SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



267 



The large spear of the Australian, not to be thrown but used as a 

 pike, is as much as 13 feet in length, the head of hard wood, the shaft 

 of lighter wood, and as large as the wrist. The Australians also use a 

 forked spear, hobo, to secure eels and snakes alive. 156 The turtle har- 

 poon, like the hippopotamus harpoon of Africa, has a head detachable 

 from the shaft. To the head is attached a rope, on the other end of which 

 is a buoy. The harpoon for the dugong has a bone head 4 inches long 

 and covered with barbs. It becomes detached from the shaft after strik- 

 ing ; the cord attached to the spear-head has no float, but is secured on 

 board the canoe. The simplest form of fish-spear is a long sharp stick 

 used in gigging fish in water-holes. ir ' 7 



The spears in the JTew Zealand department were all of wood. Some 

 were simply pointed poles of hard wood ; others had carved heads with 

 pyramidal points. The spear is not a favorite weapon 

 of the Maoris ; in fact is said to have been laid aside. 

 The heads of the spears are understood to be a conven- 

 tional representation of the human tongue thrust out. 

 That shown in Fig. 95 is destitute of ornament ; Fig. 

 9C, called by the natives taidha Tcwra, has 

 suspended tufts of dyed hair. 



The styles of ornamentation peculiar to 

 New Zealand, New Guinea, and Fiji are re- 

 ferred to by E. Brough Smith. 158 



The harpoon of the Andaman Islander 159 

 is shot from a bow, and has a detachable 

 head with a connected cord, which is held 

 by the archer. 



The spears already considered are made 

 of wood, although the use of the tail of the 

 sting-ray by the Fijians and of bone and ob- 

 sidian by the Australians have been incident- 

 ally mentioned. Materials in great variety 

 have been used for the heads or barbs of 

 spears. 



Stone spear-heads were shown in the South 

 Australian department. They were obtained 

 from the northern part of the island near 

 Melville's Island. They are genuine speci- 

 mens of the stone age, which does not represent a specific time but a 

 grade of civilization. Consideration must also be had to the absence of 

 metals in some localities. The stone spear-heads are chipped to shape 

 and lashed to reed shafts with sinews, or with fiber obtained from 

 roots. The reeds are <i feet long and the heads from 4 to G inches. 



The spears of the Solomon Islanders are tipped with sharp Hints; those 

 of the Admiralty Islanders are of obsidian lashed to the shaft and coated 



166 Aborigines of Victoria, vol. i, p. 3U7, Fig. 82. l57 Ibid., vol. i, p. 307, Fig. 81. 

 158 Ibid, vol. i, pp. 296, 297. 1 "' 1 Mount "Andaman," p. 326. 



Fig. 95. — Maori 



wooden spear. 



Fig. 90 



Maorispear 

 taiaha lewra. 



