PALAEOLITHIC RACES 501 



wandered perpetually from place to place in search of food, and 

 their only protection from wind and weather, in a climate 

 sometimes bitingly cold, was a rude screen made by fixing up 

 strips of bark against wooden stakes. 



Their implements were few and simple, made of wood or 

 stone ; their weapons, whether for the chase or war, were of wood. 

 Of these the spear was the most important ; it was fashioned 

 out of the shoots of the " ti " tree, which are distinguished for 

 their straightness. To convert one of these into a spear was 

 an operation demanding considerable skill and care : the stick 

 was first warmed over a fire to render it limber, and if not 

 quite straight was corrected by bending with both hands while 

 held firmly between the teeth. Thus the human jaw was the 

 earliest " arrow-straightener." The end was hardened by 

 charring in the fire, and sharpened by scraping with a notched 

 flake of stone. With a similar implement the bark was removed 

 and the surface rendered round and smooth. When finished 

 it was a formidable weapon ; a good spear balanced in the hand 

 as nicely as a fishing-rod ; it could be hurled for a distance of 

 sixty yards with sufficient force to pass through the body of 

 a man. The aim of the Tasmanian was good up to forty yards. 

 To keep their spears in good condition, when not in use, 

 they were tied up against the trunk of a tree, selected for its 

 straightness. 



The only other weapon was the club or waddy, about two 

 feet in length, notched or roughened at one end to give a grip, 

 and sometimes knobbed at the other ; the shaft was scraped 

 smooth like the spear. Its range was over forty yards. 



The stone implements, which served a variety of purposes, 

 were made by striking off chips from one flake with another : 

 in this occupation a man would sit absorbed for hours at a 

 time. Flint is not known in Tasmania, and a fine-grained 

 sandstone or " phthanite " served as a substitute ; it is not so 

 tractable as flint, however, and this may partly account for the 

 inferior finish of much of the Tasmanian workmanship. 



A double interest attaches to the notched stone or " spoke- 

 shave," used for scraping the spear; the spear itself is perish- 

 able, for wood soon decays, and no wooden implements are 

 known to have survived the palaeolithic period ; but the stone 

 spoke-shave, which implies the spear, and in its smaller forms 

 the arrow, may endure for an indefinite time. Many excellent 



