The water vessels in some districts are made of bark, in other parts they use the skin of an animal; and it is asserted that the natives of Encounter Bay fashion water vessels out of the heads of their deceased relatives. I have never seen any of these hideous drinking cups, and I cannot learn that they were ever in use amongst the tribes of Victoria.
Shells, as might be supposed, are occasionally made to serve for holding water.
Amongst the cutting instruments are the mussel-shell (U-born), wherewith they scraped and prepared skins for rugs, bags, and water vessels; and the Leange-walert, formed of the lower-jaw of the opossum, an excellent tool for carving designs on wood and for cutting and shaping the boomerang and other weapons.
The bone and wooden awls and nails (Min-der-min), still in use where European nails and needles are not to be had, are very ancient implements. The bone-awls are found in the long disused mirrn-yongs and shell-mounds with stone tomahawks and chips of basalt. They are not ornamented in any way.
The long stick (Kon-nung) carried by the women is a strong and rather heavy implement, having its point hardened by fire. It is employed in digging roots, in propelling the bark canoe, and for fighting.
The Nerum ought properly to be classed with the offensive weapons of the natives. The fibula of the kangaroo is sharpened at one end, and to the other is attached an elastic rope of some vegetable fibre. There is a loop at the end, through which the bone can be thrust. This instrument was in former times used ordinarily for strangling an enemy, but it was perhaps, when the owner was not looking for some victim, employed as a rope for keeping together spears and the like. I have seen only one specimen of the Nerum. Something very like it is described by Mr. J. Moore Davis.
The Weet-weet is a toy. It is formed of a piece of hard wood, the head being a double cone, and is generally used in sport, but a skilful native can throw it in such a manner as to seriously injure or kill an opponent—time and place being suitable. This small instrument can be thrown by the hand alone to an incredible distance. It is a wonderful projectile. Its weight is less than two ounces, but when the proper impulse is given by the hand of the native, it has great velocity, and force enough to wound at a distance of two hundred and twenty yards.
The corrobboree-stick (Koorn-goon) is merely a piece of wood, sharpened at each end. Woods that, when dry, are sonorous, are selected for this implement. They are beaten together, in time, during the corrobboree dance.
The message-sticks of the Australians are highly interesting. Two are figured—one from the east coast and one from the west. The natives appear to have had for a long period a method of communicating intelligence by a kind of picture-writing. Their sticks are certainly a better means of transmitting news than the quipu of the Peruvians, which was only a cord on which variously-colored threads were attached as a fringe. The Australians, according to the statements made by my correspondents and confirmed by the evidence I have produced, could really send messages, describe the events of a journey, and
