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Stohr, Corrections: From Research, to Policy, to Practice, 1st Edition

SAGE Publishing, 2018

Corrections From Research to Policy to

Practice 1st Edition by Stohr ISBN
1483373371 9781483373379
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Chapter 5: Sentencing: The Application of Punishment

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. What is a punitive penalty ordered by the court after a defendant has been convicted
of a crime, either by a jury, a bench trial, by a judge, or in a plea bargain?
A. Conviction
B. Justice
C. Revenge
D. Sentence
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 5-1: Explain how modern sentencing engages Aristotle’s notion of
justice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Is Sentencing?
Difficulty Level: Easy

2. A moral concept that is difficult to define, but in essence means to treat people in
ways consistent with norms of fairness and in accordance with what they justly deserve
by virtue of their behavior is known as what?
A. Conviction
B. Justice
C. Revenge
D. Sentence
Ans: B

1
 Instructor Resource
Stohr, Corrections: From Research, to Policy, to Practice, 1st Edition
SAGE Publishing, 2018

Learning Objective: 5-1: Explain how modern sentencing engages Aristotle’s notion of
justice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Is Sentencing?
Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Who provided the following definition: “Justice consists of treating equals equally, and
unequals unequally according to relevant differences?”
A. Plato
B. Beccaria
C. Aristotle
D. Homer
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 5-1: Explain how modern sentencing engages Aristotle’s notion of
justice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Is Sentencing?
Difficulty Level: Easy

4. What type of sentence is one in which the actual number of years a person may
serve is not fixed, but is rather a range of years?
A. Split
B. Determinate
C. Indeterminate
D. Mandatory
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Indeterminate Sentence
Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What type of sentence means that convicted criminals are given a fixed number of
years they must serve rather than a range?
A. Split
B. Determinate
C. Indeterminate
D. Mandatory
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Determinate Sentence
Difficulty Level: Easy

2
 Instructor Resource
Stohr, Corrections: From Research, to Policy, to Practice, 1st Edition
SAGE Publishing, 2018

6. What type of sentence can exist in the context of both determinate and indeterminate
sentencing structures and simply means that probation is not an option and that the
minimum time be set by law?
A. Split
B. Determinate
C. Indeterminate
D. Mandatory
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Mandatory Sentence
Difficulty Level: Easy

7. What type of sentences are two sentences ordered to be served at the same time?
A. Split
B. Determinate
C. Consecutive
D. Concurrent
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences
Difficulty Level: Easy

8. What type of sentences are two or more sentences that must be served sequentially?
A. Split
B. Determinate
C. Consecutive
D. Concurrent
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences
Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which statutes are derived from the same punitive atmosphere that led to truth in
sentencing statutes?
A. Habitual offender
B. Truth in sentencing
C. Life without parole
D. None of the above
Ans: A

3
 Instructor Resource
Stohr, Corrections: From Research, to Policy, to Practice, 1st Edition
SAGE Publishing, 2018

Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Habitual-Offender Statutes
Difficulty Level: Easy

10. What type of sentence exposes offenders to the reality of prison life for a short
period of time, followed by probation?
A. Shock probation
B. Split sentences
C. Noncustodial sentences
D. Drug court
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Alternatives to Incarceration
Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Which of the following types of sentences may seem popular with the public at large
until they get the bill?
A. Habitual offender
B. Truth in sentencing
C. Life without parole
D. None of these
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Habitual-Offender Statutes
Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Which type of sentence requires felons to serve brief periods of confinement in a
county jail prior to placement on probation?
A. Shock probation
B. Split sentences
C. Noncustodial sentences
D. Drug court
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Alternatives to Incarceration
Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Which type of sentence requires participants to be involved in an intensive treatment

program that lasts about 1 year?

4
 Instructor Resource
Stohr, Corrections: From Research, to Policy, to Practice, 1st Edition
SAGE Publishing, 2018

A. Shock probation
B. Split sentences
C. Noncustodial sentences
D. Drug court
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 5-2: Describe the different types of sentencing and their rationales.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Alternatives to Incarceration
Difficulty Level: Easy

14. What occurs when there is a wide variation in sentences received by different
offenders?
A. Sentencing disparity
B. Fair Sentencing Act
C. Anti-Drug Abuse Act
D. U.S. Sentencing Commission Report to Congress
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 5-4: Discuss the role of victim impact statements and the issues
surrounding sentencing disparity.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sentencing Disparities: Legitimate and Illegitimate
Difficulty Level: Easy

15. What established a 100 to 1 quantity ratio differential between powder and crack
cocaine?
A. Sentencing disparity
B. Fair Sentencing Act
C. Anti-Drug Abuse Act
D. U.S. Sentencing Commission Report to Congress
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 5-4: Discuss the role of victim impact statements and the issues
surrounding sentencing disparity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Sentencing for Crack Versus Powder Cocaine
Difficulty Level: Easy

16. What increased the amount of cocaine subject to the five year minimum sentence
from five grams to 28 g?
A. Sentencing disparity
B. Fair Sentencing Act
C. Anti-Drug Abuse Act
D. U.S. Sentencing Commission Report to Congress
Ans: B

5
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cylindrical, and looks like that of a palm, while an enormous tuft of long
leaves starts from the top and droops in all directions, like a gigantic
plume of feathers. The flower shoots up straight from the centre; and the
long stalk becomes, when dried, so hard, tough, and light, that it is made
into spear shafts.
There is in my collection an Australian saw (illustrated on page 722),
in the manufacture of which the black-boy gum plays a considerable
part. No one would take it for a saw who did not know the implement,
and indeed it looks much more like a rude dagger than a saw. It is made
from a piece of wood usually cut from a branch of the gum-tree, and
about as thick as a man’s finger at the thickest part, whence it tapers
gradually to a point. The average length of the saw is fourteen inches,
though I have seen them nearly two feet long.
Along the thicker end is cut a groove, which is intended to receive the
teeth of the saw. These teeth are made from chips of quartz or obsidian,
the latter being preferred; and some makers, who have been brought in
contact with civilization, have taken to using fragments of glass bottles.
A number of flat and sharp-edged chips are selected as nearly as possible
of the same size, and being on an average as large as a shilling. These the
natives insert into the groove with their sharp edges uppermost. A
quantity of black-boy wax is then warmed and applied to them, the entire
wood of the saw being enveloped in it, as well as the teeth for half their
depth, so as to hold them firmly in their places. As the chips of stone are
placed so as to leave little spaces between them, the gaps are filled in
with this useful cement.
For Australian work this simple tool seems to answer its purpose well
enough. Of course it is very slow in its operation, and no great force can
be applied to it, lest the teeth should be broken, or twisted out of the
cement. The use of this saw entails great waste of material, time, and
labor; but as the first two of these articles are not of the least value to the
natives, and the third is of the lightest possible kind, the tool works well
enough for its purpose. A perfect specimen of this saw is not often seen
in this country, as the black-boy wax flakes off, and allows the teeth to
drop out of their place. Even in my own specimen, which has been
carefully tended, the wax has been chipped off here and there, while in
instruments that have been knocked about carelessly scarcely a tooth is
left in its place. Owing to the pointed end of the handle, the saw can be
used after the fashion of a dagger, and can be employed, like the warpoo,
for the ascent of trees.
 CHAPTER LXXII.
AUSTRALIA—Continued.

