284 T. DICK. 



The late John Stuart Dick of Port Macquarie had often 

 seen the natives removing the shields in the early days of 

 the settlement by stone tools only. As the natives learned 

 to value the steel axe very readily, it was only a short 

 time when many of them had steel tomahawks, and Mr. 

 Dick saw many shields removed by steel tools as well. It 

 was the information given by this Mr. Dick that led to the 

 search amongst the trees, as he often drew my attention 

 to those which were marked. 



Mr. Ernest Harold Dick, also of Port Macquarie, gave 

 the following interesting account : — 



"I was walking pasta mangrove swamp, and saw a full blooded 

 native, one that I knew from Rollands Plains, in the act of 

 removing a shield from a tree. The tree was a grey mangrove, 

 and the native had cut the rabbet with a steel tomahawk and was 

 driving bluff wedges of wood into the rabbet, and after driving a 

 number of the wedges, the shield eventually came off." 



This shows that what was done with stone was continued 

 with iron, for the native soon realised the superiority of 

 the white man's iron axe over his stone one. 



My own observations, towards which I have been helped 

 by a daily occupation on the waters of Port Macquarie, 

 have now extended over a period of twenty-five years. 

 Method of Cutting the Shield. 



From the evidence available, it would appear that the 

 tree generally selected from which to remove a shield was 

 one of even growth, as will be seen in the plates given in 

 this paper. That the native was familiar with the pecu- 

 liarities of this particular species of timber must now be 

 accepted, also that he was aware at the same time of the 

 lifting power of the wedge, and further he made these 

 stone wedges a certain shape, in order to get this lifting 

 power. The modus operandi was as follows: — Having 

 marked out the piece to be removed, by placing the shield 



