PLANS AND PERFORMANCES 41 



becomes at times a sonorous swelling boom, a lofty recita- 

 tive, for even an island has its temper and its moods. 



Plans and Performances 



" The folly of this island ! They say there's but five upon 

 this isle ; we are two of them ; if the other three be brained like 

 us the State totters ! " 



The scheme for the establishment of our island home com- 

 prehended several minor industries. This isle of dreams, 

 of quietude and happiness ; this fretless scene ; this plot 

 of the Garden of Eden, was not to be left entirely in its 

 primitive state. It was firmly resolved that our interference 

 should be considerate and slight ; that there should be no 

 rude and violent upsetting of the old order of things ; but 

 just a gentle restraint upon an extravagant expression here 

 and there, a little orderliness, and ever so light a touch 

 of practicability. A certain acreage of land was to be 

 cleared for the cultivation of tropical fruits ; of vegetables 

 for everyday use, and of maize and millet for poultry, which 

 we proposed to breed for home consumption. Bees were 

 to be an ultimate source of profit. There are millions of 

 living proofs of direct but vagrant descent from the Italian 

 stock, with which we started, humming all over this and the 

 adjacent islands to-day. 



How we went about the practical accomplishment of 

 our plans ; in what particulars they failed ; what propor- 

 tion of success was achieved, and the process of education 

 in rural enterprises generally, it were idle to account. 

 Rather, an attempt must be made to give particulars of the 

 project as a whole as it stands after a period of nine years. 

 Be it understood that we depended almost solely on the 

 aid of the blacks. Means at command did not permit the 

 employment of even a single white workman, save for a 

 brief experimental period. Indeed, there is yet to be found 

 in Australia the phase of tropical agriculture which affords 

 payment of the ruling rate of wages. The proximity of 



