NEW SOUTH WALES. 203 



rebounds in a straight line, pursuing a ricochet motion until it strikes 

 the object at which it is thrown. Birds and small animals are killed 

 with it, and it is also used in killing ducks. The most singular 

 curve described by it, is when thrown into the air, above the angle 

 of 45° ; its flight is always then backwards, and the native who throws 

 it stands with his back, instead of his face, to the object he is desirous 

 of hitting. The diagram also exhibits its fall in case it loses its rotary 

 motion. It is a favourite weapon with the natives, and is frequently 

 seen ingeniously carved. 



As a defence they use a shield made of the thick bark of the gum 

 tree ; this they call hidemara. It is peculiar in shape, and on the 

 coast is three feet long by six or eight inches wide, with a handle in 

 the centre ; it is made rounding. Those in the interior are only a 

 three-cornered piece of wood, with a hole on each side, through 

 which the hand is thrust. The size of the latter is smaller, being 

 only two feet long and three or four inches broad. It would seem 

 almost impossible that so small a shield should be sufficient to guard 

 the body of a man ; and nothing but their quickness of eye and hand 

 could make it of any value, as a protection against the spear or club. 



The mode in which the natives climb trees was considered ex- 

 traordinary by those who witnessed it, although they had been 

 accustomed to the feats of the Polynesians in the ascent of the cocoa- 

 nut trees. The Australians mount a tree four or five feet in diameter, 

 both with rapidity and safety. As they climb they cut notches 

 above them, with a stone or metal hatchet, large enough to admit two 

 of their toes, which are inserted in them, and support their weight 

 until other holes are cut. 



The natives who reside upon the coast use canoes which are con- 

 structed as follows. 



A gum tree that has a thick and tough bark is selected ; this is 

 girdled, and the bark slit so that by care a piece of it may be stripped 

 from the tree large enough to make the canoe, which is usually about 

 fourteen feet long and seven wide. This piece of bark is charred on 

 the inside, after which it is folded in each end, so as to bring the 

 edges of the two halves of the entire circuit of the bark together ; in 

 this position these edges are fastened by cords and wooden rivets. 

 The simple canoe is now complete, and being usually about three 

 feet wide in the middle, will convey half a dozen persons. 



They use paddles of different sizes, say from two to five feet in 

 length. In using the shorter kind, a paddle is held in each hand. 



