794 N'OTKS ox TWO PAPUAN' THKOWINf; STICKS, 



former of which is said to have come from Berlin Harbour. 

 (Jerman New Guinea; the second is witliout a liistory. 



The first weapon (fig. 1) is made from a piece of nearly straight 

 bamboo, weight G|oz., 2ft. 2in. in length and barely one inch in 

 diameter, embracing three nodes. At a distance of 2| inches from 

 the distal end and half an inch from a joint, a transverse incision 

 has l)een made through two-thirds of the diameter, thence the cut 

 gradually and obliquely ascends to the upper surface, terminating 

 at a point 11^- inches distant, the whole incision somewhat 

 resembling what is technically known to carpenters as a scarf. 

 Two inches in front of the above-described incision a slot i},m. 

 by },m- wide has been excavated for the reception of a piece of 

 hard wood richly carved in high relief and inclined at an acute 

 angle towards the distal end, which evidently was intended as a 

 rest for the spear when being aimed and thrown. To retain this 

 in its place are two i-ings of split and interwoven bamboo, two 

 inches apart, these being in their turn held together by means of 

 strands of tibre. The entire carving is eight inches long, two 

 broad, and half an inch thick, and the design that of a conven- 

 tionalised crocodile, the head, body and tail l)eing suggested by 

 appropriate segments. 



The head is portraj'ed with a considerable degree of accuracy, 

 the nasal prominences and eyes being carefully located; on the 

 body seven imbricating scales indicate the dorsal scutes, three 

 concentric grooves divide the sides into oval ridges; on the doi'sal 

 surface of the tail scutes are again suggested b}' a different 

 metho<l of treatment, while the sides harmonise with the bodv. 

 In dealing with the ventral surface, the carver has alk)wed his 

 artistic faculty unrestricted scope, the teeth of the reptile being- 

 indicated l:)y curved bars which unite the upper and lower surface, 

 the last l)ar being carried in a bow from the neck to the tail and 

 offering a grasp for the previously mentioned bamboo rings. 

 Distal of the spear socket one inch is ornamented l)ya pattern of 

 a series of circles and conjoined loops containing lozenges; distal 

 of this again it has been cut down so as to make a neck terminat- 

 ing in a knob. 



