Inthese pages Ion Idriess has brought together stories gathered and lived in his happy battling years in the wild lands of Australia's Far North and the islands beyond. Stories of gold and pearls, of land and cattle, of the search for wealth in dangerous and lonely places. Stories of un-tamed men and women, white and brown and black, of primitive passions unleashed far beyond the curb of law and order, of bravery and hope and grim determination, of the strange powers of the mind, of human comedy and tragedy. Together they picture a life of colour and adven-ture that with the development of the continent is rapidly passing away