THE AUSTRALIAN SPEAR AND ITS MANY FORMS — THE THROWING-SPEAR OR

JAVELIN — A GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN SPEARS — THE LIGHTNESS OF THE
SHAFT — THE MANY-POINTED FISH-SPEAR — INGENIOUS MODE OF TIPPING
THE POINTS WITH BONE, AND FASTENING THEM TO THE SHAFT —
ELASTICITY OF THE POINTS — DOUBLE USE AS PADDLE AND SPEAR — AN
ELABORATELY-MADE WEAPON — FLINT-HEADED SPEARS — EXCELLENCE
OF THE AUSTRALIAN AS A THROWER OF MISSILES — THE CLUB, THE
STONE, AND THE “KANGAROO-RAT” — THE THROW-STICK, MIDLAH, OR
WUMMERAH — PRINCIPLE ON WHICH IT IS CONSTRUCTED — MODES OF
QUIVERING THE SPEAR — DISTANCE TO WHICH IT CAN BE THROWN — THE
UNDERHAND THROW — ACCURACY OF AIM — SPEARING THE KANGAROO
— THE BOW AND ARROW — STRENGTH OF THE BOW — THE RATTAN
STRING AND INGENIOUS KNOT — CAREFUL MANUFACTURE OF THE
ARROWS — PRESUMED ORIGIN OF THE WEAPONS — THE BOOMERANG
AND ITS VARIOUS FORMS — MODE OF THROWING THE WEAPON — ITS
PROBABLE ORIGIN — STRUCTURE OF THE BOOMERANG — THE
AUSTRALIAN SHIELD, ITS FORMS AND USES — THE WOODEN AND THE
BARK SHIELDS.

