ABORKUNAL WORKSIIOPiS — ETHERHKJE AND VVHITHLECJGE. 245 



eighteen inches backwai-ds. The stones above described are 

 inserted in the grooves with the base downwards and the thin 

 cutting edge directed forwards, while the blunt edge, if present, 

 is directed backwards ; the stones were selected according to size, 

 the smaller being placed near the tip of the spear, and the whole 

 cemented into the gi'ooves, leaving about two-thirds of the barbs 

 projecting, It appears highly probable that the blunt-edged 

 barbs are designed to prevent the extraction of the spear with- 

 out leaving some of the chips in the wound. 



As illustrating the use of the " death " spear, Collins''' supplies 

 the following account of a man who was emploj'ed to shoot game 

 for Governor Phillip. He states that " on the tenth of Decem- 

 ber a convict employed by Governor Phillip to shoot for him was 

 dangerously wounded by a native named Pe-mul-wy whilst in 

 quest of game at some considerable distance in the woods. When 

 brought in he declared, and at a time when he thought himself 

 dying, that he did not give any olfence to the man who wounded 

 him ; that he had even quitted his arms to induce him to look 

 upon him as a friend, when the savage threw his spear, at a dis- 

 tance of about ten yards, witli a skill that was fatally unerring. 

 When the spear was extracted (which was not till suppuration 

 took place) it was found to have entered his body under the left 

 arm to a depth of seven-and-a-half inches, and was armed for 

 five or six inches from the point M^th ragged pieces of shells 

 fastened in with gum, His recovery was pronounced by the sur- 

 geon to be very doubtful On the twenty-second the 



man employed to shoot for the Governor expired of the wound he 

 had received from the native. On opening the spear appeared to 

 have wounded the left lobe of the lungs, which were found 

 adhering to the side. In the cavity were discovered some of the 

 pieces of stone and shell with which the weapon had been armed." 

 Other cases as to the fatal effects of the death spear are on record, 

 but unfortunately at the moment of writing the exact references 

 cannot be given. It is rather singular that the aboriginal in- 

 habitants of Sweden should have used a barbed arrow-head (fig. 

 42) of the same type as the spear formerly used by the natives of 

 the Port Jackson District, and which is still manufactured by 

 the blacks in West and North Australia. The only difference 

 between the two weapons is that the Swedish arrow-head (fig. 42) 

 was made of bone as far as the apical portion was concerned, 



'" C'ullnis- Acfount of the English Colony of N. 8. Wales, 1SU4, jiji. 1 Ifs 

 and 12:5. 



