250 HUTS AND WEAPONS. 1839.] 



give place to the fairer, and more highly gifted races, who 

 are gradually supplanting them.* 



(7.) The native huts are of the simplest and rudest charac- 

 ter, consisting merely of a few pieces of bark, inclined against 

 a pole laid horizontally across a couple of forked sticks, which 

 are driven into the ground. They sleep on dried herbs or grass, 

 and cover themselves with kangaroo skins. In the warmer 

 '.atitudes, it is not often that they construct a hut, or provide 

 any protection against the weather. Originally, they went 

 entirely naked, but since their intercourse with the Europe- 

 ans, many of them clothe themselves with kangaroo skins, 

 and wear caps made of the bark of trees. Those in the im- 

 nediate vicinity of the settlements array their persons in the 

 last-off" clothing of the whites. 



Considerable skill is displayed in the construction of their 

 implements and weapons. They make hooks, and spears, the 

 latter usually three pronged, for fishing; and they have, also, 

 stone hatchets. Their weapons consist of a spear, or javelin, 

 ten feet long, made of cane or other wood ; a club, called 

 nulla-nulla, made of ti wood, and about three feet in length ; 

 the dundumel, or tomahawk ; thebundi ; and the boomercng. 

 They have likewise shields, made of the thick bark of the 

 eucalypti, which, though small, with their agility and quick- 

 ness of eye, are sufficient to protect the whole body against 

 the missiles of an enemy. Their spears are slender, and ta- 

 per gradually to the barbed point : they are thrown with the 

 wammera, a straight Hat stick, three feet long, with a socket 

 of bone or hide at the extremity, in which the heel of the 

 spear is placed. The wammera is firmly grasped by three 

 fingers of the right hand, and the spear steadied between the 

 forefinger and the thumb, till the thrower is prepared to hurl 

 it. Such is their dexterity in the use of this weapon, that a 

 native is a dangerous neighbor, particularly if he cherishes 



* The number of native inhabitants of Australia was computed, at the time 

 of its discovery, to be about 200,000; but it is now rated at (JO 000, and this is 

 supposed to be an over estimate. It is certain, however, that the aboriginal popu- 

 lation is diminishing. 



