totters!"


The scheme for the establishment of our island home comprehended several
minor industries. This isle of dreams, of quietude and happiness; this
fretless scene; this plot of the Garden of Eden, was not to be left
entirely in its primitive state. It was firmly resolved that our
interference should be considerate and slight; that there should be no
rude and violent upsetting of the old order of things; but just a gentle
restraint upon an extravagant expression here and there, a little
orderliness, and ever so light a touch of practicability. A certain
acreage of land was to be cleared for the cultivation of tropical fruits;
of vegetables for everyday use, and of maize and millet for poultry,
which we proposed to breed for home consumption. Bees were to be an
ultimate source of profit. There are millions of living proofs of direct
but vagrant descent from the Italian stock, with which we started,
humming all over this and the adjacent islands to-day.

How we went about the practical accomplishment of our plans; in what
particulars they failed; what proportion of success was achieved, and the
process of education in rural enterprises generally, it were idle to
account. Rather, an attempt must be made to give particulars of the
project as a whole as it stands after a period of nine years. Be it
understood that we depended almost solely on the aid of the blacks. Means
at command did not permit the employment of even a single white workman,
save for a brief experimental period. Indeed, there is yet to be found in
Australia the phase of tropical agriculture which affords payment of the
ruling rate of wages. The proximity of countries in which cheap labour
predominates counterbalances the minimum demand of white men in these
parts. Those who have had experience of aboriginals as labourers,