1326 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



weapon, about two feet long from the handle end to the beginning of the curve. The 

 curve is sometimes very sharp, almost approaching an obtuse angle ; and the end of it, 

 with the under part of the curve, is thinned down to a cutting edge. The stroke is 

 delivered, if possible, with the sharpened end. A somewhat similar weapon, found in 

 Central Australia, is of much greater length, extending to four or five feet in the handle, 

 and is used like a broadsword. Another dangerous weapon at close quarters is a broad 

 Hint with a sharp cutting edge, set in a lump of gum. This is held in the hand and 

 inflicts ghastly wounds on the naked combatants. For defence there are two shields. 

 One is a light shield made of thick bark or light wood cut from the bend of a large 

 limb, in shape a pointed oval, from two to three feet long, and seven inches to about 

 one foot to eighteen inches broad in its widest part. This is used to ward off spears 

 and other missiles, and is held so as to turn them aside rather than to receive them 

 in full front. It is not calculated to endure the direct impact of the spear. Thus 

 received, a well-thrown spear would pierce the shield, and in known instances both the 

 shield and the hand that held it have been transfixed. The other shield is about the 

 same length, but much thicker, heavier and narrower. It is cut out of a solid block 

 of very tough wood, which is not easily split, and is used as a defence against club 

 strokes, etc., in close fighting. Some of the tribes are said to use no shields. 



The Australian canoe is, with slight variations, every-where built on the same general 

 plan, excepting on the north or north-east coast, where it has acquired an outrigger. 

 An inferior sort, for merely temporary purposes, is made from a sheet of red-gum bark, 

 taken, if possible, from a bend in the tree-trunk to give it an upward turn at the 

 ends. If a bent sheet be not easily procurable, a straight one may be used, forming a 

 mere hollow cylinder open at the top, the ends being stopped by a lump of clay, or 

 tenacious mud, to keep the water out. The sort of canoe most generally used is made 

 as follows : A sheet of bark is stripped from a clean straight bole of one of the trees 

 of the stringy-bark group, for instance, Eucalyptus Pipcrifa, E. Capitcllata, E. Macro- 

 rhyncka, E. Obliqua (Messmate), or E. Sieberiana (Mountain Ash), etc. The bark when 

 thoroughly loosened is carefully lowered to the ground, and all the rough dry outer 

 integument is chipped off. With these chips, and dry twigs and leaves, a fire is made 

 under the sheet of bark, which is laid on the ground. When the bark is heated and 

 steamed, so as to be quite flexible, and to bend any way without cracking, it is turned 

 inside out, and tied with strings. The ends are chipped quite thin, and are then folded 

 together and, tightly bound with strips of the inner layer of bark. Stretchers are now 

 put in under the middle ties, and the canoe is complete. The blackfellow, standing 

 erect, propels his canoe by punting with a long pole, a skillful operation, or he may 

 use the pole as a paddle. Sometimes he squats in the bottom of the canoe, and paddles 

 with a small piece of bark in each hand. Another kind of canoe is made on the same 

 plan, but of three sheets of bark, one for the bottom, and one for each side. The 

 sheets are neatly sewn together, and wooden paddles three or four feet long are used. 

 In these frail vessels, the coast folk will go out to a considerable distance, even in a 

 rough sea-way. The canoes are from six feet to fifteen feet in length, and about two 

 feet to thirty inches from gunwale to gunwale amidships. 



The Australian savage has no conception of any cause of death other than violence, 



