112 NATURE OF WOUND. 



in the first boat, gave us positive orders not to re- 

 main behind, but to follow immediately. 



It was not till we got on board that we thought 

 of the canoe, or we might at least have gone and 

 brought off that, as some slight punishment, and it 

 might have drawn them from their lurking-holes to 

 receive a greater. On getting on board, we had great 

 difficulty in withdrawing the spear from the wounded 

 man, and when we did so, we found that the point 

 and barb had remained behind.* Bayley lingered 



* The wood of the spear had penetrated 4J inches. On the 

 post mortem examination it was found that the spear had passed 

 between the heads of two of the ribs and the spine, splintering 

 the bone of both, and had passed all but an eighth of an inch 

 through the left lobe of the lungs. Had it not struck the spine, 

 it would have passed through the body. The point was found 

 to be a piece of bone, 3 J inches long, about a quarter of an inch 

 thick in the middle, and coming to a very sharp point at each 

 end, and thus acutely spindle-shaped. This was fastened in a 

 groove at the side of the spear, with its point a little projecting, 

 the upper point, of course, serving as a barb. This barb had 

 caught under the spine, so that when, under Dr. M'Clatchie's 

 direction, I endeavoured to withdraw the spear, I was pulling the 

 barb against the inner surface of the spine, until at last, the gum 

 perhaps being loosened by the heat and moisture of the body, the 

 fastenings gave way, and the spear came out, leaving the point 

 remaining in the chest. I do not know whether this is one of 

 the intended uses of the gum fastening of spear heads, so universal 

 over all Australia ; but if the gum really does dissolve or soften, 

 in such cases, it renders the spears still more deadly weapons than 

 they appear. The force with which the spear is thrown by the 

 aid of a " womeiah," or throwing-stick, is tremendous. It acts 

 just like a finger, between two and three feet long, applied to the 



