BY RICHD. HELMS. 
389 
to the camp. The surprise mostly caused a stampede amongst 
the suddenly aroused sleepers, and those who did not escape by 
immediate flight, whether young or old, would be speared or 
knocked down with nulla nullas. After burning the spears and 
other war implements that were left behind, the attacking party 
returned as quickly as possible to their own district, probably to 
meet with a similar fate at some future time when the enemy had 
rallied and was reinforced.- 
The oldest man of the tribe was recognised as a kind of chief, 
but whenever an attack on some enemy was planned, the ablest 
warrior as a rule was chosen to lead, and his advice then received 
the endorsement of the old men. 
Personal disputes were also not infrequent, and were generally 
settled by a fight, either with spears or clubs. In each case the 
shield served for warding off the spears or the blows of the nulla. 
Fighting with stone tomahawks was not permitted in these duels, 
and was suppressed if in the heat of the combat the assailants 
should resort to these murderous weapons. In fact most of their 
fights, if single combats, were regulated by the onlookers, who 
frequently interfered when one of the parties was seen to get 
weak and it was noticed that he was unable to ward off the blows 
with the necessary dexterity. Some of their fights were regulated 
so that the combatants alternately hit the ' < hielaman , ' held by the 
opponents with the left hand above the head till the arm would 
gradually get weak and sink so that the nulla would fall on the 
head instead of the shield. The first hit on the head would end 
the fight as a rule, and frequently- — if, for instance, one of the 
duellists was a much older man than the other — the fight might 
probably be stopped just before the club fell upon the skull, and 
the combat declared satisfactorily finished. 
During the quarrel the opponents used to gather their beards in 
the mouth, which, together with the grimaces they assumed, gave 
them a ferocious expression. 
They recognised the tribal rights to certain grounds, but the 
boundaries were not always particularly respected, as it happened 
frequently that they were overstepped during hunting excursions. 
