The Confessions of a BeachcomberBanfield, E. J. (Edmund James)
History
The Confessions of a Beachcomber
Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James)
Dunk Island (Qld.); Natural history -- Australia -- Queensland
He said he would be back in two weeks, and to the day he appeared. His
youthful third wife he handed down into the boat, and the boat was full
of their luggage. Ah, that desolated camp at Lucinda! The young lady's
trousseau was complete even to lingerie. He had won the fight, and the
bride and the spoils were his.
Poor Nelly! She welcomed "Little Jinny" effusively, and "Little
Jinny" gave her a dress and a second-best hat. Life for a couple of
days at the camp was idyllic. Then they took back the gifts of clothing,
and turned Nelly out of the hut. She built a separate establishment--a
dome of dried grass on bent sticks, and in it she wept and upbraided,
and fired up frequently under the torments of jealousy.
Shrill squabbles were of daily occurrence, until the great Peacemaker
removed Tom's favourite wife. And who more sorely grieved than Nelly!
Will the title bear a few words as to Tom the hunter? Was ever a keener,
a more patient, a more self-possessed, and consequently a more
successful, sportsman? He it was who, from a cranky punt (no white man
would venture out to sea in such a craft,) at three o'clock one windy
afternoon, harpooned an immense bull-turtle, which towed him towards the
Barrier Reef, into the track of the big steamers 4 miles to the east. He
battled with the game all the afternoon and evening, overcame it at "the
dead waste and middle of the night," and towed it back to the beach,
landing after thirteen hours' continuous work. Tom accomplished the feat
in a strong breeze and with a turtle diving and tugging, when he might
have cut the line at any moment and paddled home comfortably.
He is as much at home on the top of a bloodwood tree, hanging round a
swaying limb while cutting out a "bee nest," as in a frail bark canoe
among the sharks on the skirts of a shoal of bonito.
As we neared the beach one day a big sea-mullet came into view. Without
a moment's hesitation, and as it flashed past the boat, Tom, using
the oar as a spear, hit the slippery fish with such precision and force
as to impale it. He will harpoon a turtle as it rushes away from the
boat, 5 feet beneath the surface, with the coolness of a
billiard-player, and with unerring accuracy "taking off" for the speed
of the boat and the refraction of the water. All the ways and habits of
fish, and their favourite feeding-grounds, are to him as pages of an open
book.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account