NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — ROTH. 191 



tlie shaft piece, this union being also bound or lashed with 

 similar twine (PI. Iviii., tigs. 1 and 2). The head or distnl end 

 of the shaft is grooved on three faces to receive the basal ends 

 of the prongs, the whole union for the length of eight inches 

 being again bound round or whipped with native twine. The 

 inserted portion of each prong is five inches, leaving a barbed 

 length of nineteen inches; the blunt barbs are cut-out of the 

 solid, one behind the other, and all facing inwards, but the dis- 

 tance apart on the same prong is not uniform, varying from one 

 to two inches.] 



3. On the Pennefather River spears have the generic term of 

 che-a applied to them, and are formed of a proximal (butt) portion 

 morticed into a distal (shaft tip) one 6 , the latter being either 

 simple or multiple. The extreme tip is called pe-udana. All 

 these spears are thrown with a spear-thrower or wommera, though 

 they can occasionally be used with the hand alone. The barb, 

 except in the stingaree-tail spears, is of a kangaroo-bone pencil 

 (nowadays oft replaced by thick iron wire) fixed into a longi- 

 tudinal groove, cut with a tooth-scraper", into the spear 

 tip beyond which it projects ; it is bound round and round 

 with twine, the cording finally giving place to a plain looping 

 (PI. Iviii., tig. 3), the whole of which is ultimately covered with 

 cement substance. The colouring of these spears is fairly 

 uniform ; starting from the proximal end is a short length of 

 white, a corresponding one of red, and a longer one of black, 

 the latter being "fixed" with a special medium, this latter is 

 either the gum of a Melaleuca, or human blood obtained from 

 the arm. The timber employed for the distal portion of all these 

 spears, except (d), is the Acacia rothii, Bail. (NGG. lar.), that 

 for the proximal varying, as will be seen in the following short 

 descriptions of the different varieties : — 



(a) Short light spears, proximal longer (from two-and a-half 

 times down) than the distal position, and no barbs. Used only for 

 playing with, and all known by the general term of po-ini. 

 Made of Hibiscus brachysivhonius, F.v.M. (NGG. yi-awara), 

 Croton triacros, F.v.M. (NGG. bo-atha), Macaranga tauarius, 

 F.v.M. (NGG. arm-buta), Desmodium umbellatum, DC. (NGG. 

 owono), or Pluchea indica, Less. (NGG. onogona). 



(b) Heavier and longer spears, proximal longer than the distal 

 portion, and armed with stingaree-barb fixed on to the tip — a 



fi Roth — Bull. 7 — Sect. 43, for method of mortising and for treatment of 

 the butt end. 



7 Roth— Bull. 7— Sect. 30. 



