WEAPONS. 87 



CHAPTER XIX. 



WEAPONS. 



The spear is the chief and most formidable ■weapon amongst the aborigines. 

 There are seven kinds of spears, each of which is used for a special purpose. The 

 longest and heaviest are the war spears, which are about nine feet long, and made 

 of ironbark saplings reduced to a uniform thicliness. They are variously named 

 from the way in which they are pointed. The ' tuulowarn ' has a smooth point. 

 The ' tungung'gil ' is barbed on one side for six inches from the point. The 

 ' wurokiigil ' is jagged for six inches on each side of the point, with sharp splintere 

 of flint or volcanic glass, fixed in grooves with the same kind of cement which is 

 employed to fix the handles of stone axes. The hunting spear, ' narmall,' is about 

 seven feet long, and is made of a peeled ti-tree sapling, with a smooth, sharp 

 point ; to balance the weapon it has a fixed buttpieee formed of the stalk of the 

 grass tree, about two feet long, and with a hole in the pith in its end to receive 

 the hook of the spear-thrower ; but, as the hook of the .spear-thrower would soon 

 destroy the light gi'ass tree, a piece of hard wood is inserted in the end, and 

 secured with a lashing of kangaroo sinew. Although the narmall is chiefly used 

 for killing game, it is the first spear thrown in fighting, as it can be sent to a 

 greater distance than the heavy war speare, which are only used in close quarters. 



The spear-thrower is a piece of wood about two feet and a half long, and 

 three-quarters of an inch thick. It is two or three inches broad in the middle, 

 and tapers off" into a handle at one end and a hook at the other. Its object is to 

 lengthen the arm, as it were, and at the same time balance the spear by bringing 

 the hand nearer its centre. The hook of the spear-thrower is put into the hole 

 in the end of the hunting-spear, and the other end is grasped with the hand, 

 which also holds the spear above it with the finger and thumb. With this 

 instrument a spear is sent to a much greater distance than without it. 



The ' gniiTin ' spear is made of a strong reed, about five feet long, with a 

 sharp point of ironbark wood, and is used only for throwing at criminals, as 

 mentioned in the chapter on great meetings. The eel spear is formed of a peeled 

 ti-tree sapling, of the thickness of a little finger and about seven feet long, pointed 



