278 WEAPONS. 



it would scarcely be possible to throw them with 

 eifect to a greater distance than fi^om fifteen to 

 twenty 3 ards^ and^ judging' from the signs and 

 g-estures of the natives on various occasions when 

 explaining* their mode of warfare^ they are also used 

 for charging* and thrusting* with^ the neighbourhood 

 of the armpit being the part aimed at as most 

 vulnerable. 



The spear in most common use tapers to a point 

 at each end, more suddenly in fi'ont and very gra- 

 dually behmd w here it usually terminates in a small 

 knob with two or three ornamental rings. Some- 

 times a gromet^ or ring* of cordage^ is worked upon 

 the spear near one end^ to prevent the hand slipping 

 when making a thrust. There are many other kinds 

 of spears variously barbed on one or both sides near 

 the head. The fishing* spear is usually headed by a 

 bundle of about four or six slender, sharp pointed 

 pieces of wood, two feet in leng*th; sometimes barbed 

 at the point. 



We obtained three clubs here— the only ones 

 seen — one, closely resembling* the stone-headed club 

 of Darnley Island, consists of a wooden shaft, four 

 feet long^ sharp pointed at one end and at the other 

 passing through a hole in the centre of a sharp-edged 

 circular disk of quartz, shaped like a quoit, four 

 inches in diameter ; the second is twenty-seven 

 inches in length, cut out of a heavy piece of wood^ 

 leaving a slender handle and cylindrical head, three 

 and a half inches long, studded with knobs; the 



