AUSTRALIA--_Continued_.
THE AUSTRALIAN SPEAR AND ITS MANY FORMS -- THE THROWING-SPEAR OR
JAVELIN -- A GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN SPEARS -- THE LIGHTNESS OF THE SHAFT
-- THE MANY-POINTED FISH-SPEAR -- INGENIOUS MODE OF TIPPING THE
POINTS WITH BONE, AND FASTENING THEM TO THE SHAFT -- ELASTICITY OF
THE POINTS -- DOUBLE USE AS PADDLE AND SPEAR -- AN ELABORATELY-MADE
WEAPON -- FLINT-HEADED SPEARS -- EXCELLENCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN AS A
THROWER OF MISSILES -- THE CLUB, THE STONE, AND THE “KANGAROO-RAT”
-- THE THROW-STICK, MIDLAH, OR WUMMERAH -- PRINCIPLE ON WHICH IT IS
CONSTRUCTED -- MODES OF QUIVERING THE SPEAR -- DISTANCE TO WHICH IT
CAN BE THROWN -- THE UNDERHAND THROW -- ACCURACY OF AIM -- SPEARING
THE KANGAROO -- THE BOW AND ARROW -- STRENGTH OF THE BOW -- THE
RATTAN STRING AND INGENIOUS KNOT -- CAREFUL MANUFACTURE OF THE ARROWS
-- PRESUMED ORIGIN OF THE WEAPONS -- THE BOOMERANG AND ITS VARIOUS
FORMS -- MODE OF THROWING THE WEAPON -- ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN --
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOMERANG -- THE AUSTRALIAN SHIELD, ITS FORMS AND
USES -- THE WOODEN AND THE BARK SHIELDS.
We now come to the various forms of the spears which are used by the
native Australians.
The usual weapon is slight, and scarcely exceeds in diameter the
assagai of Southern Africa. It is, however, considerable longer, the
ordinary length being from nine to eleven feet. As a general rule, the
spear is constructed after a very rude fashion, and the maker seems
to care but little whether the shaft be perfectly straight, so that
the weapon be tolerably well balanced. There are several specimens of
Australian spears in my collection, one of which (a weapon that has
evidently been a favorite one, as it shows marks of long usage) is
twice bent, the second bend counteracting the former, and so bringing
the weapon tolerably straight.
The butt of the Australian spear, like that of the South African
assagai, is very slight, the shaft tapering gradually from the head,
which is about as large as a man’s finger, to the butt, where it is
hardly thicker than an artist’s pencil. This, being one of the common
spears, is simply sharpened at the end, and a few slight barbs cut in
the wood. I have, however, specimens in which there is almost every
variety of material, dimensions, and structure that can be found in
Australia.
Some of these are made on the same principle as that which has just
been described, but differ from it in having a separate head, made of
hard and heavy wood. This is deeply cut with barbs; so that the weapon
is a more formidable one than that which is made simply from one piece
of wood. The head of one of these spears is shown at fig. 7 in the
illustration “Heads of Spears,” on page 731.
Several of the spears are perfectly plain, being simply long sticks,
pointed at the larger end. These, however, have been scraped very
carefully, and seem to have had more pains bestowed upon them than
those with more elaborate heads. These spears are about eight feet in
length.
Then there are other spears with a variable number of heads, and of
variable dimensions. The commonest form of multiheaded spears has
either three or four points; but in every other respect, except number,
the spear heads are constructed in the same manner. One of these
spears, now before me, has a shaft about nine feet in length, and
rather more than an inch in diameter at the thickest part, which, as is
usual with Australian spears, is just below the head. The wood of which
it is made is exceedingly light and porous; but this very quality has
unfortunately made it so acceptable to the ptilinus beetles that they
have damaged it sadly, and rendered it so brittle that a very slight
shock would snap it. Indeed, the shaft of one of them was broken into
three pieces by a little child stumbling against it while coming down
stairs.
The four points which constitute the head are cut from the gum-tree,
the wood of which is hard and durable, and can be trimmed to a very
sharp point without danger of breakage. Each of them is twenty inches
in length, and they are largest in the middle, tapering slightly at one
end so as to permit of their being fastened to the shaft, and being
scraped to a fine point at the other end.
On examination I find that the large end of the shaft has been cut into
four grooves, in each of which is placed the butt end of one of the
points, which is fixed temporarily by black-boy gum. Wedgelike pegs
have then been pushed between the points, so as to make them diverge
properly from each other, and, when they have assumed the proper
position, they have been tightly bound together with cord. A layer of
black-boy gum has then been kneaded over the string, so as to keep all
firmly together.
So much for the mode of putting on the points, the end of one of which
may be seen at fig. 3 in the illustration. My own specimen, however, is
better made than that from which the sketch has been taken. The reader
will perceive that there is a barb attached to the point, and lashed in
its place by string. In my specimen the barb is made of a piece of bone
about as long as a skewer, and sharply pointed at both ends. In the
example shown in the illustration, the barb merely projects from the
side of the point, whereas in my specimen the bone answers the purpose
both of point and barb. In order to enable it to take the proper
direction, the top of the wooden point is bevelled off, and the piece
of bone lashed to it by the middle, so that one end becomes the point
of the weapon, and the other end does duty for the barb. Wishing to see
how this was done, I have cut away part of the lashings of one of the
four points, and have been much struck with the ingenuity displayed
by the maker in fastening the bone to the point, so as to make it
discharge its double duty. The barbs are all directed inward, so that,
when the native makes a stroke at a fish, the slippery prey is caught
between the barbs, and held there just as is an eel between the prongs
of the spear. The elasticity of the four long points causes them to
diverge when they come upon the back of a fish, and to contract tightly
upon it, so that the points of the barbs are pressed firmly into its
sides.
This spear also stands the native instead of a paddle, and with it he
contrives to guide his fragile bark with moderate speed. How he manages
to stand erect in so frail a vessel, to paddle about, to strike the
fish, and, lastly, to haul the struggling prey aboard, is really a
marvel. The last-mentioned feat is the most wonderful, as the fish are
often of considerable size, and the mere leverage of their weight at
the end of a ten-foot spear, added to the violent struggles which the
wounded fish makes, seems sufficient to upset a far more stable vessel.
Yet the natives manage to pass hour after hour without meeting with an
accident, and in one of their tiny boats, which seem scarcely large
enough to hold a single European, even though he should be accustomed
to the narrow outrigger skiff, or the comparatively modern canoe, two
men will be perfectly comfortable, spearing and hauling in their fish,
and even cooking them with a fire made on an extemporized hearth of wet
sand and stones in the middle of the canoe.