We now come to the various forms of the spears which are used by the
native Australians.
The usual weapon is slight, and scarcely exceeds in diameter the
assagai of Southern Africa. It is, however, considerable longer, the
ordinary length being from nine to eleven feet. As a general rule, the
spear is constructed after a very rude fashion, and the maker seems to
care but little whether the shaft be perfectly straight, so that the weapon
be tolerably well balanced. There are several specimens of Australian
spears in my collection, one of which (a weapon that has evidently been
a favorite one, as it shows marks of long usage) is twice bent, the second
bend counteracting the former, and so bringing the weapon tolerably
straight.
The butt of the Australian spear, like that of the South African assagai,
is very slight, the shaft tapering gradually from the head, which is about
as large as a man’s finger, to the butt, where it is hardly thicker than an
artist’s pencil. This, being one of the common spears, is simply
sharpened at the end, and a few slight barbs cut in the wood. I have,
however, specimens in which there is almost every variety of material,
dimensions, and structure that can be found in Australia.
Some of these are made on the same principle as that which has just
been described, but differ from it in having a separate head, made of hard
and heavy wood. This is deeply cut with barbs; so that the weapon is a
more formidable one than that which is made simply from one piece of
wood. The head of one of these spears is shown at fig. 7 in the
illustration “Heads of Spears,” on page 731.
Several of the spears are perfectly plain, being simply long sticks,
pointed at the larger end. These, however, have been scraped very
carefully, and seem to have had more pains bestowed upon them than
those with more elaborate heads. These spears are about eight feet in
length.
Then there are other spears with a variable number of heads, and of
variable dimensions. The commonest form of multiheaded spears has
either three or four points; but in every other respect, except number, the
spear heads are constructed in the same manner. One of these spears,
now before me, has a shaft about nine feet in length, and rather more
than an inch in diameter at the thickest part, which, as is usual with
Australian spears, is just below the head. The wood of which it is made
is exceedingly light and porous; but this very quality has unfortunately
made it so acceptable to the ptilinus beetles that they have damaged it
sadly, and rendered it so brittle that a very slight shock would snap it.
Indeed, the shaft of one of them was broken into three pieces by a little
child stumbling against it while coming down stairs.
The four points which constitute the head are cut from the gum-tree,
the wood of which is hard and durable, and can be trimmed to a very
sharp point without danger of breakage. Each of them is twenty inches in
length, and they are largest in the middle, tapering slightly at one end so
as to permit of their being fastened to the shaft, and being scraped to a
fine point at the other end.
On examination I find that the large end of the shaft has been cut into
four grooves, in each of which is placed the butt end of one of the points,
which is fixed temporarily by black-boy gum. Wedgelike pegs have then
been pushed between the points, so as to make them diverge properly
from each other, and, when they have assumed the proper position, they
have been tightly bound together with cord. A layer of black-boy gum
has then been kneaded over the string, so as to keep all firmly together.
 So much for the mode of putting on the points, the end of one of
which may be seen at fig. 3 in the illustration. My own specimen,
however, is better made than that from which the sketch has been taken.
The reader will perceive that there is a barb attached to the point, and
lashed in its place by string. In my specimen the barb is made of a piece
of bone about as long as a skewer, and sharply pointed at both ends. In
the example shown in the illustration, the barb merely projects from the
side of the point, whereas in my specimen the bone answers the purpose
both of point and barb. In order to enable it to take the proper direction,
the top of the wooden point is bevelled off, and the piece of bone lashed
to it by the middle, so that one end becomes the point of the weapon, and
the other end does duty for the barb. Wishing to see how this was done, I
have cut away part of the lashings of one of the four points, and have
been much struck with the ingenuity displayed by the maker in fastening
the bone to the point, so as to make it discharge its double duty. The
barbs are all directed inward, so that, when the native makes a stroke at a
fish, the slippery prey is caught between the barbs, and held there just as
is an eel between the prongs of the spear. The elasticity of the four long
points causes them to diverge when they come upon the back of a fish,
and to contract tightly upon it, so that the points of the barbs are pressed
firmly into its sides.
This spear also stands the native instead of a paddle, and with it he
contrives to guide his fragile bark with moderate speed. How he manages
to stand erect in so frail a vessel, to paddle about, to strike the fish, and,
lastly, to haul the struggling prey aboard, is really a marvel. The last-
mentioned feat is the most wonderful, as the fish are often of
considerable size, and the mere leverage of their weight at the end of a
ten-foot spear, added to the violent struggles which the wounded fish
makes, seems sufficient to upset a far more stable vessel.
Yet the natives manage to pass hour after hour without meeting with
an accident, and in one of their tiny boats, which seem scarcely large
enough to hold a single European, even though he should be accustomed
to the narrow outrigger skiff, or the comparatively modern canoe, two
men will be perfectly comfortable, spearing and hauling in their fish, and
even cooking them with a fire made on an extemporized hearth of wet
sand and stones in the middle of the canoe.
Night is the favorite time for fish spearing, and then the sight of a
number of natives engaged in the watery chase is a most picturesque one.
They carry torches, by means of which they see to the bottom of the
water, and which have also the advantage of dazzling the fish; and the
effect of the constantly moving torches, the shifting glare on the rippled
water, and the dark figures moving about, some searching for fish, others
striking, and others struggling with the captured prey, is equally
picturesque and exciting. The torches which they use are made of
inflammable bark: and the whole scene is almost precisely like that
which is witnessed in “burning the water,” in North America, or, to come
nearer home, “leistering” in Scotland.
In the daytime they cannot use the torch, and, as the slightest breeze
will cause a ripple on the surface of the water that effectually prevents
them from seeing the fish, they have an ingenious plan of lying flat
across the canoe, with the upper part of the head and the eyes immersed
in the water, and the hand grasping the spear ready for the stroke. The
eyes being under the ripple, they can see distinctly enough.
I have often employed this plan when desirous of watching the
proceedings of sub-aquatic animals. It is very effectual, though after a
time the attitude becomes rather fatiguing, and those who are not
gymnasts enough to be independent as to the relative position of their
heads and heels are apt to find themselves giddy from the determination
of blood to the head.
Another spear, also used for fishing, and with an elaborate head, is
seen at fig 8. In this spear one point is iron, and the other two are bone.
The weapon is remarkable for the manner in which the shaft is allowed
to project among the points, and for the peculiar mode in which the
various parts are lashed together. This specimen comes from the Lower
Murray River.
There is in my collection a weapon which was brought from Cape
York. It is a fishing spear, and at first sight greatly resembles that which
has just been described. It is, however, of a more elaborate character, and
deserves a separate description. It is seven feet in length, and very
slender, the thickest part of the shaft not being more than half an inch in
diameter. It has four points, two of which are iron and without barbs, the
iron being about the thickness of a crow-quill, and rather under three
inches in length. The two bone points are made from the flat tail-bone of
one of the rays, and, being arranged with the point of the bone in front,
each of these points has a double row of barbs directed backward, one
running along each edge.
At fig. 6 of the same illustration is seen a very formidable variety of
the throwing-spear. Along each side of the head the native warrior has
cut a groove, and has stuck in it a number of chips of flint or quartz,
fastened in their places by the black-boy gum, just as has been related of
the saw. The workmanship of this specimen is, however, far ruder than
that of the saw, the pieces of flint not being the same size, nor so
carefully adjusted. Indeed, it seems as if the saw maker laid aside the
fragments of flint which he rejected for the tool, and afterward used them
in arming the head of his spear. One of these weapons in my collection is
armed on one side of the head only, along which are arranged four pieces
of obsidian having very jagged edges, and being kept in their places by a
thick coating of black-boy gum extending to the very point of the spear.
At figs. 4 and 5 of the same illustration are seen two spear heads
