292 THE NATIVE BLACKFELLOW 



close fight. In some tribes the boomerang is called a 

 kiley. 



Formerly the natives used stone axes, called " toma- 

 hawks " by the early explorers ; but this is an American 

 Red Indian word. The natives, however, have generally 

 adopted, and for many years past they have been well 

 supplied with, steel hatchets and choppers, which have 

 quite supplanted the stone implement. 



The waddy is a club about a yard long, and much 

 heavier at one end than the other. It is used in single 

 combat, and for a variety of purposes, as the killing of 

 snakes and larger animals which have been run down or 

 captured in pitfalls, and, I regret to record, for woman- 

 beating. 



Another very formidable weapon of the blackfellow is 

 shaped like a one-armed pick-axe. It is very sharp- 

 pointed, of handy size and weight, and at close quarters 

 is so good a weapon that, armed with one and an ellyman 

 or shield, a blackfellow has been known to maintain a 

 stubborn hand to hand combat with a mounted police 

 officer, who was unable, though a very experienced 

 swordsman, to cut him down. Finally the black drove 

 his liangle through the nose of his opponent's horse, and 

 leaving it there, made good his escape. This weapon is 

 generally called a liangle, but I have some doubt if this 

 is the original native name for it. It has a suspiciously 

 European sound, which makes one think that, like " toma- 

 hawk," it may be a word adopted by the Australian 

 blacks. 



The intelligence and ingenuity shown by the native 

 in the making of several of his weapons, particularly the 

 boomerang and the wommera, is sufficient to show that 

 the charge, so often rashly made against him, of being 

 an utterly forsaken and unimprovable savage cannot be 

 maintained. 



Concerning his personal courage, it may be said to be 

 of a high order. When Captain Cook attempted to land 

 on a spot on the coast of New South Wales, two men, 

 one of whom was a mere youth, fetched a bundle of spears 



