A north-easter accompanied by thunder lasted a whole July
afternoon. It was as strange as a crop of mangoes would have been at
that time of year.
During the cool season--a generous half of the year--dews are common--not
the trivial barely perceptible moisture called dew in some parts, but most
ungentle dew, which saturates everything and drips from the under sides
of verandahs as the sun warms the air; dew which bows the grass with its
weight, soaks through your dungarees to the hips, and soddens your thick
bluchers, until you feel and appear as though you had waded through a
swamp; dew which releases the prisoned odour of flowers irresponsive to
the heat of the sun, which keeps the night cool and sweet, which with the
first gleam of the sun makes the air soft and spicy and buoyant, and
inspires thankfulness for the joy of life.
Are we not all apt to fall into the error of estimating the character of
a country by its extravagances rather than its average and general
qualities?
North Queensland has the reputation of being the home of malaria and the
special sport of any cyclone that may have mischief in view. Being
tropical, we have malaria, but it is of no more serious consequence than
any one of the ills to which human flesh is heir in temperate climes.
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