266 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



intelligence. The bushman who on horseback carried His 

 Majesty's mails inland among the settlers and to distant 

 stations, was frequently also entrusted with the delivery 

 of message-sticks by blacks along the route. Invariably 

 the stick was accompanied by a verbal communication — a 

 request for some article (a pipe, a knife, looking-glass, 

 handkerchief) or an inquiry as to the whereabouts or wel- 

 fare of some relative or friend. The mailman quickly found 

 that the often elaborately graven stick was to no purpose 

 whatever without the verbal message. Frequently the 

 sticks would become far more hopelessly mixed up than 

 the babes in Pinafore; but as long as he recollected 

 the message aright, not the slightest concern or dissatis- 

 faction was manifested. 



Hooks of Pearl 



In this neighbourhood the making of pearl-shell fish- 

 hooks is one of the lost arts. The old men may tell how 

 they used to be made, but are not able to afford any 

 satisfactory practical demonstration. Therefore, to obtain 

 absolutely authentic examples, it was necessary to indulge 

 in the unwonted pastime of antiquarian research. During 

 an unsystematic, unmethodical overhauling of the shell 

 heap of an extensive kitchen midden — to apply a very 

 dignified title to a long deserted camp — interesting 

 testimony to the diligence and patience of the deceased 

 occupants was obtained. It was evident that the sea had 

 been largely drawn upon for supplies, if only on account 

 of the many abortive and abandoned attempts at fish- 

 hooks in more or less advanced stages of completion. 

 The brittleness of the fabric and the crudeness of the tools 

 employed had evidently put the patience of the makers 

 to severe task, who for one satisfactory hook must have 

 contemplated many disappointments. The art must be 

 judged as critically by the exhibition of its failures as by 

 its perfections, as Beau Nash did the tying of his 



