For Australian work this simple tool seems to answer its purpose well enough. Of course it is very slow in its operation, and no great force can be applied to it, lest the teeth should be broken, or twisted out of the cement. The use of this saw entails great waste of material, time, and labor; but as the first two of these articles are not of the least value to the natives, and the third is of the lightest possible kind, the tool works well enough for its purpose. A perfect specimen of this saw is not often seen in this country, as the black-boy wax flakes off, and allows the teeth to drop out of their place. Even in my own specimen, which has been carefully tended, the wax has been chipped off here and there, while in instruments that have been knocked about carelessly scarcely a tooth is left in its place. Owing to the pointed end of the handle, the saw can be used after the fashion of a dagger, and can be employed, like the warpoo, for the ascent of trees.
CHAPTER LXXII.
AUSTRALIA—Continued.
THE AUSTRALIAN SPEAR AND ITS MANY FORMS — THE THROWING-SPEAR OR JAVELIN — A GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN SPEARS — THE LIGHTNESS OF THE SHAFT — THE MANY-POINTED FISH-SPEAR — INGENIOUS MODE OF TIPPING THE POINTS WITH BONE, AND FASTENING THEM TO THE SHAFT — ELASTICITY OF THE POINTS — DOUBLE USE AS PADDLE AND SPEAR — AN ELABORATELY-MADE WEAPON — FLINT-HEADED SPEARS — EXCELLENCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN AS A THROWER OF MISSILES — THE CLUB, THE STONE, AND THE “KANGAROO-RAT” — THE THROW-STICK, MIDLAH, OR WUMMERAH — PRINCIPLE ON WHICH IT IS CONSTRUCTED — MODES OF QUIVERING THE SPEAR — DISTANCE TO WHICH IT CAN BE THROWN — THE UNDERHAND THROW — ACCURACY OF AIM — SPEARING THE KANGAROO — THE BOW AND ARROW — STRENGTH OF THE BOW — THE RATTAN STRING AND INGENIOUS KNOT — CAREFUL MANUFACTURE OF THE ARROWS — PRESUMED ORIGIN OF THE WEAPONS — THE BOOMERANG AND ITS VARIOUS FORMS — MODE OF THROWING THE WEAPON — ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN — STRUCTURE OF THE BOOMERANG — THE AUSTRALIAN SHIELD, ITS FORMS AND USES — THE WOODEN AND THE BARK SHIELDS.
We now come to the various forms of the spears which are used by the native Australians.
The usual weapon is slight, and scarcely exceeds in diameter the assagai of Southern Africa. It is, however, considerable longer, the ordinary length being from nine to eleven feet. As a general rule, the spear is constructed after a very rude fashion, and the maker seems to care but little whether the shaft be perfectly straight, so that the weapon be tolerably well balanced. There are several specimens of Australian spears in my collection, one of which (a weapon that has evidently been a favorite one, as it shows marks of long usage) is twice bent, the second bend counteracting the former, and so bringing the weapon tolerably straight.
The butt of the Australian spear, like that of the South African assagai, is very slight, the shaft tapering gradually from the head, which is about as large as a man’s finger, to the butt, where it is hardly thicker than an artist’s pencil. This, being one of the common spears, is simply sharpened at the end, and a few slight barbs cut in the wood. I have, however, specimens in which there is almost every variety of material, dimensions, and structure that can be found in Australia.
Some of these are made on the same principle as that which has just been described, but differ from it in having a separate head, made of hard and heavy wood. This is deeply cut with barbs; so that the weapon is a more formidable one than that which is made simply from one piece of wood. The head of one of these spears is shown at [fig. 7] in the illustration “Heads of Spears,” on page 731.
Several of the spears are perfectly plain, being simply long sticks, pointed at the larger end. These, however, have been scraped very carefully, and seem to have had more pains bestowed upon them than those with more elaborate heads. These spears are about eight feet in length.
Then there are other spears with a variable number of heads, and of variable dimensions. The commonest form of multiheaded spears has either three or four points; but in every other respect, except number, the spear heads are constructed in the same manner. One of these spears, now before me, has a shaft about nine feet in length, and rather more than an inch in diameter at the thickest part, which, as is usual with Australian spears, is just below the head. The wood of which it is made is exceedingly light and porous; but this very quality has unfortunately made it so acceptable to the ptilinus beetles that they have damaged it sadly, and rendered it so brittle that a very slight shock would snap it. Indeed, the shaft of one of them was broken into three pieces by a little child stumbling against it while coming down stairs.
The four points which constitute the head are cut from the gum-tree, the wood of which is hard and durable, and can be trimmed to a very sharp point without danger of breakage. Each of them is twenty inches in length, and they are largest in the middle, tapering slightly at one end so as to permit of their being fastened to the shaft, and being scraped to a fine point at the other end.