The Confessions of a BeachcomberBanfield, E. J. (Edmund James)
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The Confessions of a Beachcomber
Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James)
Dunk Island (Qld.); Natural history -- Australia -- Queensland
Flotsam and jetsam make another class of Beachcomber by stimulating the
gaming instincts. Is there a human being, taking part in the rough and
tumble of the world, who can honestly make confession and say that he has
completely suffocated those inherent instincts of savagedom--joy and
patience in the chase, the longing for excitement and surprise, the crude
selfishness, the delight in getting something for nothing? Society
journals have informed me that titled dames have been known to sit out
long and wearisome evenings that they may obtain some paltry favour in a
cotillon. And when the sea casts up its gifts on these radiant shores, I
boldly and with glee give way to my beachcombing instincts and pick and
choose. Never ever up to the present have I found anything of real value;
but am I not buoyed up by pious hopes and sanguine expectations? Is not
the game as diverting and as innocent as many others that are played to
greater profit? It is a game, too, that cannot be forced, and therefore
cannot become demoralising; and having no nice feelings nor fine shades,
I rejoice and am glad in it.
And then what strange and varied things one sees! Once a "harness-cask,"
hostile to every sense, came trundled by waves eager to expel it from the
vicinity of these oxless but scented isles. It overcame us as we sailed
by, 20 yards off, and the general necessity for temperate diet and
restricted dishes came as a sweet and a comforting reflection. No marvel
if the ship whence it was ejected was in bad odour among the sailors.
Leaving, as it lurched along, a greasy, foul stain on the sea, it may
have poisoned multitudes of uncomplaining fishes during its evil course.
Occasionally a case of fruit, washed from the decks of a labouring
steamer, drifts ashore. One was the means of introducing a valuable
addition to the products of the island. It gave demonstration of how man
may unwittingly, and even in opposition to his wit, assist in scattering
and multiplying blessings on a smiling land--blessings to last for all
time, and perhaps to amend or ameliorate the environment of a budding
nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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