3<S Director's Annual Report. 



earths. The specimen seen in the centre of Plate I is representa- 

 tive of the better made mulga shields. It is shaped from the close 

 grained wood of probably a species of acacia, and the incisions 

 were made with a narrow implement held at right angles to the 

 face in the manner already described. The interstices are accentu- 

 ated with white filling. 



The Goolmarry Group. — The shields of this group are 

 elongate-oval in shape and differ in many respects from the mulga 

 form already described . They are constru(fted of very light wood — 

 Erythri7ia vespcrtilio the ' 'bastard cork " , or Acacia viollissima being 

 preferred — and although these weapons are small and well propor- 

 tioned they have a bulky and unwieldy appearance. The gool- 

 marry is decorated with curved linear designs, often on both sides, 

 though as a rule the obverse is the more elaborately treated. Crude 

 representations of what has been described as a reptile, though 

 bearing more similarity to a clumsily drawn "herring bone," are 

 also sometimes found on the reverse of the goolmarry shield. A sec- 

 tion, taken either longitudinally or transversely, is a bilateral figure 

 contained by a straight line and one convex line — the latter to re- 

 ceive the impact of other weapons. The handle is shaped by 

 cutting into the reverse of the shield. Some specimens of the gool- 

 marry exhibit across the curved face irregular charred incisions 

 which have been produced by the fri(5lion of another implement in 

 the i^rocess of fire making. In rare cases a central longitudinal 

 groove is cut, into which the dust set free by fridlion accumulates 

 preparatory to combustion. The use of this kind of shield for 

 such a purpose is due to the softness of its wood, and also to the 

 fact that the goolmarry is not so elaborate and consequently of 

 less value than other forms. The ornamentation of the specimen 

 shown in Plate I, No. 8743. is effedled b)- a pattern of interlaced 

 grooved scrolls. The reverse of the shield bears a vague repre- 

 sentation of an animal — probably a reptile — and is also charred, 

 particularly at the extremities and hand aperture. 



The Western Group. — The manufaelure of these shields 

 is confined to the west, though they are extensi\-ely bartered. In 

 general form they consist of an extremely thin sheet of wood, 

 elongate-oblong in shape, rounded at the corners, with a proje(5ling 

 handle shaped from the same piece of wood as the bodv of the 