which remind the observer of the flint weapons which have of late years
been so abundantly found in various parts of the world, and which
belonged to races of men now long extinct. The spear heads are nearly as
large as a man’s hand, and are made of flint chipped carefully into the
required shape. They are flat, and the maker has had sufficient
knowledge of the cleavage to enable him to give to each side a sharp and
tolerably uniform edge. It will be observed that fig. 5 is much darker
than fig. 4. This distinction is not accidental, but very well expresses the
variety in the hue of the material employed, some of the spear heads
being pale brown, and some almost black. The weapons are, in fact,
nothing but elongations of the dagger shown in fig. 2, of the
“tomahawks,” on page 722.
If the reader will look at figs. 1 and 2 of the illustration, he will see
that there are two heads of somewhat similar construction, except that
one is single and the other double. These spears were brought from Port
Essington.
Specimens of each kind are in my collection. They are of great size,
one being more than thirteen feet in length, and the other falling but little
short of that measurement. In diameter they are as thick as a man’s wrist;
and, however light may be the wood of which they are made, they are
exceedingly weighty, and must be very inferior in efficiency to the light
throwing-spears which have already been described. Of course such a
weapon as that is meant to be used as a pike, and not as a missile.
Besides these, I have another with three heads, and of nearly the same
dimensions as the two others.
In every case the head and the shaft are of different material, the one
being light and porous, and the other hard, compact, and heavy. Instead
of being lashed together with the neatness which is exhibited in the
lighter weapons, the head and shaft are united with a binding of thick
string, wrapped carefully, but yet roughly, round the weapon, and not
being covered with the coating of black-boy gum, which gives so neat a
look to the smaller weapons. In the three-pointed spear, the maker has
exercised his ingenuity in decorating the weapon with paint, the tips of
the points being painted with red and the rest of the head white, while the
lashing is also painted red.
In his wild state the Australian native never likes to be without a spear
in his hand, and, as may be expected from a man whose subsistence is
almost entirely due to his skill in the use of weapons, he is a most
accomplished spear thrower. Indeed, as a thrower of missiles in general
the Australian stands without a rival. Putting aside the boomerang, of
which we shall presently treat, the Australian can hurl a spear either with
his hand or with the “throw-stick,” can fling his short club with unerring
aim, and, even should he be deprived of these missiles, he has a singular
faculty of throwing stones. Many a time, before the character of the
natives was known, has an armed soldier been killed by a totally
unarmed Australian. The man has fired at the native, who, by dodging
about, has prevented the enemy from taking a correct aim, and then has
been simply cut to pieces by a shower of stones, picked up and hurled
with a force and precision that must be seen to be believed. When the
first Australian discoverer came home, no one would believe that any
weapon could be flung and then return to the thrower, and even at the
present day it is difficult to make some persons believe in the stone-
throwing powers of the Australian. To fling one stone with perfect
precision is not so easy a matter as it seems, but the Australian will hurl
one after the other with such rapidity that they seem to be poured from
some machine; and as he throws them he leaps from side to side, so as to
make the missiles converge from different directions upon the
unfortunate object of his aim.
In order to attain the wonderful skill which they possess in avoiding as
well as in throwing spears, it is necessary that they should be in constant
practice from childhood. Accordingly, they are fond of getting up sham
fights, armed with shield, throw-stick, and spear, the latter weapon being
headless, and the end blunted by being split and scraped into filaments,
and the bushy filaments then turned back, until they form a soft fibrous
pad. Even with this protection, the weapon is not to be despised: and if it
strike one of the combatants fairly, it is sure to knock him down: and if it
should strike him in the ribs, it leaves him gasping for breath. This
mimic spear goes by the name of “matamoodlu,” and is made of various
sizes according to the age and capabilities of the person who uses it.
There is one missile which is, I believe, as peculiar to Australia as the
boomerang, though it is not so widely spread, nor of such use in war or
hunting. It is popularly called the “kangaroo-rat,” on account of its
peculiar leaping progression, and it may be familiar to those of my
readers who saw the Australian cricketers who came over to England in
the spring of 1808. The “kangaroo-rat” is a piece of hard wood shaped
like a double cone, and having a long flexible handle projecting from one
of the points. The handle is about a yard in length, and as thick as an
artist’s drawing-pencil, and at a little distance the weapon looks like a
huge tadpole with a much elongated tail. In Australia the natives make
the tail of a flexible twig, but those who have access to the resources of
civilization have found out that whalebone is the best substance for the
tail that can be found.
When the native throws the kangaroo-rat, he takes it by the end of the
tail and swings it backward and forward, so that it bends quite double,
and at last he gives a sort of underhanded jerk and lets it fly. It darts
through the air with a sharp and menacing hiss like the sound of a rifle
ball, its greatest height being some seven or eight feet from the ground.
As soon as it touches the earth, it springs up and makes a succession of
leaps, each less than the preceding, until it finally stops. In fact, it skims
over the ground exactly as a flat stone skims over the water when boys
are playing at “ducks and drakes.” The distance to which this instrument
can be thrown is really astonishing. I have seen an Australian stand at
one side of Kennington Oval, and throw the “kangaroo-rat” completely
across it. Much depends upon the angle at which it first takes the ground.
If thrown too high, it makes one or two lofty leaps, but traverses no great
distance; and, if it be thrown too low, it shoots along the ground, and is
soon brought up by the excessive friction. When properly thrown, it
looks just like a living animal leaping along, and those who have been
accustomed to traverse the country say that its movements have a
wonderful resemblance to the long leaps of a kangaroo-rat fleeing in
alarm, with its long tail trailing as a balance behind it.
A somewhat similarly shaped missile is used in Fiji, but the Fijian
instrument has a stiff shaft, and it is propelled by placing the end of the
forefinger against the butt, and throwing it underhanded. It is only used
in a game in which the competitors try to send it skimming along the
ground as far as possible.
To return to our spears. It is seldom that an Australian condescends to
throw a spear by hand, the native always preferring to use the curious
implement called by the aborigines a “wummerah,” or “midlah,” and by
the colonists the “throw-stick.” The theory of the throw-stick is simple
enough, but the practice is very difficult, and requires a long
apprenticeship before it can be learned with any certainty.
The principle of this implement is that of the sling; and the throw-stick
is, in fact, a sling made of wood instead of cord, the spear taking the
place of the stone. So completely is the throw-stick associated with the
spear, that the native would as soon think of going without his spear as
without the instrument whereby he throws it. The implement takes
different forms in different localities, although the principle of its
construction is the same throughout. In the illustration entitled “Throw-
sticks,” on page 731, the reader may see every variety of form which the
throw-stick takes. He will see, on inspecting the figures, that it consists
of a stick of variable length and breadth, but always having a barblike
projection at one end. Before describing the manner in which the
instrument is used, I will proceed to a short notice of the mode of its
construction, and the various forms which it takes.
In the first place, it is always more or less flattened; sometimes, as in
fig. 3, being almost leaf-shaped, and sometimes, as in fig. 6, being quite
narrow, and throughout the greater part of its length little more than a
flattened stick. It is always made of some hard and elastic wood, and in
many cases it is large and heavy enough to be serviceable as a club at
close quarters. Indeed, one very good specimen in my collection, which
came from the Swan River, was labelled, when it reached me, as an
Indian club. This form of the throw-stick is shown at fig. 3.
This particular specimen is a trifle under two feet in length, and in the
broadest part it measures four inches and a half in width. In the centre it
is one-sixth of an inch in thickness, and diminishes gradually to the
edges, which are about as sharp as those of the wooden sword already
mentioned. Toward the end, however, it becomes thicker, and at the place
where the peg is placed it is as thick as in the middle. Such a weapon
would be very formidable if used as a club—scarcely less so, indeed,
than the well-known “merai” of New Zealand.
HEADS OF AUSTRALIAN SPEARS.
(See page 727.)

