Aboriginal Australians -- Government relations; Dunk Island (Qld.); Natural history -- Australia -- Queensland
a certain percentage, while yet the fruit is immature and bitter? Does
he let the light of the caressing sun into the hearts of his pet trees
by removing superfluous twigs? Well does he know that if he tended them
as he should their bounty to him would be much magnified. Yet does
he dream on, accepting that which comes, admiring leafage, bloom, and
fragrant fruit, and always postponing the day when substantial aid and
credit should be given. There is something to be said in favour of this
happy attitude towards good-natured trees. Should it not suffice to
have given them monopoly and choice? Many others, and some of far
nobler proportions, have been exterminated for their special benefit and
advantage. They have been grown from seed of most highly complimented
fruit; their infancy and youth have been nurtured and protected; each
has been assigned its proper place with due regard to the welfare of
neighbours; less promising vegetation has been summarily checked; the
first flowers have been sniffed with high delight, the first fruits
sampled with extravagant praise. Having bestowed upon trees care and
attention, while they were yet mere sprouts of tender green, and admired
their sturdy development, and approved their best efforts, is it not
yours to accept whatsoever they offer as reward and recompense for past
labour and present appreciation?
From the artistic standpoint the most admirable of all the citrus-trees
is the pomelo, which, however, lacks merit from the commercial side.
The tree grows more sedately than the orange or the mandarin, but on
a grander scale. The leaves are bigger, tougher, and the appendages
on either side of the stalk (which botanists call the stipules) more
developed. The blooms are greater, and endowed with a much richer
perfume than the orange; the fruit is huge and fragrant, though somewhat
disappointing to the individual who expects the sweetness of the
mandarin; while, if the views of the learned in such attributes are
trustworthy it possesses medicinal qualities which are foreign to its
dainty, diminutive relative. It would be mere affectation to refrain
from these compliments to the pomelo when the atmosphere is saturated
with the perfume from lusty trees. Certainly one has to wait patiently
for many a long year ere his trees greet him with white flowers which
pour out perfume of rare density and enrich him with golden fruit
almost as big as footballs. From nine to twelve years must elapse, but
expectancy is not wholly measurable by the arbitrariness of time. The
true standard is the desire, tempered by the patience of the custodian
of the trees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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