Night is the favorite time for fish spearing, and then the sight of a
number of natives engaged in the watery chase is a most picturesque
one. They carry torches, by means of which they see to the bottom of
the water, and which have also the advantage of dazzling the fish; and
the effect of the constantly moving torches, the shifting glare on the
rippled water, and the dark figures moving about, some searching for
fish, others striking, and others struggling with the captured prey, is
equally picturesque and exciting. The torches which they use are made
of inflammable bark: and the whole scene is almost precisely like that
which is witnessed in “burning the water,” in North America, or, to
come nearer home, “leistering” in Scotland.
In the daytime they cannot use the torch, and, as the slightest breeze
will cause a ripple on the surface of the water that effectually
prevents them from seeing the fish, they have an ingenious plan of
lying flat across the canoe, with the upper part of the head and the
eyes immersed in the water, and the hand grasping the spear ready for
the stroke. The eyes being under the ripple, they can see distinctly
enough.
I have often employed this plan when desirous of watching the
proceedings of sub-aquatic animals. It is very effectual, though after
a time the attitude becomes rather fatiguing, and those who are not
gymnasts enough to be independent as to the relative position of their
heads and heels are apt to find themselves giddy from the determination
of blood to the head.
Another spear, also used for fishing, and with an elaborate head, is
seen at fig 8. In this spear one point is iron, and the other two are
bone. The weapon is remarkable for the manner in which the shaft is
allowed to project among the points, and for the peculiar mode in which
the various parts are lashed together. This specimen comes from the
Lower Murray River.
There is in my collection a weapon which was brought from Cape York. It
is a fishing spear, and at first sight greatly resembles that which has
just been described. It is, however, of a more elaborate character, and
deserves a separate description. It is seven feet in length, and very
slender, the thickest part of the shaft not being more than half an
inch in diameter. It has four points, two of which are iron and without
barbs, the iron being about the thickness of a crow-quill, and rather
under three inches in length. The two bone points are made from the
flat tail-bone of one of the rays, and, being arranged with the point
of the bone in front, each of these points has a double row of barbs
directed backward, one running along each edge.
At fig. 6 of the same illustration is seen a very formidable variety of
the throwing-spear. Along each side of the head the native warrior has
cut a groove, and has stuck in it a number of chips of flint or quartz,
fastened in their places by the black-boy gum, just as has been related
of the saw. The workmanship of this specimen is, however, far ruder
than that of the saw, the pieces of flint not being the same size, nor
so carefully adjusted. Indeed, it seems as if the saw maker laid aside
the fragments of flint which he rejected for the tool, and afterward
used them in arming the head of his spear. One of these weapons in
my collection is armed on one side of the head only, along which are
arranged four pieces of obsidian having very jagged edges, and being
kept in their places by a thick coating of black-boy gum extending to
the very point of the spear.
At figs. 4 and 5 of the same illustration are seen two spear heads
which remind the observer of the flint weapons which have of late years
been so abundantly found in various parts of the world, and which
belonged to races of men now long extinct. The spear heads are nearly
as large as a man’s hand, and are made of flint chipped carefully into
the required shape. They are flat, and the maker has had sufficient
knowledge of the cleavage to enable him to give to each side a sharp
and tolerably uniform edge. It will be observed that fig. 5 is much
darker than fig. 4. This distinction is not accidental, but very well
expresses the variety in the hue of the material employed, some of the
spear heads being pale brown, and some almost black. The weapons are,
in fact, nothing but elongations of the dagger shown in fig. 2, of the
“tomahawks,” on page 722.
If the reader will look at figs. 1 and 2 of the illustration, he will
see that there are two heads of somewhat similar construction, except
that one is single and the other double. These spears were brought from
Port Essington.
Specimens of each kind are in my collection. They are of great size,
one being more than thirteen feet in length, and the other falling but
little short of that measurement. In diameter they are as thick as a
man’s wrist; and, however light may be the wood of which they are made,
they are exceedingly weighty, and must be very inferior in efficiency
to the light throwing-spears which have already been described. Of
course such a weapon as that is meant to be used as a pike, and not
as a missile. Besides these, I have another with three heads, and of
nearly the same dimensions as the two others.
In every case the head and the shaft are of different material, the one
being light and porous, and the other hard, compact, and heavy. Instead
of being lashed together with the neatness which is exhibited in the
lighter weapons, the head and shaft are united with a binding of thick
string, wrapped carefully, but yet roughly, round the weapon, and not
being covered with the coating of black-boy gum, which gives so neat a
look to the smaller weapons. In the three-pointed spear, the maker has
exercised his ingenuity in decorating the weapon with paint, the tips
of the points being painted with red and the rest of the head white,
while the lashing is also painted red.
In his wild state the Australian native never likes to be without a
spear in his hand, and, as may be expected from a man whose subsistence
is almost entirely due to his skill in the use of weapons, he is a most
accomplished spear thrower. Indeed, as a thrower of missiles in general
the Australian stands without a rival. Putting aside the boomerang, of
which we shall presently treat, the Australian can hurl a spear either
with his hand or with the “throw-stick,” can fling his short club with
unerring aim, and, even should he be deprived of these missiles, he
has a singular faculty of throwing stones. Many a time, before the
character of the natives was known, has an armed soldier been killed
by a totally unarmed Australian. The man has fired at the native, who,
by dodging about, has prevented the enemy from taking a correct aim,
and then has been simply cut to pieces by a shower of stones, picked up
and hurled with a force and precision that must be seen to be believed.
When the first Australian discoverer came home, no one would believe
that any weapon could be flung and then return to the thrower, and
even at the present day it is difficult to make some persons believe
in the stone-throwing powers of the Australian. To fling one stone
with perfect precision is not so easy a matter as it seems, but the
Australian will hurl one after the other with such rapidity that they
seem to be poured from some machine; and as he throws them he leaps
from side to side, so as to make the missiles converge from different
directions upon the unfortunate object of his aim.
In order to attain the wonderful skill which they possess in avoiding
as well as in throwing spears, it is necessary that they should be
in constant practice from childhood. Accordingly, they are fond of
getting up sham fights, armed with shield, throw-stick, and spear, the
latter weapon being headless, and the end blunted by being split and
scraped into filaments, and the bushy filaments then turned back, until
they form a soft fibrous pad. Even with this protection, the weapon is
not to be despised: and if it strike one of the combatants fairly, it
is sure to knock him down: and if it should strike him in the ribs, it
leaves him gasping for breath. This mimic spear goes by the name of
“matamoodlu,” and is made of various sizes according to the age and
capabilities of the person who uses it.
