The sun., 1908-05-03

and waterfowl, and near By are kanEaFoos
and Wallabys, more or lees plentiful, Every
blAokielloW and 'hbrA' is accompanied
wherever be OF she goes by several so
called dogs, poor, NANCY, skinny animals.
II is wonderful TO zee q few Of these
monRrels give chase 10 and eventually
stick up big old man kangaroo, some
times standing Ave feet high. II the chase
has been long one and the dog owners
have been left far behind, the dogs will
kill the kangaroo themselves, generally
losing one or two Of their number In the
fray. II, however, they manage TO get
him into a tight corner quickly, they usually
keep him there till their masters come up
and despatch him
have seen three mongrelB not any
larger or stronger than an Italian grey
hound, and very thin, keep foot inch
kangaroo till assistance arrived. Two OF
them made a sham attack on the brute IN
front, and as soon as he charged at them
another dog nipped him from the rear,
forcing him 10 turn round, and 30 Kept
him revolving till the blacks had time, to
arrive for the kill IL follows from what
| have written that, while the inland and
poorer fed black fellows are undersized
and misshapen, the coast and river blacks
are found TO be large, strong ana sym
metrical, II not beautiful men and women.
There are different and often curious
customs relgiously observed by the several
tribes. For instance, one tribe amputates
the top joint Of the third finger OF the right
hand Of both men and women; another'
the little finger of the left hand OF the men;
another, the first joint Of the second toe
of the left foot of the women yet another,
The whole of the middle toe Of the right
foot Of both men and women, The blacks
themselves are unable to say when' these
customs originated or why.
Another practice which is general
throughout all the tribes Of Australia Is
the ribbng Of the skin. When the chill
dren are still young long cuts are mace
across the chest, down the upper arm and
leg, and even across the back and ribs.
While the wound IL quite fresh the cut Is
opened and a mixture OF mud Is grated ln'
the skin being pulled as far as possible
over IT,. The skin eventually grows COM
petely round the mud filling and forms
ridges varying in length and size from an
ordinary lead pencil TO the thickness OF a
mans little finger and extending from
armpit to armpit | am informed that
while the healing process Is going on the
pain is exquisite, but the result seems TO
satisfy all parties concerned.
The black fellow has a variety Of weapons
manufactured from seemingly impossible
things. One who has lived among them can
tell TO which tribe or region black man
belongs by the way in which his spearhead
Is shaped There are the round barbless
spearhead Of the Croker Island black, the
stone headed spear Of the Liverpool River
black, the hardwood spear, with barbs from
one TO three inches long, made by the Roper
River tribe, and 30 on, In the southern
parts Of Australia the boomerang is gen.
orally used in the north it is practically
unknown. The reason for this is, ! believe,
that the country is more open in the south,
while 1t is as a rule heavily timbered in the
north. especially near the coast. Spear
heads are made from old shoyes, glass
bottles, stones, hoop iron and all sorts OF
hard wood.
They are invariably worked up by the !
women, some Of the weapons taking months !
TO complete. Considering that the natives !
have no tools, except, perhaps, very /
rusty file stolen from some white mans [
camp, the work kmanship is wonderful. A |
strip is cut out Of the shovel about the re- |
quired width and length with tomahawk |
and then rubbed on a rough stone till il |
is perfect in shape, II is then liked to the .
haft with fibre, the whole being smeared .
over with glutnous substance, made with T
gum and ochre, and left till perfectly hard
The hoop iron binding Of compressed fod- .
der is greatly coveted by the natives. as .
il is the exact width required for fish spears /
and is easily worked. These fish spears are .
made with small barbs down each side 10 .
prevent the fish slipping on the spear when /
being drawn out OF the water.
Glassheaded spears cause dangerous
wounds, as many white men can testify. ,
and often cause blood poisoning il not
properly attended 10. TO spear fish the
native will wait on a branch hanging low
over the waterhole; when a fish comes
within his reach IL seldom gets away. To ,
propel the spear at game a woomera is
used. This consists Of fiat piece Of wood
about four feet long and coming down
nearly TO a point at one end A small .
horn, or sometimes a blunt alligator tooth
Is fixed on the pointed end so that II lies at
an angle Of about i5 degrees from the woom-
era. This is fastened with gum and bees
wax and must be very strong. In the end ,
Of the spear is a small hollow into which ]
the horn fits.
The spear is then held between the frst
finger and thumb, pressing back 40 az to
keep the hollow close to the horn Tho
woomera Ia held between the first and {
second fingers and thus tremendous 4