Ballantyne's Lesson

Since my blog launch over a week ago, I have received over a hundred wonderful questions, comments and letters from the readers of Ballantynethebrave.com. I am grateful for each and every one of these, and I am still in the process of answering many of them. Below is one example of the questions sent to me:

What was the mistake Ballantyne made in book, The Coral Islands? I haven't read any Ballantyne books yet, so I'm interested to find out more.

Marshall

Dear Marshall,

Let me answer in Mr. Ballantyne's own words;

"... Despite the utmost care of which I was capable, while studying up for the Coral Island, I fell into . . . a blunder through ignorance in regard to a familiar fruit. I was under the impression that cocoa-nuts grew on their trees in the same form as that in which they are usually presented to us in on grocers' windows- namely, about the size of a large fist with three large spots, suggestive of a monkey's face, at one end. I sent one of my heroes up a tree for a nut, through the shell of which he bored a hole with a penknife and drank the 'lemonade' . . . but in fact the cocoa nut is nearly as large as a man's head, and its outer husk over an inch thick, so that no ordinary penknife could bore into its interior." R. M. Ballantyne - "Personal Reminiscences of Book Making"

Thank you for you excellent question.

Alba Gu Bra, J. Titus