BLACK ART 353 



large red currant to a tennis-ball, and in colour from white 

 through all the tints from pale yellow and green to red, 

 purple and black, sweet and generally mawkish. The 

 banana would be there in the Musa Banksia (" boo-gar-oo "), 

 although " close up all bone '' ; but the Davidsonian plum, 

 plentiful on the mainland, would be absent. The scape of 

 the Elettaria Scottiana, oozing viscid nectar, might stand as 

 a sweetmeat. 



Then, dallying with tomahawks and flat stones with the 

 tough nuts of the " Moo-jee " ( Terminalia melanocarpd), and 

 the drupes of the "Can-kee" {Pandanus aquaticus) to 

 extract the narrow sweet kernels, and sipping the while 

 cordial compounded of the larvae of green tree-ants (" book- 

 gruin "), acidulous and nippy, the men might indulge in 

 after-dinner stories and reminiscences, as the gins and 

 piccaninnies drink heartily of water sweetened with sugar- 

 bag (honey -comb), and chew the seeds contained in the china- 

 blue pericarp of the native ginger — Ool-pun (Alpinia cserula). 



Many vegetable foods would still be unenumerated, and 

 there would be numerous shell-fish — periwinkles, cockles, 

 mussels, scallops, dolphins, besides crabs. On rare occasions 

 a scrub fowl (the blacks had no reliable means of capturing 

 that wary bird, and when fortune favoured, it was an 

 instance of bad luck on its part), with pigeons, carpet 

 snakes, and sea-birds' eggs might make high tea. 



Black Art 



Time and diligent search revealed the location on the 

 island of two art galleries, or rather independent studios, 

 where there are exhibited works of distinct character. 

 Tradition points to the existence of a third, the discovery 

 of which gives zest to each exploratory expedition. Possibly 

 it may also display original exploits in the realms of fancy, 

 and so confirm the opinion that the black artists were not 

 mere copyists of each other, but belonged to different 

 schools, each having his own method and allowing his 

 talent free and untrammelled development. 



