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A LAMENT.
The followving interesting docu
ment has been received from one of
the employees of the Western Aus-
tralian Forest Service, Mr. J. Perry,
after a week's sojourn on fire look-
out in the heart of the jarrah forest.
It may be of interest to readers as
giving a description of the daily life
of a look out man, as well as show
ing the attitude of the fire fighter
towards his job :—
"My thoughts grow hazy. Here I
am, like Alexander Selkirk, monarch
of all I survey; and I'd give it all
for a bath and a cool drink. But
there! such luxuries are not for
forestry employees on watch -tower
duty.
'Ah! there — a flickering dot of
light in the distance, that . steadies
and becomes motionless as I look.
My own helio. is already set up and
sighted on the spot where the dot of
light shines, xx I tap out, dash,
dot, dot, gash, xx flickers the tinv
pin-point of light in acknowledgment.
Alert and watchful once more — even
that wee dot of light reminds me
there are other humans iu the world,
even though they be 12 miles
distant at Greystones. 'Tis true
it is not I they are personally in
terested in — all alone on Mount
Dale though I be. No! what they
signal for is not to inquire if little
Sammy is well and fit, or if he'd like
a cool drink. No, indeed! their re
tquesfc is — 'How's things?' Is their
area clear of fire? Life! just
everybody for themselves.
'Once more I relapse into thoughts
and am just spending riotously a
portion of the Tatt's ticket which
one always hopes to win, when — a
wisp of smoke arises. A bearing
taken on it with the theodolite, in
conjunction with one taken simul
taneously from Mount Gunjin look
out tower, places it outside the
area. I have just located the fire
on the iuap when the telephone
rings. 'Hullo! hullo! Dale, this is
Barton's speaking. Howdy?' 'All
clear on the area,' I reply. 'It's
pretty warm. Say, Bill when you're
on Dale, did you see any butter-
flies?' 'Sure thing, Sam, you can
always see them when you've been
there four days — you can't see them
yet. You've only been up two days.'
'Well, I can anyway, big black and
white ones.' 'Oh, my lad, they are
there all the time. It's the colour
ed ones that turn up after four
days. Well, so long, Sam. Good
luck.'
'Having entered up the calls,
helio. and telephone, in the time
message book, and taken another
survey of the country spread out for
miles below the look-out tower, I
pick up the only book on the tower
I have not read, and try again to
get up an interest in the impossible
characters. Jessie, the simple
country maiden, rejects with scorn
the Lord of the Manor, in favour of
the noble-hearted jploughman, etc.,
etc. Oh, drivel! and I've more days
to put in. I'll be reading the ads.
of pink pills ere those five days are
gone. Oh, well, it's all in a lifetime,
and a rest cure at that. Next week
some other poor blighter will take
my place. There's the view, that's
worth a good deal; from Mount
Bakewell in the east, far past Chid
low's in the north, away over Rott
nest in the west, ,and bound by the
Jarrahdale Range to the south. It
is a fine panorama.
'The State forest over which we
keep a lookout for fires is quite a
small part of the ? view, occupying
only one of the four sides of the
tower, which consists of a small
open-sided hut mounted on a 25
foot tower. It is equipped with a
theodolite and map for finding and
locating fires; a heliograph for com
municating with any of the Forests
Department employees in the State
forest, and a telephone connection
to Mount Ginjin Lookout Tower,
to Barton's Forest Station, and to
Forest Headquarters at Mundaring
Weir itself. Thus communication
can be established any time between
Forest Headquarters and any em
ployee in the bush.
'To date, it has been ideal wea
ther for prevention of fires — late
rains and cool nights, quite the re
verse of last season, when the hot
dry weather and gales of wind made
it almost impossible to cope with
the miles of country that had been
so maliciously set alight.
'I have often thought (and Dale
is a rare place for one to find time
to think) that an enforced term of
fire -fighting would perhaps have
more effect as a deterrent on an in
cendiary than imprisonment. Con
sideration, then, for those who have
to fight the fire might sway them
more than the fact that it is their
owu wealth they are burning when
they light the country for miles.
'The afternoon draws in. A final
'all clear' has been flashed to the
helio. sub-station at Greystones,
Barton's Forest Station and head
quarters have been given the same
message by telephone, a final 'So
long' at Gunjin, and down I go to
the hut below the tower for tea.
Quickly the sun sinks; it is dark
now, and the wind that ever blows
on Dale murmurs in the trees
around the hut, a brush rustles by.
Away on the western horizon Rott
uest Lighthouse is blinking, the only
sign of civilisation — about 40 miles
away, I think.
'The hard -hit hero of some of
our modern best-sellers, who retires }
to an obscure spot to 'find himself,'
should assuredly come to Dale. No
one will ever interrupt him, and
there are many thousands of large
stones in the granite ridge that
forms the backbone of the hill,
under which he could prosecute !his
search." — (Australian Forestry i
Journal.)
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