Al)()ri^'inal Wooden Weapons of Australia: Illustra- 

 tive of the Collection in the B. P. B. Museum. 



Bv I^KOPOLi) G. Bi.ackman: With Drawings by thk Author. 



Thf: collection of Australian implements in this Museum has 

 lately been augmented by many choice specimens secured by the 

 Dire(5lor on his recent tour. Although the colledlion of such 

 articles in the possession of the Bishop Museum is still not exten- 

 sive, it is well chosen and includes valuable representative speci- 

 mens of nearly all the best known forms. The object of this paper 

 is to briefly review the wooden weapons of the native Australians, 

 and to give a description of their manufa<5lure and use, chiefly as a 

 guide to the colledlion in the Museum. An extensive knowledge 

 of the different forms of weapons in use among the many tribes, 

 founded upon all the specimens in public and private colledtions, 

 is necessary to a satisfad;ory description of the Australian weapons, 

 but such a work has unfortunately not yet been accomplished. The 

 vast extent of territory to be covered, and the isolation and some- 

 times the extindtion of tribes greatly increases the difficulty of 

 dealing with this interesting subject. 



The writings of many authors have accorded the primitive in- 

 habitants of Australia the lowest rung on the ladder of human 

 progress, and proofs are not lacking to show the general low intel- 

 ligence of this unfortunate race. Yet in warfare and the search 

 for food the degree of skill and resource evidenced by their weap- 

 ons is remarkable, and proves that however elementary their efforts 

 in other direcftions, the Australian aboriginals have in these, ob- 

 tained results possessed by no other people of historic times. 

 Within the limited sphere of these occupations almost the whole 

 of their ingenuity has been confined, and the keen observation 

 which they have here displayed has furnished them with weapons 

 of peculiar coustru(5lion which they use with wonderful precision 

 and dexterity. A brief examination of the Australian case in the 

 Museum will reveal at once the unusual design and also the 

 crudity of workmanship employed upon the manufa(fture of the 



OccAsioNAi, Papers B. P. B. M., Vol. II.. No. 2.—^. ( 2,^ ) 



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