There is one missile which is, I believe, as peculiar to Australia as
the boomerang, though it is not so widely spread, nor of such use in
war or hunting. It is popularly called the “kangaroo-rat,” on account
of its peculiar leaping progression, and it may be familiar to those of
my readers who saw the Australian cricketers who came over to England
in the spring of 1808. The “kangaroo-rat” is a piece of hard wood
shaped like a double cone, and having a long flexible handle projecting
from one of the points. The handle is about a yard in length, and
as thick as an artist’s drawing-pencil, and at a little distance
the weapon looks like a huge tadpole with a much elongated tail. In
Australia the natives make the tail of a flexible twig, but those
who have access to the resources of civilization have found out that
whalebone is the best substance for the tail that can be found.
When the native throws the kangaroo-rat, he takes it by the end of the
tail and swings it backward and forward, so that it bends quite double,
and at last he gives a sort of underhanded jerk and lets it fly. It
darts through the air with a sharp and menacing hiss like the sound of
a rifle ball, its greatest height being some seven or eight feet from
the ground. As soon as it touches the earth, it springs up and makes
a succession of leaps, each less than the preceding, until it finally
stops. In fact, it skims over the ground exactly as a flat stone
skims over the water when boys are playing at “ducks and drakes.” The
distance to which this instrument can be thrown is really astonishing.
I have seen an Australian stand at one side of Kennington Oval, and
throw the “kangaroo-rat” completely across it. Much depends upon the
angle at which it first takes the ground. If thrown too high, it makes
one or two lofty leaps, but traverses no great distance; and, if it
be thrown too low, it shoots along the ground, and is soon brought up
by the excessive friction. When properly thrown, it looks just like
a living animal leaping along, and those who have been accustomed
to traverse the country say that its movements have a wonderful
resemblance to the long leaps of a kangaroo-rat fleeing in alarm, with
its long tail trailing as a balance behind it.
A somewhat similarly shaped missile is used in Fiji, but the Fijian
instrument has a stiff shaft, and it is propelled by placing the end
of the forefinger against the butt, and throwing it underhanded. It is
only used in a game in which the competitors try to send it skimming
along the ground as far as possible.
* * * * *
To return to our spears. It is seldom that an Australian condescends to
throw a spear by hand, the native always preferring to use the curious
implement called by the aborigines a “wummerah,” or “midlah,” and by
the colonists the “throw-stick.” The theory of the throw-stick is
simple enough, but the practice is very difficult, and requires a long
apprenticeship before it can be learned with any certainty.
The principle of this implement is that of the sling; and the
throw-stick is, in fact, a sling made of wood instead of cord, the
spear taking the place of the stone. So completely is the throw-stick
associated with the spear, that the native would as soon think of
going without his spear as without the instrument whereby he throws
it. The implement takes different forms in different localities,
although the principle of its construction is the same throughout. In
the illustration entitled “Throw-sticks,” on page 731, the reader may
see every variety of form which the throw-stick takes. He will see, on
inspecting the figures, that it consists of a stick of variable length
and breadth, but always having a barblike projection at one end. Before
describing the manner in which the instrument is used, I will proceed
to a short notice of the mode of its construction, and the various
forms which it takes.
In the first place, it is always more or less flattened; sometimes,
as in fig. 3, being almost leaf-shaped, and sometimes, as in fig. 6,
being quite narrow, and throughout the greater part of its length
little more than a flattened stick. It is always made of some hard and
elastic wood, and in many cases it is large and heavy enough to be
serviceable as a club at close quarters. Indeed, one very good specimen
in my collection, which came from the Swan River, was labelled, when it
reached me, as an Indian club. This form of the throw-stick is shown at
fig. 3.
This particular specimen is a trifle under two feet in length, and
in the broadest part it measures four inches and a half in width. In
the centre it is one-sixth of an inch in thickness, and diminishes
gradually to the edges, which are about as sharp as those of the
wooden sword already mentioned. Toward the end, however, it becomes
thicker, and at the place where the peg is placed it is as thick as
in the middle. Such a weapon would be very formidable if used as a
club--scarcely less so, indeed, than the well-known “merai” of New
Zealand.
[Illustration: HEADS OF AUSTRALIAN SPEARS. (See page 727.)]
[Illustration: THROW-STICKS. (See page 730.)]
[Illustration: BOOMERANGS. (See page 737.)]
That it has been used for this purpose is evident from a fracture,
which has clearly been caused by the effect of a severe blow. The
wood is split from one side of the handle half along the weapon,
and so it has been rendered for a time unserviceable. The careful
owner has, however, contrived to mend the fracture, and has done so
in a singularly ingenious manner. He has fitted the broken surfaces
accurately together, and has then bound them with the kangaroo-tail
sinews which have already been mentioned. The sinews are flat, and have
been protected by a thick coating of black-boy gum. Perhaps the reader
may be aware that, when catgut is knotted, the ends are secured by
scorching them, which makes them swell into round knobs. The sinew has
the same property, and the native has secured the ends precisely as an
English artisan would do.
The wood is that of the tough, hard, wavy-grained gum-tree. Whether in
consequence of much handling by greasy natives, or whether from other
causes, I do not know, but I cannot make a label adhere to it. To each
of the specimens in my collection is attached a catalogue number, and
though I have tried to affix the label with paste, gum, and glue,
neither will hold it, and in a few days the label falls off of its own
accord. This specimen has been cut from a tree which has been attacked
by some boring insect, and the consequence is, that a small hole is
bored through it edgewise, and has a very curious appearance. The hole
looks exactly like that of our well-known insect, the great _Sirex_.
The peculiarly-shaped handle is made entirely of black-boy gum,
and, with the exception of a tendency to warp away from the wood,
it is as firm as on the day when it was first made. The peg which
fits into the butt of the spear is in this case made of wood, but
in many throw-sticks it is made of bone. Figs. 1 and 2 are examples
of this flattened form of midlah, and were drawn from specimens in
Southern Australia. At figs. 4 and 5 may be seen examples of the
throw-stick of Port Essington, one of which, fig. 4, is remarkable for
the peculiarly-shaped handle. That of fig. 5 seems to be remarkably
inconvenient, and almost to have been made for the express purpose of
preventing the native from taking a firm hold of the weapon. Fig. 6
is an example of the throw-stick of Queensland, and, as may easily be
seen, can be used as a club, provided that it be reversed, and the peg
end used as a handle.
There is another form of throw-stick used in Northern Australia, an
example of which may be seen at fig. 6. It is a full foot longer than
that which came from the Murray, and is one of the “flattened sticks”
which have been casually mentioned. It has a wooden spike for the
spear-butt, and a most remarkable handle. Two pieces of melon-shell
have been cut at rather long ovals, and have been fixed diagonally
across the end of the weapon, one on each side. Black-boy gum has been
profusely used in fixing these pieces, and the whole of the interior
space between the shells has been filled up with it. A diagonal lashing
of sinew, covered with the same gum, passes over the shells, and the
handle is strongly wrapped with the same material for a space of five
inches.
