The womera is about 30in. in length, and is held in the right hand, the forefinger of which sometimes grasps the spear also, to steady it until the moment before it is thrown, while the left hand supports the centre of the shaft, prevents the weight from depressing the point, and steadies and directs the aim.
The advantage gained by the use of the womera will be readily understood by anyone who will remember that the length of stroke is an important element in estimating the power of a steam engine. Suppose the length of a man’s arm, from collar-bone to fist, to be 3ft., and the chord of the arc through which he is able to swing his body in the act of throwing 4ft., we shall have 10ft. as the length of his stroke; and if we add to this double the length of the womera, or 5ft., we shall find that he is able to apply propelling force to the weapon while it is passing through 15ft. of space, an advantage which naturally exhibits its corresponding effect in the increase of range. The spear point is generally charred to harden it.
The boomerang, a weapon whose apparently mysterious property of coming back to the hand that has thrown it, must be now much better understood in England than it was before the arrival of the Australian cricketers. It is a thin blade of wood, curved either sabre-like in the segment of a circle, or bent in the centre at an obtuse angle. But its peculiar property is that, owing to a slight twist or change in the plane of surface on either side the centre, it becomes in reality a segment of one turn in the flange of a screw of exceedingly small pitch, and if its length were indefinitely increased it would assume the form of the spiral springs used in candle lamps, or in the well known toy of Jack-in-the-box; and supposing a small segment of one turn cut from the wire of such a spring and flattened, without altering either its circumferential or its spiral curve, we should have an exact representation of the boomerang. Little more need be said of this weapon, as no one but a native could ever hope to use it effectively.
Turtle spears.
A very simple form of harpoon is used for spearing turtle by some Australians we fell in with near the Goulburu Islands. They had evidently been alongside European ships, and it was probably from this source that they had acquired the essential part of their harpoon—an iron spike about 6in. long, and pointed at both ends. To this was fastened a small line, which was also stopped to the staff—a light pole about 8ft. long—the remainder of the line being held loosely coiled in the hand. Sometimes the Australians use their paddle as a spear by having the blade end sharpened, barbed, and hardened.
CHAPTER XVI.
POISONED WEAPONS, ARROWS, SPEARS, &c.
Poisoned arrows.
The arrows of the South African Bushmen are worthy of notice, not only for the ingenuity displayed in making formidable weapons from such apparently insignificant materials, but for the deadly poison with which in many cases they are imbued. A crooked stick, a few reeds, bits of bone, and the dorsal sinews of any antelope, are all the materials required in the formation of the weapons. The poisoning is sometimes a more elaborate affair. Among the southern tribes, some of whom still maintain an existence as hunters and occasional marauders on the borders of the colony, the juices of the bulbs of various species of amaryllis and hæmanthus, mixed sometimes with serpent poison, and aided by the adhesive acrid juice of the euphorbium, are boiled down in the hollow of a stone to the tough viscous consistency of birdlime, and sparingly smeared upon the arrow heads. Farther to the north the process is much more simple. The Bushmen of the Kalihari Desert, and the regions in the vicinity of Lake Ngami, use the entrails of a grub called ’kaa or ngwa, an almost inarticulate sound, which it is impossible to write so as to enable the English reader to pronounce it with anything like correctness. Both forms of spelling are attempts to indicate a click of the tongue against the teeth, followed by a slight nasal ringing, and ending in the broad sound of the vowel “a.” The grub is of a creamy white, and is soft, with the exception of its head; and when full-sized seldom much exceeds three-quarters of an inch in length. It lives chiefly, perhaps almost exclusively, upon the leaf of a tree called “Maruru papeerie,” which varies from the size of a small low-growing shrub to that of a moderately-sized tree, upwards of 20ft. high, or 12in. or 14in. in thickness. It is covered with thorns, and its wood in the vicinity of Lake Ngami was soft and of a very even texture; but toward the Zambesi it seemed harder. When we first saw it it was feeding on these leaves, and we were rather puzzled by a loose ragged mantle or envelope of green matter, which seemed to be peeling off like a skin in process of being cast. It lay in loose rolls, mostly parallel to the muscular rings upon the body, and was gradually forced forward, so as to form a hood or shield above the head, where it dried and broke off as it accumulated, and was replaced by fresh matter. Our highest magnifying power was the microscope of a sextant; but this at length enabled us to decide that the green matter was merely excrement issuing not only in the usual manner, but also from pores ranged along the whole length of the body. As the grub attains its full size, this matter issues more sparingly, and is of a browner colour. The grub drops to the ground, buries itself to the depth of a couple of feet, and forms its cocoon of a thin shell of earth, cemented by glutinous juices around its body. This is quite hard enough to bear handling, even rather roughly, so long as it retains its perfect form, and we brought several specimens to England; but if it is once broken, the slightest touch is enough to complete its destruction.