THROW-STICKS.
(See page 730.)
 BOOMERANGS.
(See page 737.)

That it has been used for this purpose is evident from a fracture, which
has clearly been caused by the effect of a severe blow. The wood is split
from one side of the handle half along the weapon, and so it has been
rendered for a time unserviceable. The careful owner has, however,
contrived to mend the fracture, and has done so in a singularly ingenious
manner. He has fitted the broken surfaces accurately together, and has
then bound them with the kangaroo-tail sinews which have already been
mentioned. The sinews are flat, and have been protected by a thick
coating of black-boy gum. Perhaps the reader may be aware that, when
catgut is knotted, the ends are secured by scorching them, which makes
them swell into round knobs. The sinew has the same property, and the
native has secured the ends precisely as an English artisan would do.
The wood is that of the tough, hard, wavy-grained gum-tree. Whether
in consequence of much handling by greasy natives, or whether from
other causes, I do not know, but I cannot make a label adhere to it. To
each of the specimens in my collection is attached a catalogue number,
and though I have tried to affix the label with paste, gum, and glue,
neither will hold it, and in a few days the label falls off of its own accord.
This specimen has been cut from a tree which has been attacked by some
boring insect, and the consequence is, that a small hole is bored through
it edgewise, and has a very curious appearance. The hole looks exactly
like that of our well-known insect, the great Sirex.
The peculiarly-shaped handle is made entirely of black-boy gum, and,
with the exception of a tendency to warp away from the wood, it is as
firm as on the day when it was first made. The peg which fits into the
butt of the spear is in this case made of wood, but in many throw-sticks it
is made of bone. Figs. 1 and 2 are examples of this flattened form of
midlah, and were drawn from specimens in Southern Australia. At figs. 4
and 5 may be seen examples of the throw-stick of Port Essington, one of
which, fig. 4, is remarkable for the peculiarly-shaped handle. That of fig.
5 seems to be remarkably inconvenient, and almost to have been made
for the express purpose of preventing the native from taking a firm hold
of the weapon. Fig. 6 is an example of the throw-stick of Queensland,
and, as may easily be seen, can be used as a club, provided that it be
reversed, and the peg end used as a handle.
There is another form of throw-stick used in Northern Australia, an
example of which may be seen at fig. 6. It is a full foot longer than that
which came from the Murray, and is one of the “flattened sticks” which
have been casually mentioned. It has a wooden spike for the spear-butt,
and a most remarkable handle. Two pieces of melon-shell have been cut
at rather long ovals, and have been fixed diagonally across the end of the
weapon, one on each side. Black-boy gum has been profusely used in
fixing these pieces, and the whole of the interior space between the shells
has been filled up with it. A diagonal lashing of sinew, covered with the
same gum, passes over the shells, and the handle is strongly wrapped
with the same material for a space of five inches.
We will now proceed to see how the native throws the spear.
Holding the throw-stick by the handle, so that the other end projects
over his shoulder, he takes a spear in his left hand, fits a slight hollow in
its butt to the peg of the midlah, and then holds it in its place by passing
the forefinger of the right hand over the shaft. It will be seen that the
leverage is enormously increased by this plan, and that the force of the
arm is more than doubled.
Sometimes, especially when hunting, the native throws the spear
without further trouble, but when he is engaged in a fight he goes
through a series of performances which are rather ludicrous to an
European, though they are intended to strike terror into the native enemy.
The spear is jerked about violently, so that it quivers just like an African
assagai, and while vibrating strongly it is thrown. There are two ways of
quivering the spear; the one by merely moving the right hand, and the
other by seizing the shaft in the left hand, and shaking it violently while
the butt rests against the peg of the throw-stick. In any case the very fact
of quivering the spear acts on the Australian warrior as it does upon the
African. The whirring sound of the vibrating weapon excites him to a
pitch of frenzied excitement, and while menacing his foe with the
trembling spear, the warrior dances and leaps and yells as if he were mad
—and indeed for the moment he becomes a raving madman.
The distance to which the spear can be thrown is something
wonderful, and its aspect as it passes through the air is singularly
beautiful. It seems rather to have been shot from some huge bow, or to be
furnished with some innate powers of flight, than to have been flung
from a human arm, as it performs its lofty course, undulating like a thin
black snake, and writhing its graceful way through the air. As it leaves
the throw-stick, a slight clashing sound is heard, which to the
experienced ear tells its story as clearly as the menacing clang of an
archer’s bowstring.
To me the distance of its flight is not nearly so wonderful as the
precision with which it can be aimed. A tolerably long throw-stick gives
so powerful a leverage that the length of range is not so very astonishing.
But that accuracy of aim should be attained as well as length of flight is
really wonderful. I have seen the natives, when engaged in mock battle,
stand at a distance of eighty or ninety yards, and throw their spears with
such certainty that, in four throws out of six, the antagonist was obliged
to move in order to escape the spears.
Beside the powerful and lofty throw, they have a way of suddenly
flinging it underhand, so that it skims just above the ground, and, when it
touches the earth, proceeds with a series of ricochets that must be
peculiarly embarrassing to a novice in that kind of warfare.
The power of the spear is never better shown than in the chase of the
kangaroo. When a native sees one of these animals engaged in feeding,
he goes off to a little distance where it cannot see him, gathers a few
leafy boughs, and ties them together so as to form a screen. He then takes
his spears, throw-stick, and waddy, and goes off in chase of the
kangaroo. Taking advantage of every cover, he slips noiselessly forward,
always taking care to approach the animal against the wind, so that it
shall not be able to detect his presence by the nostrils, and gliding along
with studied avoidance of withered leaves, dry twigs, and the other
natural objects which, by their rustling and snapping, warn the animal
that danger is at hand.
 As long as possible, the hunter keeps under the shelter of natural
cover, but when this is impossible, he takes to his leafy screen, and trusts
to it for approaching within range. Before quitting the trees or bush
behind which he has been hiding himself, he takes his spear, fits it to the
throw-stick, raises his arm with the spear ready poised, and never moves
that arm until it delivers the spear. Holding the leafy screen in front of
him with his left hand, and disposing the second spear and other
weapons which cannot be hidden so as to look like dead branches
growing from the bush, he glides carefully toward the kangaroo, always
advancing while it stoops to feed, and crouching quietly behind the
screen whenever it raises itself, after the fashion of kangaroos, and
surveys the surrounding country.
At last he comes within fair range, and with unerring aim he transfixes
the unsuspecting kangaroo. Sometimes he comes upon several animals,
and in that case his second spear is rapidly fixed in the midlah and hurled
at the flying animals, and, should he have come to tolerably close
quarters, the short missile club is flung with certain aim. Having thrown
all the missiles which he finds available, he proceeds to despatch the
wounded animals with his waddy.
In the illustration No. 1, on the 739th page, the action of the throw-
stick is well shown, and two scenes in the hunt are depicted. In the
foreground is a hunter who has succeeded in getting tolerably close to
the kangaroos by creeping toward them behind the shadow of trees, and
is just poising his spear for the fatal throw. The reader will note the
curious bone ornament which passes through the septum of the nose, and
gives such a curious character to the face. In the background is another
hunter, who has been obliged to have recourse to the bough screen,
behind which he is hiding himself like the soldiers in “Macbeth,” while
the unsuspecting kangaroos are quietly feeding within easy range. One of
them has taken alarm, and is sitting upright to look about it, just as the
squirrel will do while it is feeding on the ground.
The reader will now see the absolute necessity of an accurate aim in
the thrower—an accomplishment which to me is a practical mystery. I
can hurl the spear to a considerable distance by means of a throw-stick,
but the aim is quite another business, the spear seeming to take an
independent course of its own without the least reference to the wishes of
the thrower. Yet the Australian is so good a marksman that he can make
good practice at a man at the distance of eighty or ninety yards, making
due allowance for the wind, and calculating the curve described by the
spear with wonderful accuracy; while at a short distance his eye and
hand are equally true, and he will transfix a kangaroo at twenty or thirty
yards as certainly as it could be shot by an experienced rifleman.
In some parts of Australia the natives use the bow and arrow; but the
employment of such weapons seems to belong chiefly to the inhabitants
of the extreme north. There are in my collection specimens of bows and
arrows brought from Cape York, which in their way are really admirable
weapons, and would do credit to the archers of Polynesia. The bow is
more than six feet long, and is made from the male, i. e. the solid
bamboo. It is very stiff, and a powerful as well as a practised arm is
needed to bend it properly.
Like the spear shaft, this bow is greatly subject to being worm-eaten.
My own specimen is so honeycombed by these tiny borers that when it
arrived a little heap of yellow powder fell to the ground wherever the
bow was set, and, if it were sharply struck, a cloud of the same powder
came from it. Fortunately, the same looseness of texture which enabled
the beetle to make such havoc served also to conduct the poisoned spirit
which I injected into the holes; and now the ravages have ceased, and not
the most voracious insect in existence can touch the weapon. The string
is very simply made, being nothing but a piece of rattan split to the
required thickness. Perhaps the most ingenious part of this bow is the