We will now proceed to see how the native throws the spear.
Holding the throw-stick by the handle, so that the other end projects
over his shoulder, he takes a spear in his left hand, fits a slight
hollow in its butt to the peg of the midlah, and then holds it in its
place by passing the forefinger of the right hand over the shaft. It
will be seen that the leverage is enormously increased by this plan,
and that the force of the arm is more than doubled.
Sometimes, especially when hunting, the native throws the spear without
further trouble, but when he is engaged in a fight he goes through
a series of performances which are rather ludicrous to an European,
though they are intended to strike terror into the native enemy. The
spear is jerked about violently, so that it quivers just like an
African assagai, and while vibrating strongly it is thrown. There are
two ways of quivering the spear; the one by merely moving the right
hand, and the other by seizing the shaft in the left hand, and shaking
it violently while the butt rests against the peg of the throw-stick.
In any case the very fact of quivering the spear acts on the Australian
warrior as it does upon the African. The whirring sound of the
vibrating weapon excites him to a pitch of frenzied excitement, and
while menacing his foe with the trembling spear, the warrior dances and
leaps and yells as if he were mad--and indeed for the moment he becomes
a raving madman.
The distance to which the spear can be thrown is something wonderful,
and its aspect as it passes through the air is singularly beautiful. It
seems rather to have been shot from some huge bow, or to be furnished
with some innate powers of flight, than to have been flung from a human
arm, as it performs its lofty course, undulating like a thin black
snake, and writhing its graceful way through the air. As it leaves the
throw-stick, a slight clashing sound is heard, which to the experienced
ear tells its story as clearly as the menacing clang of an archer’s
bowstring.
To me the distance of its flight is not nearly so wonderful as the
precision with which it can be aimed. A tolerably long throw-stick
gives so powerful a leverage that the length of range is not so very
astonishing. But that accuracy of aim should be attained as well as
length of flight is really wonderful. I have seen the natives, when
engaged in mock battle, stand at a distance of eighty or ninety yards,
and throw their spears with such certainty that, in four throws out of
six, the antagonist was obliged to move in order to escape the spears.
Beside the powerful and lofty throw, they have a way of suddenly
flinging it underhand, so that it skims just above the ground, and,
when it touches the earth, proceeds with a series of ricochets that
must be peculiarly embarrassing to a novice in that kind of warfare.
The power of the spear is never better shown than in the chase of the
kangaroo. When a native sees one of these animals engaged in feeding,
he goes off to a little distance where it cannot see him, gathers a
few leafy boughs, and ties them together so as to form a screen. He
then takes his spears, throw-stick, and waddy, and goes off in chase
of the kangaroo. Taking advantage of every cover, he slips noiselessly
forward, always taking care to approach the animal against the wind, so
that it shall not be able to detect his presence by the nostrils, and
gliding along with studied avoidance of withered leaves, dry twigs, and
the other natural objects which, by their rustling and snapping, warn
the animal that danger is at hand.
As long as possible, the hunter keeps under the shelter of natural
cover, but when this is impossible, he takes to his leafy screen, and
trusts to it for approaching within range. Before quitting the trees
or bush behind which he has been hiding himself, he takes his spear,
fits it to the throw-stick, raises his arm with the spear ready poised,
and never moves that arm until it delivers the spear. Holding the
leafy screen in front of him with his left hand, and disposing the
second spear and other weapons which cannot be hidden so as to look
like dead branches growing from the bush, he glides carefully toward
the kangaroo, always advancing while it stoops to feed, and crouching
quietly behind the screen whenever it raises itself, after the fashion
of kangaroos, and surveys the surrounding country.
At last he comes within fair range, and with unerring aim he transfixes
the unsuspecting kangaroo. Sometimes he comes upon several animals,
and in that case his second spear is rapidly fixed in the midlah and
hurled at the flying animals, and, should he have come to tolerably
close quarters, the short missile club is flung with certain aim.
Having thrown all the missiles which he finds available, he proceeds to
despatch the wounded animals with his waddy.
In the illustration No. 1, on the 739th page, the action of the
throw-stick is well shown, and two scenes in the hunt are depicted.
In the foreground is a hunter who has succeeded in getting tolerably
close to the kangaroos by creeping toward them behind the shadow of
trees, and is just poising his spear for the fatal throw. The reader
will note the curious bone ornament which passes through the septum
of the nose, and gives such a curious character to the face. In the
background is another hunter, who has been obliged to have recourse to
the bough screen, behind which he is hiding himself like the soldiers
in “Macbeth,” while the unsuspecting kangaroos are quietly feeding
within easy range. One of them has taken alarm, and is sitting upright
to look about it, just as the squirrel will do while it is feeding on
the ground.
The reader will now see the absolute necessity of an accurate aim in
the thrower--an accomplishment which to me is a practical mystery.
I can hurl the spear to a considerable distance by means of a
throw-stick, but the aim is quite another business, the spear seeming
to take an independent course of its own without the least reference
to the wishes of the thrower. Yet the Australian is so good a marksman
that he can make good practice at a man at the distance of eighty or
ninety yards, making due allowance for the wind, and calculating the
curve described by the spear with wonderful accuracy; while at a short
distance his eye and hand are equally true, and he will transfix a
kangaroo at twenty or thirty yards as certainly as it could be shot by
an experienced rifleman.
In some parts of Australia the natives use the bow and arrow; but the
employment of such weapons seems to belong chiefly to the inhabitants
of the extreme north. There are in my collection specimens of bows and
arrows brought from Cape York, which in their way are really admirable
weapons, and would do credit to the archers of Polynesia. The bow is
more than six feet long, and is made from the male, _i. e._ the solid
bamboo. It is very stiff, and a powerful as well as a practised arm is
needed to bend it properly.
Like the spear shaft, this bow is greatly subject to being worm-eaten.
My own specimen is so honeycombed by these tiny borers that when it
arrived a little heap of yellow powder fell to the ground wherever
the bow was set, and, if it were sharply struck, a cloud of the same
powder came from it. Fortunately, the same looseness of texture which
enabled the beetle to make such havoc served also to conduct the
poisoned spirit which I injected into the holes; and now the ravages
have ceased, and not the most voracious insect in existence can touch
the weapon. The string is very simply made, being nothing but a piece
of rattan split to the required thickness. Perhaps the most ingenious
part of this bow is the manner in which the loop is made. Although
unacquainted with the simple yet effective bowstring knot, which is so
well known to our archers, and which would not suit the stiff and harsh
rattan, the native has invented a knot which is quite as efficacious,
and is managed on the same principle of taking several turns, with the
cord round itself just below the loop. In order to give the rattan the
needful flexibility it has been beaten so as to separate it into fibres
and break up the hard, flinty coating which surrounds it, and these
fibres have then been twisted round and round into a sort of rude cord,
guarded at the end with a wrapping of the same material in order to
preserve it from unravelling.
