l8 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



of blood instead of colourless nectar. For many days here 

 is a scene of a perpetual banquet — a noisy, cheerful, frolic- 

 some revel. Cockatoos scream with excitement and glad- 

 ness ; honey-eaters whistle and call ; drongos chatter and 

 scold the rest of the banqueters ; the tiny sun-bird twitters 

 feeble protests ; bees and beetles maintain a murmurous 

 soothful sound, a drowsy blending of hum and buzz from 

 the rising of the sun until the going down thereof. 



The dark compactness of the jungle, the steadfast but 

 disorderly array of the forest, the blotches of verdant grass, 

 the fringe of yellow-flowered hibiscus and the sapful native 

 cabbage, give way in turn to the greys and yellows of the 

 sand in alternate bands. The slowly-heaving sea trailing 

 the narrowest flounce of lace on the beach, the dainty form 

 of Purtaboi, and the varying tones of great Australia beyond 

 combine to complete the scene, and to confirm the thought 

 that here is the ideal spot, the freest spot, the spot where 

 dreams may harden into realities, where unvexed peace 

 may smile. 



There is naught to remind of the fcetidness, the blare 

 and glare of the streets. None of 



" The weariness, the fever and the fret. 

 There, where men sit and hear each other groan." 



You may follow up the creeks until they become 

 miniature ravines, or broaden out into pockets with pre- 

 cipitous sides, where twilight reigns perpetually, and where 

 sweet soft gases are generated by innumerable plants, and 

 distilled from the warm moist soil. How grateful and 

 revivifying! Among the half-lit crowded groves might 

 not another Medea gather enchanted herbs such as "did 

 renew old ^son." 



Past the rocky horn of Brammo Bay, another crescent 

 indents the base of the hill. Exposed to the north-east 

 breeze, the turmoil of innumerable gales has torn tons upon 

 tons of coral from the out-lying reef, and cast up the debris, 

 with tinkling chips and fragments of shells, on the sand for 

 the sun and the tepid rains to bleach into dazzling white- 



