Rough instruments similar to this, he says, are used for killing game, but that here figured is employed only when fighting. It is either thrown at the enemy, or used to pierce him in close combat. It is curious to find the word Meero applied to a weapon of this kind. In West Australia the lever for propelling the spear is named Meero. The weight of this missile is twenty-four ounces. It could not be used as a throwing-stick.
The wooden sword (Fig. 66) was sent to me by Mr. George Bridgman, of Mackay, Queensland. It is two feet eleven inches in length, and rather more than two inches and three-quarters in breadth. It is colored with a bright-red pigment, and farther ornamented with rude serpentine streaks of white clay. It somewhat resembles the Kul-luk of the Gippsland natives, but is not so well made. It weighs forty-one ounces. The name of this weapon at Mackay is Bittergan, and I am informed is used with two hands, to strike the back of an opponent's neck and break it.
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| FIG. 66. |
The natives of Queensland use also a weapon exactly like the Leon-ile or Langeel of the people of Victoria, a figure of which is given in this work.
The sword used at Rockingham Bay (Fig. 67) is a larger and much more formidable weapon than that just described. Mr. John McDonnell has sent me a drawing and a description of one. It is fifty-seven inches in length, three and a half to five inches in width, and three-quarters of an inch in thickness. It is made of hard wood, and the weight varies from eight to ten pounds. It is sharp at both edges and at the point. The handle is bound with twine, and gum is used to attach the twine firmly to the handle, and to assist also in retaining a firm grasp of the weapon. It resembles the large club or sword (described elsewhere) made by the natives of Port Darwin.
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| FIG. 67. |
Mr. A. J. Scott states that the wood of which the swords are formed is like brigalow. The handle, he adds, is bound as described, and is only large enough for one hand. They are so heavy that few white men can raise them at arm's length; and it is difficult to understand how they can be in any way an efficient weapon in the hands of the Australian savages, unless they are far more powerful men than their more southern brethren, and more so than the generality of white men.[1]
- ↑ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865, vol. XXXV., p. 204.