The arrows are suitable to the bow. They are variable in length, but
all are much longer than those which the English bowmen were accustomed
to use, and, instead of being a “cloth yard” in length, the shortest
measures three feet seven inches in length, while the longest is four
feet eight inches from butt to point. They are without a vestige of
feathering, and have no nock, so that the native archer is obliged to
hold the arrow against the string with his thumb and finger, and cannot
draw the bow with the fore and middle finger, as all good English
archers have done ever since the bow was known.
The shafts of the arrows are made of reed, and they are all healed
with long spikes of some dark and heavy wood, which enable them to fly
properly. Some of the heads are plain, rounded spikes, but others are
elaborately barbed. One, for example, has a single row of six barbs,
each an inch in length, and another has one double barb, like that of
the “broad arrow” of England. Another has, instead of a barb, a smooth
bulb, ending gradually in a spike, and serving no possible purpose,
except perhaps that of ornament. Another has two of these bulbs; and
another, the longest of them all, has a slight bulb, and then an
attempt at carving. The pattern is of the very simplest character, but
it is the only piece of carving on all the weapons. The same arrow is
remarkable for having the point covered for some two inches with a sort
of varnish, looking exactly like red sealing-wax, while a band of the
same material encircles the head about six inches nearer the shaft. The
sailor who brought the weapons over told me that this red varnish was
poison, but I doubt exceedingly whether it is anything but ornament.
The end of the reed into which the head is inserted is guarded by a
wrapping of rattan fibre, covered with a sort of dark varnish, which,
however, is not the black-boy gum that is so plentifully used in the
manufacture of other weapons. In one instance the place of the wrapping
is taken by an inch or so of plaiting, wrought so beautifully with
the outside of the rattan cut into flat strips scarcely wider than
ordinary twine, that it betrays the Polynesian origin of the weapons,
and confirms me in the belief that the bow and arrow are not indigenous
to Australia, but have only been imported from New Guinea, and have
not made their way inland. The natives of Northern Australia have also
evidently borrowed much from Polynesia, as we shall see in the course
of this narrative.
The bow is usually about six feet in length, though one in my
possession is somewhat longer. Owing to the dimensions of the bow and
arrows, a full equipment of them is very weighty, and, together with
the other weapons which an Australian thinks it his duty to carry, must
be no slight burden to the warrior.
Ferocity of countenance is very characteristic of the race, and, as we
shall see when we come to the canoes and their occupants, the people
are very crafty: mild and complaisant when they think themselves
overmatched, insolent and menacing when they fancy themselves superior,
and tolerably sure to commit murder if they think they can do so with
impunity. The only mode of dealing with these people is the safe one to
adopt with all savages: _i. e._ never trust them, and never cheat them.
We now come to that most wonderful of all weapons, the boomerang.
This is essentially the national weapon of Australia, and is found
throughout the West country. As far as is known, it is peculiar to
Australia, and, though curious missiles are found in other parts of the
world, there is none which can be compared with the boomerang.
On one of the old Egyptian monuments there is a figure of a
bird-catcher in a canoe. He is assisted by a cat whom he has taught to
catch prey for him, and, as the birds fly out of the reeds among which
he is pushing his canoe, he is hurling at them a curved missile which
some persons have thought to be the boomerang. I cannot, however, see
that there is the slightest reason for such a supposition.
No weapon in the least like the boomerang is at present found in any
part of Africa, and, so far as I know, there is no example of a really
efficient weapon having entirely disappeared from a whole continent.
The harpoon with which the Egyptians of old killed the hippopotamus
is used at the present day without the least alteration; the net is
used for catching fish in the same manner; the spear and shield of the
Egyptian infantry were identical in shape with those of the Kanemboo
soldier, a portrait of whom may be seen on page 612; the bow and arrow
still survive; and even the whip with which the Egyptian task masters
beat their Jewish servants is the “khoorbash” with which the Nubian of
the present day beats his slave.
In all probability, the curved weapon which the bird-catcher holds
in his hand, and which he is about to throw, is nothing more than a
short club, analogous to the knob-kerry of the Kaffir, and having no
returning power. Varying slightly in some of its details, the boomerang
is identical in principle wherever it is made. It is a flattish
curved piece of wood, various examples of which may be seen in the
illustration on the 731st page; and neither by its shape nor material
does it give the least idea of its wonderful powers.
The material of which the boomerang (or bommereng, as the word is
sometimes rendered) is made is almost invariably that of the gum-tree,
which is heavy, hard, and tough, and is able to sustain a tolerably
severe shock without breaking. It is slightly convex on the upper
surface, and flat below, and is always thickest in the middle, being
scraped away toward the edges, which are moderately sharp, especially
the outer edge. It is used as a missile, and it is one of the strangest
weapons that ever was invented.
In the old fairy tales, with which we are more or less acquainted,
one of the strange gifts which is presented by the fairy to the hero
is often a weapon of some wonderful power. Thus we have the sword of
sharpness, which cut through every thing at which it was aimed, and
the coat of mail, which no weapon would pierce. It is a pity, by the
way, that the sword and the coat never seem to have been tried against
each other. Then there are arrows (in more modern tales modified into
bullets) that always struck their mark, and so on. And in one of the
highest flights of fairy lore we read of arrows that always returned of
their own accord to the archer.
In Australia, however, we have, as an actual fact, a missile that can
be thrown to a considerable distance, and which always returns to the
thrower. By a peculiar mode of hurling it the weapon circles through
the air, and then describes a circular course, falling by the side of
or behind the man who threw it. The mode of throwing is very simple
in theory, and very difficult in practice. The weapon is grasped by
the handle, which is usually marked by a number of cross cuts, so as
to give a firm hold, and the flat side is kept downward. Then, with a
quick and sharp fling, the boomerang is hurled, the hand at the same
time being drawn back, so as to make the weapon revolve with extreme
rapidity. A billiard-player will understand the sort of movement when
told that it is on the same principle as the “screw-back” stroke at
billiards. The weapon must be flung with great force, or it will not
perform its evolutions properly.
If the reader would like to practice throwing the boomerang, let me
recommend him, in the first place, to procure a genuine weapon, and
not an English imitation thereof, such as is generally sold at the
toy-shops. He should then go alone into a large field, where the ground
is tolerably soft and there are no large stones about, and then stand
facing the wind. Having grasped it as described, he should mark with
his eye a spot on the ground at the distance of forty yards or so, and
hurl the boomerang at it. Should he throw it rightly, the weapon will
at first look as if it were going to strike the ground; but, instead
of doing so, it will shoot off at a greater or less angle, according
to circumstances, and will rise high into the air, circling round with
gradually diminishing force, until it falls to the ground. Should
sufficient force have been imparted to it, the boomerang will fall some
eight or ten yards behind the thrower.
