SATELLITES AND NEIGHBOURS 31 



Only a few examples of current titles are given, as the 

 crowding in of the full list would have obscured the map in 

 a maze of words. Many of the geographical titles of the 

 blacks are without meaning, being used merely to indicate 

 a locality. Others were bestowed because of the presence 

 of a particular tree or plant or a remarkable rock. Some 

 few commemorate incidents. Two places on Dunk Island 

 perpetuate the names of females. The coast-line is so 

 varied that specific names for localities a few hundred 

 yards apart hardly seem necessary ; but the original in- 

 habitants, frugal of their speech, found it less trouble to 

 strew names thickly than to enter into explanations one to 

 another when relating the direction and extent which the 

 adventures and the sport of the day led them. Few names 

 for any part of the island away from the beach seem to 

 have existed, although the site of camps along the edge of 

 the jungle, and even in gullies as remote as may be from 

 the sea, are even now apparent. Camps were not honoured 

 by titles, but all the creeks and watercourses and other 

 places where water was obtainable were so invariably, and 

 camps were generally, though not always, made near 

 water. 



Brief reference to each of the satellites and neighbours of 

 Dunk Island may not be out of place, if only to preserve 

 distinctions which were current long before the advent of 

 white folks, and to make clear remarks in future pages 

 upon the different features of the domain over which the 

 Beachcomber exercises jurisdiction. Not to many men is 

 permitted the privilege of choosing for his day's excursion 

 from among so many beautiful spots, certain in the know- 

 ledge that to whichsoever he may elect to flutter his 

 handkerchief is reserved for his delight ; certain that the 

 sands will be free from the traces of any other human 

 being ; certain that no sound save those of nature will 

 break in upon his musings and meditations. 



Purtaboi, the first and the nearest of the satellites, lies 

 three-quarters of a mile from the middle of the sweep of 

 Brammo Bay — always in view through the tracery of the 



