NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — ROTH. 207 



26. The nulla-nulla is not so much a hand implement as a 

 throwing implement, i.e., it is used more for throwing at short 

 distances than for hitting at close quarters, and is very often 

 employed in hunting wallaby, kangaroo, etc. Its manufacture is 

 gradually dying out in the Boulia District, where it is not 

 employed for purposes of barter, though it was (1897) pretty 

 common along and to the north of the Leichhardt-Selwyn Ranges. 

 It is made from the " gidyea " (Acacia homalophylla, F.vJVI), 

 coloured black with charcoal grease, and measures up to about 

 two feet in length. The distal extremity is enlarged and tapers 

 to a point. A good one is usually incised with some circular 

 bands at the proximal end, and with a longitudinal nutirlg which 

 reaches either to the tip or ceases abruptly about an inch from it. 

 The Pitta-Pitta Blacks speak of it as moi-ro ; the Maitakudi call 

 it ma-ro. This type of weapon (PI. Ixi., tig. 6) i» common 

 throughout the whole of North Queensland 44 , as well as the Cen- 

 tral Districts, and was to be met among the old Brisbane Blacks. 

 In shape it is comparable with the wooden mallet of the Wellesley 

 Islands 4 "'. 



27. On the Tully River there are, in addition to the common 

 type just mentioned, a two-pronged variety known as wirka, as 

 well as a globular and a decorative (pine-apple) pattern, all more 

 or less identical with those to be observed in the Rockhampton 

 District (PI. Ixi., figs. 7, 9, 10). The pine-apple type has on 

 occasion been seen in the Peninsula and Eastern Coast-line ; 

 Lumholtz figures 4 '' it from Herbert Vale, and Petrie from Bris- 

 bane. Considering its limitation to the extreme north and to the 

 coast-line, and its resemblance to the pine-apple stone club of 

 New Guinea, I am inclined to regard it in the light of a Papuan 

 introduction. 



5*128. In the Rockhampton District nullas were usually made 

 from " brigalow " or wattle, timbers known to the local Tarumbal 

 (Rockhampton Tribe) as ku-nun and pakkar respectively; rosewood 

 was occasionally employed, and on the Keppel Islands mangrove. 

 Six or seven varieties are known, the first three of which are 

 manufactured in large (heavy) and small (light) size. The heavy- 

 ones never left the hand, being used for the offensive and defen- 

 sive at close quarters. The light ones were thrown from a 

 distance, but were often used for knocking over native-bears, 

 kangaroo and other game, i.e., employed as hunting weapons. 



14 At Princess Charlotte Bay it has the following names: — KRA. 

 kunbai-il, KWA. pa-ul. 



4r 'Roth -Bull. 7— Sect. 38. 



46 Lumholtz -Among Cannibals, 1890, p. 73, fig. b— (Ed.) 