It is necessary that the thrower should be alone, or at least have only
an instructor with him, when he practises this art, as the boomerang
will, in inexperienced hands, take all kinds of strange courses, and
will, in all probability, swerve from its line, and strike one of the
spectators; and the force with which a boomerang can strike is almost
incredible. I have seen a dog killed on the spot, its body being nearly
cut in two by the boomerang as it fell; and I once saw a brass spur
struck clean off the heel of an incautious spectator, who ran across
the path of the weapon.
It is necessary that he choose a soft as well as spacious field, as the
boomerang has a special knack of selecting the hardest spots on which
to fall, and if it can find a large stone is sure to strike it, and
so break itself to pieces. And if there are trees in the way, it will
get among the boughs, perhaps smash itself, certainly damage itself,
and probably stick among the branches. The learner should throw also
against the wind, as, if the boomerang is thrown with the wind, it does
not think of coming back again, but sails on as if it never meant to
stop, and is sure to reach a wonderful distance before it falls.
Nearly thirty years ago, I lost a boomerang by this very error. In
company with some of my schoolfellows, I was throwing the weapon for
their amusement, when one of them snatched it up, turned round, and
threw it with all his force in the direction of the wind. The distance
to which the weapon travelled I am afraid to mention, lest it should
not be believed. The ground in that neighborhood is composed of
successive undulations of hill and vale, and we saw the boomerang cross
two of the valleys, and at last disappear into a grove of lime-trees
that edged the churchyard.
In vain we sought for the weapon, and it was not found until four years
afterward, when a plumber, who had been sent to repair the roof of the
church, found it sticking in the leads. So it had first traversed that
extraordinary distance, had then cut clean through the foliage of a
lime-tree, and lastly had sufficient force to stick into the leaden
roofing of a church. The boomerang was brought down half decayed, and
wrenched out of its proper form by the shock.
Should the reader wish to learn the use of the weapon, he should watch
a native throw it. The attitude of the man as he hurls the boomerang
is singularly graceful. Holding three or four of the weapons in his
left hand, he draws out one at random with his right, while his eyes
are fixed on the object which he desires to hit, or the spot to which
the weapon has to travel. Balancing the boomerang for a moment in his
hand, he suddenly steps a pace or two forward, and with a quick, sharp,
almost angry stroke, launches his weapon into the air.
Should he desire to bring the boomerang back again, he has two modes of
throwing. In the one mode, he flings it high in the air, into which it
mounts to a wonderful height, circling the while with a bold, vigorous
sweep, that reminds the observer of the grand flight of the eagle
or the buzzard. It flies on until it has reached a spot behind the
thrower, when all life seems suddenly to die out of it; it collapses,
so to speak, like a bird shot on the wing, topples over and over, and
falls to the ground.
There is another mode of throwing the returning boomerang which is even
more remarkable. The thrower, instead of aiming high in the air, marks
out a spot on the ground some thirty or forty yards in advance, and
hurls the boomerang at it. The weapon strikes the ground, and, instead
of being smashed to pieces, as might be thought from the violence of
the stroke, it springs from the ground Antæus-like, seeming to attain
new vigor by its contact with the earth. It flies up as if it had been
shot from the ground by a catapult; and, taking a comparatively low
elevation, performs the most curious evolutions, whirling so rapidly
that it looks like a semi-transparent disc with an opaque centre,
and directing its course in an erratic manner that is very alarming
to those who are unaccustomed to it. I have seen it execute all its
manœuvres within seven or eight feet from the ground, hissing as it
passed through the air with a strangely menacing sound, and, when
it finally came to the ground, leaping along as if it were a living
creature.
We will now examine the various shapes of boomerangs, as seen in the
illustration on the 731st page. Some of the specimens are taken from
the British Museum, some from the collection of Colonel Lane Fox,
some from my own, and the rest are drawn by Mr. Angas from specimens
obtained in the country. I have had them brought together, so that the
reader may see how the boomerang has been gradually modified out of the
club.
At fig. 4 is the short pointed stick which may either answer the
purpose of a miniature club, a dagger, or an instrument to be used in
the ascent of trees. Just below it is a club or waddy, with a rounded
head, and at fig. 6 the head has been developed into a point, and
rather flattened. If the reader will refer to figs. 6 and 7, he will
see two clubs which are remarkable for having not only the knob, but
the whole of the handle flattened, and the curve of the head extended
to the handle.
The transition from this club to the boomerang is simple enough, and,
indeed, we have an example (fig. 1) of a weapon which looks like an
ordinary boomerang, but is in fact a club, and is used for hand-to-hand
combat.
These figures show pretty clearly the progressive structure of the
boomerang. The flattened clubs were probably made from necessity, the
native not being able to find a suitable piece of wood, and taking
the best that he could get. If, then, one of these clubs were, on the
spur of the moment, hurled at an object, the superior value which this
flatness conferred upon it as a missile would be evident as well as the
curved course which it would take through the air. The native, ever
quick to note anything which might increase the power of his weapons,
would be sure to notice this latter peculiarity, and to perceive the
valuable uses to which it could be turned. He would therefore try
various forms of flattened missiles, until he at last reached the true
boomerang.
The strangest point about the boomerang is, that the curve is not
uniform, and, in fact, scarcely any two specimens have precisely the
same curve. Some have the curve so sharp that it almost deserves the
name of angle, for an example of which see fig. 8; others, as in fig.
9, have the curve very slight; while others, as in fig. 2, have a
tendency to a double curve, and there is a specimen in the British
Museum in which the double curve is very boldly marked. The best and
typical form of boomerang is, however, that which is shown at fig. 3.
The specimen which is there represented was made on the banks of the
river Darling.
The natives can do almost anything with the boomerang, and the
circuitous course which it adopts is rendered its most useful
characteristic. Many a hunter has wished that he only possessed that
invaluable weapon, a gun which would shoot round a corner, and just
such a weapon does the Australian find in his boomerang. If, for
example, he should see a kangaroo in such a position that he cannot
come within the range of a spear without showing himself and alarming
the animal, or say, for example, that it is sheltered from a direct
attack by the trunk of a tree, he will steal as near as he can without
disturbing the animal, and then will throw his boomerang in such a
manner that it circles round the tree, and strikes the animal at which
it is aimed.
