THEOWING-STICKS AND CLUBS". 19 



handle, and when used, the end rests against the 

 palm of the rig-ht hand, the three last fingers grasp 

 the stick, and the forefinger and thumb loosely 

 retain the spear. With the aid of the powerful 

 leverage of the throwing-stick a spear can be thrown 

 to a distance varying according to its weight from 

 30 to 80 yards, and with considerable precision 5 

 still, if observed coming, it may easily be avoided. 



The only other weapon which I have seen in 

 Torres Strait is a peculiar kind of club procured 

 from New Guinea, consisting of a quoit-like disk of 

 hard stone (quartz, basalt, or serpentine), with a 

 sharp edge, and a hole in the centre to receive one 

 end of a long wooden handle. 



The huts which the Kowraregas and Cape York 

 people put up when the rains commence are 

 usually dome-shaped, four to six feet high, con- 

 structed of an arched framework of flexible sticks, 

 one end of each of which is stuck firmly in the 

 ground, and over this sheets of tea-tree (Melaleuca) 

 bark — and sometimes an additional thatch of grass 

 — are placed until it is rendered perfectly water-tight. 



Not only at Cape York but throug-hout Torres 

 Strait the males use no clothing or covering of any 

 kind. At Cape York and the Prince of Wales 

 Islands grown up females usually wear a covering 

 in front, consisting of a tuft of long grass, or flag 

 (Philydrum lanuginosum), or split pandanus leaves, 

 either hanging loosely or passed between the legs 

 and tied to another behind ; over this a short petti- 



c 2 



