64 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



In the New Hebrides, the natives use spider silk to fabricate 

 small bags in which they carry arrowheads, tobacco, and even the 

 dried poison used on their arrowheads. Some New Guinea natives 

 of the Aroa River district make a headdress of insect or spider 

 silk to keep out the rain. To more sinister uses are put the smoth- 

 ering cap and the dooming bag, both made by the New Hebrideans. 

 The former is a strong, conical cap which is pulled down tightly 

 over the heads of victims, usually adultresses, and causes death by 

 suffocation. The dooming bag, a purse filled with various bric-a- 

 brac, is said to have magical properties. According to the stories, 

 it is rubbed over the forehead of a sleeping victim with a rhythmic 

 motion and with muttered magical words, causing him to remain 

 in a deep hypnotic sleep from which there is no awakening. The 

 soporific effect of the dooming bag is assured by the victim's exe- 

 cutioners, who administer a coup de grace after they have carried 

 him into the jungle. 



Of more interest are the fishing nets of the Papuans, which show 

 varied and ingenious use of spider fiber. Several accounts illus- 

 trating primitive man's ability to seize upon common materials and 

 suit them to his purposes are well worth mentioning. 



The North Queensland black boy entangles one end of a thin 

 switch in the web of Nephila and, by adroit weaving motions, 

 twists the coarse lines into a strand a foot or more long. The frayed 

 ends of the line are moistened in the crushed body of the large 

 olive-green silk spider (known to these aborigines as "karan-jam- 

 ara") and the remaining morsels are thrown into the stream, imme- 

 diately attracting shoals of small fishes. As the silken lure is trailed 

 through the shallow water, a fish rises to sample the tidbits on the 

 invisible strand. Lines of gossamer become entangled in its teeth, 

 and the smiling angler lands the two-inch long prize with a careless 

 flourish. This method of fly fishing, and other engaging fishing 

 techniques of the Australian aborigines, may be found described in 

 detail in E. J. Banfield's book Tropic Days. 



That the catch is limited to small fishes does not detract from 

 the efficiency of the method. Many are caught in a relatively short 

 time, seventeen fingerlings in ten minutes according to one account, 

 and make up in numbers what they lack in size. It is said that these 

 lures, as generally made, are capable of holding fish weighing nearly 

 three-quarters of a pound. 



A similar lure is used as part of a novel method of catching fish 

 on the east coast and adjacent islands of New Guinea, and in the 