That such precision should be obtained with so curious a weapon seems
rather remarkable, but those of my readers who are accustomed to play
at bowls will call to mind the enormous power which is given to them
by the “bias,” or weighted side of the bowl, and the bold curves which
they can force the missile to execute, when they wish to send the bowl
round a number of obstacles which are in its way. The boomerang is used
as a sort of aërial bowl, with the advantage that the expert thrower is
able to alter the bias at will, and to make the weapon describe almost
any curve that he chooses.
It is even said that, in case there should be obstacles which prevent
the boomerang from passing round the tree, the native has the power of
throwing it so that it strikes the ground in front of the tree, and
then, by the force of the throw, leaps over the top of the branches,
and descends upon the object at which it is thrown.
On page 739 is shown a scene on the river Murray, in which the
natives are drawn as they appear when catching the shag, a species of
cormorant, which is found there in great numbers. They capture these
birds in various ways, sometimes by climbing at night the trees on
which they roost, and seizing them, getting severely bitten, by the
way, on their naked limbs and bodies. They have also a very ingenious
mode of planting sticks in the bed of the river, so that they project
above the surface, and form convenient resting-places for the birds.
Fatigued with diving, the cormorants are sure to perch upon them; and
as they are dozing while digesting their meal of fish, the native swims
gently up, and suddenly catches them by the wings, and drags them under
water. He always breaks the neck of the bird at once.
They are so wonderfully skilful in the water, that when pelicans are
swimming unsuspectingly on the surface, the natives approach silently,
dive under them, seize the birds by the legs, jerk them under water,
and break both the wings and legs so rapidly that the unfortunate birds
have no chance of escape.
Sometimes, as shown in the illustration, the natives use their
boomerangs and clubs, knock the birds off the branches on which they
are roosting, and secure them before they have recovered from the
stunning blow of the weapon. When approaching cormorants and other
aquatic birds, the native has a very ingenious plan of disguising
himself. He gathers a bunch of weeds, ties it on his head, and slips
quietly into the water, keeping his whole body immersed, and only
allowing the artificial covering to be seen. The bird being quite
accustomed to see patches of weeds floating along the water, takes no
notice of so familiar an object, and so allows the disguised man to
come within easy reach.
To return to the boomerang. The reader may readily have imagined that
the manufacture of so remarkable an implement is not a very easy one.
The various points which constitute the excellence of a boomerang
are so light that there is scarcely an European who can see them,
especially as the shape, size, and weight of the weapon differ so
much according to the locality in which it was made. The native, when
employed in making a boomerang, often spends many days over it, not
only on account of the very imperfect tools which he possesses, but by
reason of the minute care which is required in the manufacture of a
good weapon.
Day after day he may be seen with the boomerang in his hand, chipping
at it slowly and circumspectly, and becoming more and more careful as
it approaches completion. When he has settled the curve, and nearly
flattened it to its proper thickness, he scarcely makes three or four
strokes without balancing the weapon in his hand, looking carefully
along the edges, and making movements as if he were about to throw it.
The last few chips seem to exercise a wonderful effect on the powers of
the weapon, and about them the native is exceedingly fastidious.
Yet, with all this care, the weapon is a very rough one, and the marks
of the flint axe are left without even an attempt to smooth them. In
a well-used boomerang the projecting edges of the grooves made by
various cuts and chips become quite polished by friction, while the
sunken portion is left rough. In one fine specimen in my possession the
manufacturer has taken a curious advantage of these grooves. Besides
marking the handle end by covering it with cross-scorings as has
already been described, he has filled the grooves with the red ochre of
which the Australian is so fond, and for some eight inches the remains
of the red paint are visible in almost every groove.
So delicate is the operation of boomerang making, that some men,
natives though they be, cannot turn out a really good weapon, while
others are celebrated for their skill, and can dispose of their weapons
as fast as they make them. One of the native “kings” was a well-known
boomerang maker, and his weapons were widely distributed among the
natives, who knew his handiwork as an artist knows the touch of a
celebrated painter. To this skill, and the comparative wealth which its
exercise brought him, the king in question owed the principal part of
his authority.
[Illustration: (1.) SPEARING THE KANGAROO. (See page 734.)]
[Illustration: (2.) CATCHING THE CORMORANT. (See page 738.)]
A fair idea of the size and weight of the boomerang may be gained by
the measurements of the weapon which has just been mentioned. It is
two feet nine inches long when measured with the curve, and two feet
six inches from tip to tip. It is exactly two inches in width, only
narrowing at the tips, and its weight is exactly eleven ounces. This,
by the way, is a war boomerang, and is shaped like that which is shown
in “Boomerangs” on page 731, fig. 3. Another specimen, which is of
about the same weight, is shaped like that of fig. 8. It measures two
feet five inches along the curve, two feet one inch from tip to tip,
and is three inches in width in the middle, diminishing gradually
toward the tips.
* * * * *
In order to enable them to ward off these various missiles, the
natives are armed with a shield, which varies exceedingly in shape and
dimensions, and, indeed, in some places is so unlike a shield, and
apparently so inadequate to the office of protecting the body, that
when strangers come to visit my collection I often have much difficulty
in persuading them that such strange-looking objects can by any
possibility be shields. As there is so great a variety in the shields,
I have collected together a number of examples, which, I believe,
comprise every form of shield used throughout Australia. Two of them
are from specimens in my own collection, several from that of Colonel
Lane Fox, others are drawn from examples in the British Museum, and the
rest were sketched by Mr. Angas in the course of his travels through
Australia.
As a general fact, the shield is very solid and heavy, and in some
cases looks much more like a club with which a man can be knocked down,
than a shield whereby he can be saved from a blow, several of them
having sharp edges as if for the purpose of inflicting injury.
If the reader will look at the row of shields on page 742, he will
see that figs. 2 and 3 exhibit two views of the same shield. This is
one of the commonest forms of the weapon, and is found throughout a
considerable portion of Western Australia. It is cut out of a solid
piece of the ever useful gum-tree, and is in consequence very hard and
very heavy. As may be seen by reference to the illustration, the form
of the shield is somewhat triangular, the face which forms the front
of the weapon being slightly rounded, and the handle being formed
by cutting through the edge on which the other two faces converge.
The handle is very small, and could scarcely be used by an ordinary
European, though it is amply wide enough for the small and delicate
looking hand of the Australian native. My own is a small hand, but is
yet too large to hold the Australian shield comfortably.
The reader will see that by this mode of forming the handle the wrist
has great play, and can turn the shield from side to side with the
slightest movement of the hand. This faculty is very useful, especially
when the instrument is used for warding off the spear or the club,
weapons which need only to be just turned aside in order to guide them
away from the body.
One of these shields in my own collection is a very fine example of the
instrument, and its dimensions will serve to guide the reader as to
the usual form, size, and weight of an Australian shield. It measures
exactly two feet seven inches in length, and is five inches wide at
the middle, which is the broadest part. The width of the hole which
receives the hand is three inches and three-eighths, and the weight of
the shield is rather more than three pounds.
