290 THE NATIVE BLACKFELLOW 



which case the full activity of the naked black is brought 

 into play. He chases the fish in the water so quickly and 

 skilfully that he often fairly runs them down before 

 clasping them in his clap-net, for clap-net is the proper 

 designation of his strange implement. 



The weapons of the Australian aborigines are more 

 numerous than those of most savage people ; but he has 

 never used one most important weapon of the chase and 

 warfare which has been in use at some period and in some 

 form (long or cross) amongst almost every tribe and 

 nation on earth, that is, the bow. For hunting, the 

 Australian black relies mostly on the spear and the 

 boomerang, but the latter weapon is not in universal use. 

 The northern tribes, or at any rate most of them, are 

 unacquainted with it, a circumstance which shows how 

 limited is the communication between the tribes of this 

 people. The spear is generally hurled with the aid of a 

 throwing-stick called a wommera. This remarkable and 

 most ingenious contrivance is about a yard long. It is 

 very narrow at one end, but gradually increases in width 

 until it is two inches wide, or perhaps wider, at the butt- 

 end, which is held in the hand. At the narrow end there 

 is a projection or nut, against which the butt of the spear 

 is pressed, with the length of the wommera parallel to the 

 shaft of the spear and close to it. The thrower holds the 

 wommera at the broad end, with the fingers lightly 

 clasping the spear. Then, throwing the arm as far back 

 as he can, he launches the spear forward with much 

 greater force than he could if he attempted to throw it 

 without the aid of the wommera. Some authorities say 

 that the thrower bends the spear against the nut of the 

 wommera, so as to give the weapon a spring when it is 

 hurled. I have not observed this myself, and no black- 

 fellow whom I have consulted knew of such a contrivance 

 for increasing the force of the flying spear. With the aid of 

 a wommera the spear can be thrown a distance of about 

 seventy yards, which is quite twenty yards further than it 

 can be hurled by hand alone. 



The marksmanship of the black in spear-throwing is not 



