510 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
ball; the hands are again approximated with the ball 
twirling in a reverse direction; and so it may be kept spin- 
ning for a long time. This particular toy is played with 
more often by women than by men. It is known among the 
local Mallanpara blacks as ngor-go, after the name of the 
gourd. 
Tops.—(a) Spin-tops are manufactured in the same and 
neighbouring districts, and from the identical gourd, by pass- 
ing through it a stick which is fixed in position above and 
below with twine and beeswax. It is used only by the 
men, and spun by twirling with the flats of the open hands 
(Pl. XXXII., 3). A string is never used to spin it, while a 
hole in the side, to make it “hum,” has only been introduced 
of late years. The local Tully River name of this toy has 
already been given; at Cape Grafton it is called bunbuja. 
(4) The mamandur of Cape Bedford is made by passing a 
small wooden splinter through a more or less flattened and 
circular plate of beeswax (Pl. XXXII., 4), and spinning it 
like an English boy would a “ tee-to-twm ’’—1.e., by a rolling 
movement between the middle finger and thumb. Indeed, 
this method of spinning is adopted with the calyx-cups of 
the Sonneratia acida (Linn.), the Eucalyptus bicolor (A. 
Cunn.), and other plants. 
Sticks, &ce.—(a) Shooting the grass-blade, or rather its 
petiole, from the mouth is an amusement which I have seen 
indulged in along the eastern sea-board from Gladstone to 
the Peninsula. A piece of “bladey” grass (e.g., Zmperata 
arundinacea) is pulled, cut to a suitable length, and split 
from below up, on either side of the petiole, to a convenient 
length. Pl. XXXII., 5, 6, and 7, represent the three stages. 
As usnally played, the cut extremity of the grass is held 
loosely and horizontally between the lips, while the split 
ends of the leaf are bent over a stick (grasped with the right) 
and held in the left hand (Pl. XXXII., 8). If the stick be 
now driven sharply forwards, the petiole is shot away, leav- 
ing the’ two halves of the blade behind in the left hand. 
Sometimes the stick is replaced by the fore-finger of the 
right hand; occasionally the position itself of the grass-blade 
is reversed, the split ends being held between the lips, and 
the cut extremity in the left hand. Boys, both old and 
young, are very expert with this toy in the way of killing 
such birds as small wrens, &c. On one occasion, at the 
Tully, I saw a boy shooting these grass-petioles at, and 
hitting, some weaver-birds’ nests, quite 100 feet from the 
ground. : 