The extraordinary weight of the shield is needed in order to enable
it to resist the shock of the boomerang, the force of which may be
estimated by its weight, eleven ounces, multiplied by the force with
which it is hurled. This terrible weapon cannot be merely turned aside,
like the spear or the waddy, and often seems to receive an additional
impulse from striking any object, as the reader may see by reference to
page 737, in which the mode of throwing the boomerang is described. A
boomerang must be stopped, and not merely parried, and moreover, if it
be not stopped properly, it twists round the shield, and with one of
its revolving ends inflicts a wound on the careless warrior.
Even if it be met with the shield and stopped, it is apt to break,
and the two halves to converge upon the body. The very fragments
of the boomerang seem able to inflict almost as much injury as the
entire weapon; and, in one of the skirmishes to which the natives are
so addicted, a man was seen to fall to the ground with his body cut
completely open by a broken boomerang.
It is in warding off the boomerang, therefore, that the chief skill of
the Australian is shown. When he sees the weapon is pursuing a course
which will bring it to him, he steps forward so as to meet it; and,
as the boomerang clashes against the shield, he gives the latter a
rapid turn with the wrist. If this manœuvre be properly executed, the
boomerang breaks to pieces, and the fragments are struck apart by the
movement of the shield.
Perhaps some of my readers may remember that “Dick-a-dick,” the very
popular member of the Australian cricketers who came to England in
1868, among other exhibitions of his quickness of eye and hand, allowed
himself to be pelted with cricket balls, at a distance of fifteen
yards, having nothing wherewith to protect himself but the shield and
the leowal, or angular club, the former being used to shield the body,
and the latter to guard the legs. The force and accuracy with which a
practised cricketer can throw the ball are familiar to all Englishmen,
and it was really wonderful to see a man, with no clothes but a
skin-tight elastic dress, with a piece of wood five inches wide in his
left hand, and a club in his right, quietly stand against a positive
rain of cricket-balls as long as any one liked to throw at him, and
come out of the ordeal unscathed.
Not the least surprising part of the performance was the coolness with
which he treated the whole affair, and the almost instinctive knowledge
that he seemed to possess respecting the precise destination of each
ball. If a ball went straight at his body or head, it was met and
blocked by the shield; if it were hurled at his legs, the club knocked
it aside. As to those which were sure not to hit him, he treated them
with contemptuous indifference, just moving his head a little on one
side to allow the ball to pass, which absolutely ruffled his hair as it
shot by, or lifting one arm to allow a ball to pass between the limb
and his body, or, if it were aimed but an inch wide of him, taking no
notice of it whatever. The shield which he used with such skill was
the same kind as that which has just been described, and was probably
selected because its weight enabled it to block the balls without the
hand that held it feeling the shock.
To all appearances, the natives expend much more labor upon the shield
than upon the boomerang, the real reason, however, being that much
ornament would injure the boomerang, but can have no injurious effect
upon the shield. By reference to the illustration, the reader will see
that the face of the shield is covered with ornament, which, simple in
principle, is elaborate in detail.
There is a specimen in my collection which is ornamented to a very
great extent on its face, the sides and the handle being perfectly
plain. It has a number of lines drawn transversely in bands, which,
however, are seven instead of five in number. Each band is composed of
three zigzag grooves, and each groove has been filled with red ochre.
The space between is filled in with a double zigzag pattern, and the
effect of all these lines, simple as they are, is perfectly artistic
and consistent.
[Illustration: SHIELDS.]
The pattern, by the way, is one that seems common to all savage races
of men, wherever they may be found, and is to be seen on weapons made
by the ancient races now long passed away, among the Kaffir tribes
of South Africa, the cannibal tribes of Central Western Africa, the
inhabitants of the various Polynesian islands, the savages of the
extreme north and extreme south of America, and the natives of the
great continent of Australia.
At fig. 7 of the accompanying illustration may be seen a shield made of
solid wood, in which the triangular form has been developed in a very
curious manner into a quadrangular shape. The handle is made in the
same manner as that of the former shield, _i. e._ by cutting through
two of the faces of the triangle, while the front of the shield,
instead of being a tolerably round face, is flattened out into a sharp
edge. It is scarcely possible to imagine any instrument that looks
less like a shield than does this curious weapon, which seems to have
been made for the express purpose of presenting as small a surface as
possible to the enemy.
The fact is, however, that the Southern Australian who uses these
shields has not to defend himself against arrows, from which a man can
only be defended by concealing his body behind shelter which is proof
against them: he has only to guard against the spear and boomerang, and
occasionally the missile club, all which weapons he can turn aside
with the narrow shield that has been described.
One of these shields in my collection is two feet seven inches in
length, rather more than six inches in width, and barely three inches
thick in the middle. Its weight is just two pounds. Such a weapon seems
much more like a club than a shield, and, indeed, if held by one end,
its sharp edge might be used with great effect upon the head of an
enemy. Like most Australian shields, it is covered with a pattern of
the same character as that which has already been mentioned, and it has
been so thoroughly painted with ochre that it is of a reddish mahogany
color, and the real hue of the wood can only be seen by scraping off
some of the stained surface. The name for this kind of shield is
tamarang, and it is much used in dances, in which it is struck at
regular intervals with the waddy.
In the British Museum is a shield which is much more solid than either
of those which have been described. The manufacturer evidently found
the labor of chipping the wood too much for him, and accordingly
made much use of fire, forming his shield by alternate charring and
scraping. The handle is rather curiously made by cutting two deep holes
side by side in the back of the shield, the piece of wood between them
being rounded into a handle. As is the case with most of the shields,
the handle is a very small one. The face of the shield is much wider
than either of those which have been noticed, and is very slightly
rounded. It is ornamented with carved grooves, but rough usage has
obliterated most of them, and the whole implement is as rough and
unsightly an article as can well be imagined, in spite of the labor
which has been bestowed upon it.
We now come to another class of shield, made of bark, and going by
the title of Mulabakka. Shields in general are called by the name of
Hieleman. Some of these bark shields are of considerable size, and
are so wide in the middle that, when the owner crouches behind them,
they protect the greater part of his body. As the comparatively thin
material of which they are composed prevents the handle from being made
by cutting into the shield itself, the native is obliged to make the
handle separately, and fasten it to the shield by various methods.
The commonest mode of fixing the handle to a Mulabakka shield is seen
at figs. 4 and 5, on page 742, which exhibit the front and profile
views of the same shield. Another Mulabakka is shown at fig. 6.
The faces of all the Mulabakka shields are covered with ornamented
patterns, mostly on the usual zigzag principle, but some having a
pattern in which curves form the chief element.