manner in which the loop is made. Although unacquainted with the
simple yet effective bowstring knot, which is so well known to our
archers, and which would not suit the stiff and harsh rattan, the native
has invented a knot which is quite as efficacious, and is managed on the
same principle of taking several turns, with the cord round itself just
below the loop. In order to give the rattan the needful flexibility it has
been beaten so as to separate it into fibres and break up the hard, flinty
coating which surrounds it, and these fibres have then been twisted round
and round into a sort of rude cord, guarded at the end with a wrapping of
the same material in order to preserve it from unravelling.
The arrows are suitable to the bow. They are variable in length, but all
are much longer than those which the English bowmen were accustomed
to use, and, instead of being a “cloth yard” in length, the shortest
measures three feet seven inches in length, while the longest is four feet
eight inches from butt to point. They are without a vestige of feathering,
and have no nock, so that the native archer is obliged to hold the arrow
against the string with his thumb and finger, and cannot draw the bow
with the fore and middle finger, as all good English archers have done
ever since the bow was known.
 The shafts of the arrows are made of reed, and they are all healed with
long spikes of some dark and heavy wood, which enable them to fly
properly. Some of the heads are plain, rounded spikes, but others are
elaborately barbed. One, for example, has a single row of six barbs, each
an inch in length, and another has one double barb, like that of the
“broad arrow” of England. Another has, instead of a barb, a smooth bulb,
ending gradually in a spike, and serving no possible purpose, except
perhaps that of ornament. Another has two of these bulbs; and another,
the longest of them all, has a slight bulb, and then an attempt at carving.
The pattern is of the very simplest character, but it is the only piece of
carving on all the weapons. The same arrow is remarkable for having the
point covered for some two inches with a sort of varnish, looking exactly
like red sealing-wax, while a band of the same material encircles the
head about six inches nearer the shaft. The sailor who brought the
weapons over told me that this red varnish was poison, but I doubt
exceedingly whether it is anything but ornament.
The end of the reed into which the head is inserted is guarded by a
wrapping of rattan fibre, covered with a sort of dark varnish, which,
however, is not the black-boy gum that is so plentifully used in the
manufacture of other weapons. In one instance the place of the wrapping
is taken by an inch or so of plaiting, wrought so beautifully with the
outside of the rattan cut into flat strips scarcely wider than ordinary
twine, that it betrays the Polynesian origin of the weapons, and confirms
me in the belief that the bow and arrow are not indigenous to Australia,
but have only been imported from New Guinea, and have not made their
way inland. The natives of Northern Australia have also evidently
borrowed much from Polynesia, as we shall see in the course of this
narrative.
The bow is usually about six feet in length, though one in my
possession is somewhat longer. Owing to the dimensions of the bow and
arrows, a full equipment of them is very weighty, and, together with the
other weapons which an Australian thinks it his duty to carry, must be no
slight burden to the warrior.
Ferocity of countenance is very characteristic of the race, and, as we
shall see when we come to the canoes and their occupants, the people are
very crafty: mild and complaisant when they think themselves
overmatched, insolent and menacing when they fancy themselves
superior, and tolerably sure to commit murder if they think they can do
so with impunity. The only mode of dealing with these people is the safe
one to adopt with all savages: i. e. never trust them, and never cheat
them.
We now come to that most wonderful of all weapons, the boomerang.
This is essentially the national weapon of Australia, and is found
throughout the West country. As far as is known, it is peculiar to
Australia, and, though curious missiles are found in other parts of the
world, there is none which can be compared with the boomerang.
On one of the old Egyptian monuments there is a figure of a bird-
catcher in a canoe. He is assisted by a cat whom he has taught to catch
prey for him, and, as the birds fly out of the reeds among which he is
pushing his canoe, he is hurling at them a curved missile which some
persons have thought to be the boomerang. I cannot, however, see that
there is the slightest reason for such a supposition.
No weapon in the least like the boomerang is at present found in any
part of Africa, and, so far as I know, there is no example of a really
efficient weapon having entirely disappeared from a whole continent.
The harpoon with which the Egyptians of old killed the hippopotamus is
used at the present day without the least alteration; the net is used for
catching fish in the same manner; the spear and shield of the Egyptian
infantry were identical in shape with those of the Kanemboo soldier, a
portrait of whom may be seen on page 612; the bow and arrow still
survive; and even the whip with which the Egyptian task masters beat
their Jewish servants is the “khoorbash” with which the Nubian of the
present day beats his slave.
In all probability, the curved weapon which the bird-catcher holds in
his hand, and which he is about to throw, is nothing more than a short
club, analogous to the knob-kerry of the Kaffir, and having no returning
power. Varying slightly in some of its details, the boomerang is identical
in principle wherever it is made. It is a flattish curved piece of wood,
various examples of which may be seen in the illustration on the 731st
page; and neither by its shape nor material does it give the least idea of
its wonderful powers.
The material of which the boomerang (or bommereng, as the word is
sometimes rendered) is made is almost invariably that of the gum-tree,
which is heavy, hard, and tough, and is able to sustain a tolerably severe
shock without breaking. It is slightly convex on the upper surface, and
flat below, and is always thickest in the middle, being scraped away
toward the edges, which are moderately sharp, especially the outer edge.
It is used as a missile, and it is one of the strangest weapons that ever
was invented.
 In the old fairy tales, with which we are more or less acquainted, one
of the strange gifts which is presented by the fairy to the hero is often a
weapon of some wonderful power. Thus we have the sword of sharpness,
which cut through every thing at which it was aimed, and the coat of
mail, which no weapon would pierce. It is a pity, by the way, that the
sword and the coat never seem to have been tried against each other.
Then there are arrows (in more modern tales modified into bullets) that
always struck their mark, and so on. And in one of the highest flights of
fairy lore we read of arrows that always returned of their own accord to
the archer.
In Australia, however, we have, as an actual fact, a missile that can be
thrown to a considerable distance, and which always returns to the
thrower. By a peculiar mode of hurling it the weapon circles through the
air, and then describes a circular course, falling by the side of or behind
the man who threw it. The mode of throwing is very simple in theory,
and very difficult in practice. The weapon is grasped by the handle,
which is usually marked by a number of cross cuts, so as to give a firm
hold, and the flat side is kept downward. Then, with a quick and sharp
fling, the boomerang is hurled, the hand at the same time being drawn
back, so as to make the weapon revolve with extreme rapidity. A billiard-
player will understand the sort of movement when told that it is on the
same principle as the “screw-back” stroke at billiards. The weapon must
be flung with great force, or it will not perform its evolutions properly.
If the reader would like to practice throwing the boomerang, let me
recommend him, in the first place, to procure a genuine weapon, and not
an English imitation thereof, such as is generally sold at the toy-shops.
He should then go alone into a large field, where the ground is tolerably
soft and there are no large stones about, and then stand facing the wind.
Having grasped it as described, he should mark with his eye a spot on the
ground at the distance of forty yards or so, and hurl the boomerang at it.
Should he throw it rightly, the weapon will at first look as if it were
going to strike the ground; but, instead of doing so, it will shoot off at a
greater or less angle, according to circumstances, and will rise high into
the air, circling round with gradually diminishing force, until it falls to
the ground. Should sufficient force have been imparted to it, the
boomerang will fall some eight or ten yards behind the thrower.
It is necessary that the thrower should be alone, or at least have only
an instructor with him, when he practises this art, as the boomerang will,
in inexperienced hands, take all kinds of strange courses, and will, in all
probability, swerve from its line, and strike one of the spectators; and the
force with which a boomerang can strike is almost incredible. I have
seen a dog killed on the spot, its body being nearly cut in two by the
boomerang as it fell; and I once saw a brass spur struck clean off the heel
of an incautious spectator, who ran across the path of the weapon.
It is necessary that he choose a soft as well as spacious field, as the
boomerang has a special knack of selecting the hardest spots on which to
fall, and if it can find a large stone is sure to strike it, and so break itself
to pieces. And if there are trees in the way, it will get among the boughs,
perhaps smash itself, certainly damage itself, and probably stick among
the branches. The learner should throw also against the wind, as, if the
boomerang is thrown with the wind, it does not think of coming back
again, but sails on as if it never meant to stop, and is sure to reach a
wonderful distance before it falls.
Nearly thirty years ago, I lost a boomerang by this very error. In
company with some of my schoolfellows, I was throwing the weapon for
their amusement, when one of them snatched it up, turned round, and
threw it with all his force in the direction of the wind. The distance to
which the weapon travelled I am afraid to mention, lest it should not be
believed. The ground in that neighborhood is composed of successive
undulations of hill and vale, and we saw the boomerang cross two of the
valleys, and at last disappear into a grove of lime-trees that edged the
churchyard.
In vain we sought for the weapon, and it was not found until four
years afterward, when a plumber, who had been sent to repair the roof of
