516 FIVE SHIELDS FROM NORTHERN QUEENSLAND, 



at one end. I have never seen a shield of this description, nor 

 heard of one, and it is singular that Mr. B. R. Smyth, in his 

 excellent work so often ([noted hy me, makes not the slightest 

 allusion to such a form occurring in any part of Australia, much 

 less in Victoria, to the Aborigines of which his book was more 

 pai'ticularly devoted. The shape of these "shields," provided as 

 they are with a projecting handle at one end, and well compared 

 by Dr. Knight to a cricket bat, reminds one of some of the large 

 wooden so-called swords in use amongst Northern Tribes. I think, 

 however, the matter may be set at rest by the acute observaticjns 

 of the late John Macgillivray, during the voyage of H.3I.S. 

 "Rattlesnake." Under the name of "clubs" he notes* three 

 kinds in use at Port Essington, one like a cricket bat with a shoit 

 handle. Corroborative evidence is afforded by an illustration of 

 Hmyth's. He distinctly figuresf such a weapon, with a short 

 handle, and a cricket bat blade from Rockingham Bay. Here we 

 have two localities in the north country, both well authenticated, 

 and on this account I cannot accept Dr. Knight's reference of 

 such weapons either to Victoria, or to the category of shields. 

 At the same time the great comparative breadth represented in 

 Dr. Knight's figure is somewhat of a stumbling block, and his 

 statement that such weapons are made of Ijark, requires I think 

 corroboration. 



I may also add that Lumholtz mentions swords made of hard 

 wood, "with a short handle only for one hand,"| and gives a 

 plate § representing a warrior armed with one of these, working 

 himself into a state of excitement pi-evious to the i)or6o>2/ contests 

 (i.e., duels). 



I wish it to be distinctly understood that this epitome is not to 

 be regarded as an exhaustive enumeration of all the types of 

 Australian shields — far from it. There are several others alrearly 



* Toy. " Rattlesnake," 1852, ii. y. 147. 



t Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, i. p. o03, f. 67. 



J Among Cannibals, 1890, p. 121. 



§ Ihiil. pi. opp. p. 122. 



