THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 103 



a man overcome with the extreme heat or dying for want of 

 of water. Him they will carry a long distance to water, and 

 when he has fully recovered, amuse themselves by killing 

 him. 



The native weapons are, I think, much the same over all 

 Australia. Of spears there are four kinds — viz., hunting, 

 fishing, and fighting. The first has no barb, the second one ; 

 whilst of the fighting, one called morkandi, has four rows of 

 double barbs, that is, each barb is so cut that the points are 

 directed both up and down the spear, thus constituting a 

 most dangerous weapon, as it can be neither withdrawn nor 

 pushed through anybody that has unfortunately receceived it. 

 The other has the barbs directed only one way, and, conse- 

 quently, is not nearly so much to be feared. There are, of 

 course, boomerangs, meros or walburras for throwing spears, 

 also stone knives and tomahawks, but the latter will soon 

 becomes things of the past, as the native easily appreciates the 

 much more easily obtained metal ones. Cooking utensils are 

 conspicuous by their absence, but they use a conch shell for 

 drinking and for occasionally melting fat. The process of 

 hair-cutting would, I feel sure, be greatly appreciated by all 

 your members. It is painful enough to have it done 

 with a very sharp steel knife, a process I have 

 often undergone ; but imagine, if you can, what it 

 must be when performed by a flint one. This I have 

 never had tried upon me, and don't intend if I can 

 possibly help it. A curious circumstance came under my 

 notice in connection with the fear which the natives have, or 

 are supposed to have, of the whites — viz., that the first time 

 they come in contact with them neither the men nor the 

 women exhibit the slightest apprehension. On one occasion I 

 was out some considerable distance with a companion, and 

 accidentally came across a camp unacquainted with whites. 

 Of course, the first thing to do was to collect all the spears, a 

 protective act on our part, to which they offered no opposition, 

 and which I performed whilst my companion stood by the 

 horses, holding his firearms ready in case of treachery, but no 

 treachery was evidently contemplated, indeed, on our taking our 

 departure, some of the men, thinking we wanted the spears and 

 had forgotten them, ran after us with them, but, as before 

 stated, our only object had been self-protection. Immediately 

 on our coming across the camp all the women sat down in a 

 circle, and commenced pressing their breasts until the milk 

 came, a custom of which I have never seen or heard any 

 explanation of, and which I am quite unable to account for. 



In my early experiences of the north-west I was a good 

 deal engaged in the pearl-shell fishing, in which occupation 

 most of the divers employed were aborigines. Now in a 



