NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — ROTH. 199 



shell (KM I. tomg, or ye-cha) bartered from the Musgrave River, 

 etc., or else of a lath of wood doubled upon itself. The spear- 

 thrower is known here as borna. 



11. At Cape Bedford, on the Endeavour and Bloomtield Rivers, 

 and at Butcher's Hill, the iron-wood spear-thrower has a com- 

 paratively long blade, even width throughout, and a short peg 

 with a slight nick. The peg, which is cut from Petalostigma 

 quadriloculare, F.v.M. (KYI. ckn. dun jo), is neither flattened 

 nor drilled, but tied with tendon, etc., on to two holes drilled into 

 the blade (PI. Iviii., fig. 19), the cement covering the back of the 

 peg (PI. Iviii., fig. 20) ; a similar arrangement to what is met 

 with on the Pennefather. The cement used is usually that of 

 the iron-wood, but the Grevillea 23 is preferable when obtainable, 

 as it lasts better. The handle is either haftless (PI. Iviii., fig. '21) 

 or else hafted with two pieces of Melo shell fixed on with bees- 

 wax (PL Iviii. fig. 22), or else with a thin lath bent on itself (PI. 

 Iviii., fig. 23). The Cape Bedford name of the implement is milbir. 



At Butcher's Hill 1 have seen wommeras made out of a 

 yellow-coloured timber (KYE. nga-til), which I have not yet 

 succeeded in getting identified. 



On the Bloomtield River, and along the small stretch of coast- 

 line between it and Cape Grafton, is to be seen the bent or moon- 

 shaped variety of spear-thrower (KYE. ballur), in addition to the 

 straight kind. The ballur 24 (PI. Iviii., fig. 24) is employed for 

 spearing fish or birds with, especially anything at very close quar- 

 ters. It is comparatively short, made of a light timber, is haftless, 

 and generally decorated with red and white pigment at its distal 

 extremity. It is thrown in a manner different from all other 

 wommeras, in that the blade rests in the fork between the first 

 finger and the thumb, instead of, as in the ordinary style, between 

 the first and second fingers 25 . As an example of how two 

 tribes, although almost contiguous, may be ignorant of each 

 other's ways and customs, it is interesting to note that sometime 

 during 1897 one of these moon-shaped spear-throwers was thrown 

 up on the beach at Cape Bedford'- 6 , and brought to the Rev. 

 Schwarz, who, never having seen one before and being anxious to 



23 Roth-Bull. 7— Sect. 13. 



24 Illustrations of modifications of this wommera will be found in 

 Etheridge— Froc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, (2), viii., 1S94, pi. xiv., fig. 2 ; in 

 Luschan — Bastiau-Festschrift, 1896, pi. x., fig. 2 — (Ed.) 



55 Roth— Ethnol. Studies, etc., 1897 -Sect. 253. 



' 2fi Cape Bedford is only about thirty miles as the crow flies from the 

 Bloomtield River, where the moon-shaped spear-throwers are manu- 

 factured. 



