assist in deflecting the spear when it strikes. The axe, spear, and dowark were headed with silex, of which also knives and chisels were made; but broken glass is now commonly used, and knives and tomahawks obtained from the settlers. Their skill in hunting, either alone or in numbers, is remarked by all who have witnessed it. Weirs were made for fish, stakes driven to intercept the kangaroo at their watering places, and lines and nets manufactured for catching fish, which are also commonly speared both by day and by torchlight. On the North Coast a clumsy raft is also used for sea fishing. Their mias or huts vary in construction from a slight shelter made of brushwood to a dome of logs covered with day, large enough to contain several persons.
To particularise crimes and their perpetrators is both invidious and painful. It may be well, however, to call to mind those things in which natives have been and still are found useful, since as early as 1849 some 500 were in the employ of the settlers, at first as guides to exploring parties. It may be safely asserted that the longer explorations could never have been successful without their aid, and the names of Kaiber, Warrup, Pierre, Tommy Windich, and others will be always remembered. Mr. J. Forrest writes of the natives about the upper district of the Murchison:—"Altogether they are tractable and willing to work, and were of great service to me." As assistants to the Police they have been invaluable from their power of tracking. They have been employed as letter carriers. They have even done good work in road making, especially on the Sound Road, and are still useful as shepherds, teamsters, stock riders, messengers, and servants. At Rottnest they have been employed as builders, agriculturists, and in salt making. They have often themselves up