the church, found it sticking in the leads. So it had first traversed that
extraordinary distance, had then cut clean through the foliage of a lime-
tree, and lastly had sufficient force to stick into the leaden roofing of a
church. The boomerang was brought down half decayed, and wrenched
out of its proper form by the shock.
Should the reader wish to learn the use of the weapon, he should
watch a native throw it. The attitude of the man as he hurls the
boomerang is singularly graceful. Holding three or four of the weapons
in his left hand, he draws out one at random with his right, while his eyes
are fixed on the object which he desires to hit, or the spot to which the
weapon has to travel. Balancing the boomerang for a moment in his
hand, he suddenly steps a pace or two forward, and with a quick, sharp,
almost angry stroke, launches his weapon into the air.
Should he desire to bring the boomerang back again, he has two
modes of throwing. In the one mode, he flings it high in the air, into
which it mounts to a wonderful height, circling the while with a bold,
vigorous sweep, that reminds the observer of the grand flight of the eagle
or the buzzard. It flies on until it has reached a spot behind the thrower,
when all life seems suddenly to die out of it; it collapses, so to speak,
like a bird shot on the wing, topples over and over, and falls to the
ground.
There is another mode of throwing the returning boomerang which is
even more remarkable. The thrower, instead of aiming high in the air,
marks out a spot on the ground some thirty or forty yards in advance, and
hurls the boomerang at it. The weapon strikes the ground, and, instead of
being smashed to pieces, as might be thought from the violence of the
stroke, it springs from the ground Antæus-like, seeming to attain new
vigor by its contact with the earth. It flies up as if it had been shot from
the ground by a catapult; and, taking a comparatively low elevation,
performs the most curious evolutions, whirling so rapidly that it looks
like a semi-transparent disc with an opaque centre, and directing its
course in an erratic manner that is very alarming to those who are
unaccustomed to it. I have seen it execute all its manœuvres within seven
or eight feet from the ground, hissing as it passed through the air with a
strangely menacing sound, and, when it finally came to the ground,
leaping along as if it were a living creature.
We will now examine the various shapes of boomerangs, as seen in the
illustration on the 731st page. Some of the specimens are taken from the
British Museum, some from the collection of Colonel Lane Fox, some
from my own, and the rest are drawn by Mr. Angas from specimens
obtained in the country. I have had them brought together, so that the
reader may see how the boomerang has been gradually modified out of
the club.
At fig. 4 is the short pointed stick which may either answer the
purpose of a miniature club, a dagger, or an instrument to be used in the
ascent of trees. Just below it is a club or waddy, with a rounded head, and
at fig. 6 the head has been developed into a point, and rather flattened. If
the reader will refer to figs. 6 and 7, he will see two clubs which are
remarkable for having not only the knob, but the whole of the handle
flattened, and the curve of the head extended to the handle.
The transition from this club to the boomerang is simple enough, and,
indeed, we have an example (fig. 1) of a weapon which looks like an
ordinary boomerang, but is in fact a club, and is used for hand-to-hand
combat.
These figures show pretty clearly the progressive structure of the
boomerang. The flattened clubs were probably made from necessity, the
native not being able to find a suitable piece of wood, and taking the best
that he could get. If, then, one of these clubs were, on the spur of the
moment, hurled at an object, the superior value which this flatness
conferred upon it as a missile would be evident as well as the curved
course which it would take through the air. The native, ever quick to note
anything which might increase the power of his weapons, would be sure
to notice this latter peculiarity, and to perceive the valuable uses to which
it could be turned. He would therefore try various forms of flattened
missiles, until he at last reached the true boomerang.
The strangest point about the boomerang is, that the curve is not
uniform, and, in fact, scarcely any two specimens have precisely the
same curve. Some have the curve so sharp that it almost deserves the
name of angle, for an example of which see fig. 8; others, as in fig. 9,
have the curve very slight; while others, as in fig. 2, have a tendency to a
double curve, and there is a specimen in the British Museum in which
the double curve is very boldly marked. The best and typical form of
boomerang is, however, that which is shown at fig. 3. The specimen
which is there represented was made on the banks of the river Darling.
The natives can do almost anything with the boomerang, and the
circuitous course which it adopts is rendered its most useful
characteristic. Many a hunter has wished that he only possessed that
invaluable weapon, a gun which would shoot round a corner, and just
such a weapon does the Australian find in his boomerang. If, for
example, he should see a kangaroo in such a position that he cannot
come within the range of a spear without showing himself and alarming
the animal, or say, for example, that it is sheltered from a direct attack by
the trunk of a tree, he will steal as near as he can without disturbing the
animal, and then will throw his boomerang in such a manner that it
circles round the tree, and strikes the animal at which it is aimed.
That such precision should be obtained with so curious a weapon
seems rather remarkable, but those of my readers who are accustomed to
play at bowls will call to mind the enormous power which is given to
them by the “bias,” or weighted side of the bowl, and the bold curves
which they can force the missile to execute, when they wish to send the
bowl round a number of obstacles which are in its way. The boomerang
is used as a sort of aërial bowl, with the advantage that the expert
thrower is able to alter the bias at will, and to make the weapon describe
almost any curve that he chooses.
It is even said that, in case there should be obstacles which prevent the
boomerang from passing round the tree, the native has the power of
throwing it so that it strikes the ground in front of the tree, and then, by
the force of the throw, leaps over the top of the branches, and descends
upon the object at which it is thrown.
On page 739 is shown a scene on the river Murray, in which the
natives are drawn as they appear when catching the shag, a species of
cormorant, which is found there in great numbers. They capture these
birds in various ways, sometimes by climbing at night the trees on which
they roost, and seizing them, getting severely bitten, by the way, on their
naked limbs and bodies. They have also a very ingenious mode of
planting sticks in the bed of the river, so that they project above the
surface, and form convenient resting-places for the birds. Fatigued with
diving, the cormorants are sure to perch upon them; and as they are
dozing while digesting their meal of fish, the native swims gently up, and
suddenly catches them by the wings, and drags them under water. He
always breaks the neck of the bird at once.
They are so wonderfully skilful in the water, that when pelicans are
swimming unsuspectingly on the surface, the natives approach silently,
dive under them, seize the birds by the legs, jerk them under water, and
break both the wings and legs so rapidly that the unfortunate birds have
no chance of escape.
Sometimes, as shown in the illustration, the natives use their
boomerangs and clubs, knock the birds off the branches on which they
are roosting, and secure them before they have recovered from the
stunning blow of the weapon. When approaching cormorants and other
aquatic birds, the native has a very ingenious plan of disguising himself.
He gathers a bunch of weeds, ties it on his head, and slips quietly into the
water, keeping his whole body immersed, and only allowing the artificial
covering to be seen. The bird being quite accustomed to see patches of
weeds floating along the water, takes no notice of so familiar an object,
and so allows the disguised man to come within easy reach.
To return to the boomerang. The reader may readily have imagined
that the manufacture of so remarkable an implement is not a very easy
one. The various points which constitute the excellence of a boomerang
are so light that there is scarcely an European who can see them,
especially as the shape, size, and weight of the weapon differ so much
according to the locality in which it was made. The native, when
employed in making a boomerang, often spends many days over it, not
only on account of the very imperfect tools which he possesses, but by
reason of the minute care which is required in the manufacture of a good
weapon.
 Day after day he may be seen with the boomerang in his hand,
chipping at it slowly and circumspectly, and becoming more and more
careful as it approaches completion. When he has settled the curve, and
nearly flattened it to its proper thickness, he scarcely makes three or four
strokes without balancing the weapon in his hand, looking carefully
along the edges, and making movements as if he were about to throw it.
The last few chips seem to exercise a wonderful effect on the powers of
the weapon, and about them the native is exceedingly fastidious.
Yet, with all this care, the weapon is a very rough one, and the marks
of the flint axe are left without even an attempt to smooth them. In a
well-used boomerang the projecting edges of the grooves made by
various cuts and chips become quite polished by friction, while the
sunken portion is left rough. In one fine specimen in my possession the
manufacturer has taken a curious advantage of these grooves. Besides
marking the handle end by covering it with cross-scorings as has already
been described, he has filled the grooves with the red ochre of which the
Australian is so fond, and for some eight inches the remains of the red
paint are visible in almost every groove.
So delicate is the operation of boomerang making, that some men,
natives though they be, cannot turn out a really good weapon, while
others are celebrated for their skill, and can dispose of their weapons as
fast as they make them. One of the native “kings” was a well-known
boomerang maker, and his weapons were widely distributed among the
natives, who knew his handiwork as an artist knows the touch of a
celebrated painter. To this skill, and the comparative wealth which its
exercise brought him, the king in question owed the principal part of his
authority.
(1.) SPEARING THE KANGAROO.
(See page 734.)
 (2.) CATCHING THE CORMORANT.
(See page 738.)

