ORIGIN OF THE HELIMAN OR SHIELD. > 285 



carried by the native against the tree, the rabbet was next 

 cut. This rabbet was most remarkable, and goes to show 

 the resourceful ingenuity of the aborigine. The wedge 

 used was of special stone found in the district, and 

 shaped similarly to a gad used for bursting stone, only 

 the point was not made fine, but on the contrary, it was 

 blunt and would not enter timber. The rabbet was cut to 

 take the point of this wedge, and to allow the wedge to be 

 driven into it, and so derive great lifting power. The 

 rabbet would be cut for a depth of two or three inches, and 

 would be about one and a half inches wide at the surface r 

 and half an inch at the bottom. This rabbet was cut right 

 round the shield, and besides being used to drive the wedges 

 in, it also cut the rings of the timber of the tree, and so 

 allowed the piece to come away readily. Eight or nine 

 wedges were driven into the rabbet, and when the tree 

 was hard, there would be a number of wedges destroyed 

 and dropped, and these can be found at the present time 

 by digging round old trees. To get the lifting power the 

 wedges were made practically double the width of the 

 rabbet into which they were to be driven. 



The shield, having been removed, would be carried to the 

 camp, where with smaller wedges and cutting stones its 

 manufacture would soon be finished. As the tree had 

 peculiar rings in the timber, the native simply drove small 

 wedges into the rings and so trimmed the shield down to 

 the required thickness. 



In this district almost every Grey Mangrove tree of 

 suitable size has been made to yield a shield, and in many 

 cases more than one shield has been taken from the same 

 trunk. The tree also sent up shoots which eventually were 

 also cut, this new growth even after woundings lived to a 

 great age, so that there are clumps of trees showing the 

 work of several generations. On one tree nine different 



