Men of the Jungle

In this book, Ion Idriess shares three years of his youth, spent prospecting for gold and tin in northern Queensland, Australia. Along with two friends - part Aboriginal brothers Charlie and Norman, Idriess (known as Jack) spends time in the area between Cairns and Cooktown, somewhere around 1910-1913.
Idriess writes very well, he is descriptive, intelligent and amusing. He builds the story well, each chapter crafted to reach a conclusion, each chapter of the book moving towards the end with measured pace.

Some spoilerish outlines below, so read on if the outline of the book doesn't bother you.

Along the way we learn a lot about the Aboriginal culture and way of life in Northern Queensland, and it is clear that Idriess has a respect and understanding of this, which I understand to be fairly rare in those times. For a lot of the time the three young men are deep within the tropical jungle, prospecting gold in an isolated area, between the Daintree and the Bloomfield valleys. With their camp set up on the main (only) track followed by Aboriginals and other jungle men, so they do come into contact with others, and head to town every few months for supplies.

It is in Bloomfield, the nearest town that the men spend time waiting for the boat to come up river with supplies. Often this is weeks or months late, and we are told of how they spend their time here - helping muster scrub cattle for the local farmer, or spending time with the Aboriginals. And here we are introduced to Jacks love prospect Mee-lele. Unfortunately for Jack, Mee-lele is promised to Assan Rah, a tough old Malaysian pig hunter, who Jack has a healthy respect for - he is a dangerous man. Treading a careful line, Jack and Mee-lele have an illicit affair (which is only hinted at in the narrative), which sets up the ending of the book, which is the day of Assan and Mee-lele's wedding.

After running out of funds, Jack and Charlie then head further north, and spend time tin prospecting / mining to make enough money to finance another year of gold prospecting. It is agreed Norman will continue the gold prospecting, and the others will return with the funds - although the book ends before this happens. This takes us to a new setting, with a different setup - they are closer to town and can more readily buy supplies, meaning more time mining and less time hunting. Again we meet interesting characters who jack interacts with.

This book is noted as the first of three books which explain Idriess' early life. I am unsure which of his many books the other two are, but I suspect there are more than two, as his life seems filled with prospecting and mineral searches - I know he has written books on opal prospecting, diamond mining and tin mining, as well as many other biographical works. Idriess is right up there with the best authors of this genre and time period, and I actively search out his books (there are over 50 he has written), so expect more reviews.

Five stars.