No. 79 or No. 80, pressing the fish against the ground until he can secure it with No. 81.[1]
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| FIG. 81. |
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| FIG. 82. Scale 1/10. |
FIG. 83. |
Fig. 81 is a fishing-spear of wood (Ujie-koanie), used both in securing fish and for striking them when the native dives. It is commonly employed for taking fish in deep clear water-holes. A number of blacks at a given signal go down feet foremost, and as the cod, &c., pass them they spear them. They often spear them under logs also. The spear is from five to six feet in length. One end is brought to a fine point, and is smoothed and hardened and well polished, and the other is pointed but not sharpened. It is a handy weapon.
Fig. 82 shows the form of Tir-rer used in spearing and catching eels. It is never or very rarely employed for any other purpose. The upper end is made of a piece of hard wood well rounded, and carved at the point into two short prongs. The wood is attached in the usual manner to a long reed, or, if a reed cannot be found long enough for the purpose, two or more are joined together with Pid-jer-ong. The lower portion of these spears is sometimes made of Bag-gup, the peduncle of the grass-tree (Xanthorrhœa Australis).
Koy-yun (Fig. 83) is made of any hard and tough wood. It is fashioned with great care; one end is brought to a fine point by scraping with quartz chips, rough pieces of sandstone, or the like. It is neatly rounded and well polished, and is from nine to eleven feet in length. It is a spear very commonly used; and a native prides himself in having the weapon thin, smooth, and well balanced. The lower end is thinner than the middle of the weapon, but not brought to a sharp point, and it is not thrown with the Kur-ruk.
A spear resembling the Koy-yun is made of two pieces of wood; the upper piece is highly polished and brought to a fine hard point, and is fitted into a thicker and coarser piece, and well fastened with gum. It is thrown with the Kur-ruk, and used generally as a hunting-spear.
- ↑ Wilkinson gives the following interesting account of the use of the bident by the ancient Egyptians:—"To spear with the bident was thought the most sportsmanlike way of killing fish. In throwing it they sometimes stood on the bank, but generally used the papyrus punt, gliding smoothly over the water of a lake in their grounds, without disturbing the fish as they lay beneath the broad leaves of the lotus. . . . . . The bident was a spear with two barbed poiuts, which was either thrust at the fish with one or both hands as they passed by, or was darted to a short distance; a long line fastened to it preventing its being lost, and serving to recover it with the fish when struck. It was occasionally furnished with feathers, like an arrow, and sometimes a common spear was used for the purpose; but in most cases it was provided with a line, the end of which was
