36 



Gillen as belonging principally to the Gnanji and Vmhaia 

 tribes, and consisting of a straight stick, with a human-hair 

 tassel as a handle, is comparatively rare among the Larre- 

 Txii/a.s and Wof/aits, but has been reported to occur also at 

 Port Essington by Macgillivray.^' 



A/^ 



wnz 



sn 



Fig. 35. 



Native Sword. 



A weapon whose function may be compared with that of 

 a modern sword is constructed of hard-wood in the shape 

 shown in fig. 35. It is flat, with sides slightly convex, and 

 the edges sharp, the length being about four feet. The con- 

 stricted portion, serving as the haft, may be bound round 

 with vegetable fibre and covered with beeswax to prevent 

 the hands from, slipping. This weapon is used both to strike 

 and to ward off blows. When about to receive a blow, a 

 combatant takes the lorecaution to keep his elbows down 

 close to his body, as otherwise the force of his antagonist's 

 blow may be sufficient to break his guard and cut his arm. 

 His legs, too, he draws in to underneath his body. If his 

 opponent strikes at his hands, he quickly shifts his weapon 

 sideways to receive and guard off the blow. 



This is, no doubt, the weapon described from Port 

 Essington by Macgillivray t as a club of compressed form, 

 resembling a cricket bat, with sharp edges, and used only at 

 close quarters. 



A fighting-stick, used as a two-handed weapon, from 

 four to five feet in length, circular in section, and tapering 



Fig. 36. 



towards the handle end, is also used. See fig. 36. It is 

 made of heavy wood, and covered with red ochre and various 

 designs in white. The Larrehiyas call this weapon gwanda, 

 the Wogaits irdiKjurre, the Shcralfs jcndonn, and the Ber- 

 ringins mileri. 



* Narrative of a Voyage of H.M.S. ''Rattlesnake," 1852. 

 vol. i., p. 147. 



t Narrative of a Voyage of R.IVr.S. ''RnttleRiiake.'' 1852, 

 vol. i., r>. 147. See also Brough-Smvth : Aborio;iiies of Victoria, 

 1878, vol. i., p. 308; E. J. Eyre: Jounis. Expeds. Disoov. Ceiitr. 

 Austr., 1845, vol. ii., pi. vi., fig. vi ; and R. Etheridge : Macleay 

 Mem. Vol., Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1893, p. 238, pi. xxx. 



