THE MAN OF THE FOREST. 



55 



out among the bushes. Presently the supposed 

 animal makes for the creek, plunges in and dives 

 under water, followed by the "dog" and hunts- 

 man, who with his assistant in the canoe, tries to 

 lay hold of the diver. For some minutes the water 

 is all in a commotion as the three naked urchins 

 swim about, the " labba " doubling in every direc- 

 tion, now under water in one place, and suddenly 

 rising to the surface in another, the boy in the 

 canoe paddling with all his might until the 

 supposed game is taken and the play ended. 



Ball playing is carried on by men rather than 

 boys, but there is a game of shuttlecock sometimes 

 engaged in by the youngsters. Corn cobs are 

 stripped, and three feathers stuck into one end. 

 The object of each player is to throw his shuttle- 

 cock as high as possible, so that it may gyrate the 

 longest. In a village some five hundred miles 

 from the coast children have been seen shooting 

 at marks with home-made cross-bows, but this 

 weapon has obviously been adopted from the 

 early voyagers, as it appears to have been un- 

 known to the aborigines. 



Whatever semblance of teaching the boy receives 

 from his father is little more than the mode of 

 handling a gun, bow, or blow-pipe, and even that 

 is learnt more by imitation and practice than by 



