto deemed to form an integral 

 part of existence. 



Had we not cast aside all traditions, revolting from the 

 uniformity of life, from the rules of the bush as well as from 

 the conventionalities of society ? Here we were to indulge 

 our caprices, work out our own salvation, live in accordance 

 with our own primitive notions, and, if possible, find pleasure 

 in haunts which it is not popularly supposed to frequent. 



Others may point to higher ideals and tell of exciting 

 experiences, of success achieved, and glory and honour 

 won. Ours not to envy superior qualifications and victories 

 which call for strife and struggle, but to submit ourselves 

 joyfully to the charms of the " simple life." 



Our Island 



" Awake, O North Wind, and come, thou South, 

 Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." 



Our Island ! What was it when we came into possession ? 

 From the sea, merely a range displaying the varied leafage 

 of jungle and forest. A steep headland springing from a 

 ledge of rock on the north, and a broad, embayed-based flat 

 converging into an obtruding sand-spit to the west, 

 enclose a bay scarcely half a mile from one horn to the 

 other, the sheet of water almost a perfect crescent, with 

 the rocky islet of Purtaboi, plumed with trees, to indicate 



