It is often difficult to find a single piece of tecoma long enough to make a suitable shaft, in which case two pieces are taken and neatly joined somewhere within the lower, and thinner, half with tendon. The shoots, when cut, are always stripped of their bark and straightened in the fire, the surfaces being subsequently trimmed by scraping.
A very common type of spear, especially on the Daly River, and practically all along the coast of the Northern Territory, is one with a long reed-shaft, to which is attached, by means of a mass of wax or gum, a stone-head, consisting of either quartzite or slate, or latterly also of glass. The bottom end is strengthened, to receive the point of the thrower, by winding around it some vegetable fibre (n).
The natives of Arnhem Land now and then replace the stone by a short piece of hard wood of lanceolate shape.
If now we consider the only remaining type—a light reed-shaft, to which is affixed a long head of hard wood, with a number of barbs cut on one or more edges—we find a great variety of designs. The difference lies principally in the number and size of the barbs; in most cases they point backwards, but it is by no means rare to find a certain number of them pointing the opposite way or standing out at right angles to the length of the head. These spears belong principally to the northern tribes of the Northern Territory.
The commonest form is a spear having its head carved into a number of barbs along one side only, and all pointing backwards (o). The number ranges from three to over two dozen, the individual barbs being either short and straight or long and curved, with the exception of the lowest, which in many examples sticks out at right angles just above the point of insertion. The point is always long and tapering. These spears are common to the Larrekiya, Wogait, Wulna, and all Daly River tribes.
PLATE XXV
1. Dieri grave, Lake Eyre district.
2. Yantowannta grave, Innamincka district.
The same pattern of barbs may be found carved symmetrically on the side diametrically opposite, or, indeed, it may be cut in three planes.