NEW SOUTH WALE S. 



201 



mm^t: 



NATIVE THROWING THE BOOMERENG. 



they threw, parried, and returned in like manner. They then 

 closed, and fought hand to hand with their clubs, for a considerable 

 time. Their extraordinary quickness of eye, alertness, and agility of 

 movement, protect them from much harm ; and their thickness of 

 skull may also be taken into account, for nothing worse than a few 

 bruises and broken limbs resulted. The fight gradually dwindled 

 down to a single combat between two of the most determined war- 

 riors, and when one of these was knocked down by a stunning blow, 

 another took his place and continued the fight until one was severely 

 injured. The battle then terminated. 



Some of their personal or private quarrels are settled by a sort of 

 duel, or rather a trial of whose head is hardest. The accused or 

 challenged party extends his head, with the crown uppermost, towards 

 his adversary, who strikes a blow with his utmost force with a waddy, 

 which is the weapon they usually carry about them, and with which 

 they punish their wives, who exhibit generally many marks from the 

 use of it. The challenger then presents his head in return, and 

 blows are thus continued alternately, until one or the other is disa- 

 bled, or both declare themselves satisfied. Those who have witnessed 

 these encounters are quite astonished that every blow does not stun 

 or kill, for each of them would be fatal to a white man ; but the great 

 thickness of their skulls enables them to sustain this violence with 

 but little injury. 



VOL. II. 



51 