A fair idea of the size and weight of the boomerang may be gained by
the measurements of the weapon which has just been mentioned. It is
two feet nine inches long when measured with the curve, and two feet six
inches from tip to tip. It is exactly two inches in width, only narrowing at
the tips, and its weight is exactly eleven ounces. This, by the way, is a
war boomerang, and is shaped like that which is shown in “Boomerangs”
on page 731, fig. 3. Another specimen, which is of about the same
weight, is shaped like that of fig. 8. It measures two feet five inches
along the curve, two feet one inch from tip to tip, and is three inches in
width in the middle, diminishing gradually toward the tips.
In order to enable them to ward off these various missiles, the natives
are armed with a shield, which varies exceedingly in shape and
dimensions, and, indeed, in some places is so unlike a shield, and
apparently so inadequate to the office of protecting the body, that when
strangers come to visit my collection I often have much difficulty in
persuading them that such strange-looking objects can by any possibility
be shields. As there is so great a variety in the shields, I have collected
together a number of examples, which, I believe, comprise every form of
shield used throughout Australia. Two of them are from specimens in my
own collection, several from that of Colonel Lane Fox, others are drawn
from examples in the British Museum, and the rest were sketched by Mr.
Angas in the course of his travels through Australia.
As a general fact, the shield is very solid and heavy, and in some cases
looks much more like a club with which a man can be knocked down,
than a shield whereby he can be saved from a blow, several of them
having sharp edges as if for the purpose of inflicting injury.
If the reader will look at the row of shields on page 742, he will see
that figs. 2 and 3 exhibit two views of the same shield. This is one of the
commonest forms of the weapon, and is found throughout a considerable
portion of Western Australia. It is cut out of a solid piece of the ever
useful gum-tree, and is in consequence very hard and very heavy. As
may be seen by reference to the illustration, the form of the shield is
somewhat triangular, the face which forms the front of the weapon being
slightly rounded, and the handle being formed by cutting through the
edge on which the other two faces converge. The handle is very small,
and could scarcely be used by an ordinary European, though it is amply
wide enough for the small and delicate looking hand of the Australian
native. My own is a small hand, but is yet too large to hold the
Australian shield comfortably.
The reader will see that by this mode of forming the handle the wrist
has great play, and can turn the shield from side to side with the slightest
movement of the hand. This faculty is very useful, especially when the
instrument is used for warding off the spear or the club, weapons which
need only to be just turned aside in order to guide them away from the
body.
One of these shields in my own collection is a very fine example of
the instrument, and its dimensions will serve to guide the reader as to the
usual form, size, and weight of an Australian shield. It measures exactly
two feet seven inches in length, and is five inches wide at the middle,
which is the broadest part. The width of the hole which receives the hand
is three inches and three-eighths, and the weight of the shield is rather
more than three pounds.
The extraordinary weight of the shield is needed in order to enable it
to resist the shock of the boomerang, the force of which may be
estimated by its weight, eleven ounces, multiplied by the force with
which it is hurled. This terrible weapon cannot be merely turned aside,
like the spear or the waddy, and often seems to receive an additional
impulse from striking any object, as the reader may see by reference to
page 737, in which the mode of throwing the boomerang is described. A
boomerang must be stopped, and not merely parried, and moreover, if it
be not stopped properly, it twists round the shield, and with one of its
revolving ends inflicts a wound on the careless warrior.
Even if it be met with the shield and stopped, it is apt to break, and the
two halves to converge upon the body. The very fragments of the
boomerang seem able to inflict almost as much injury as the entire
weapon; and, in one of the skirmishes to which the natives are so
addicted, a man was seen to fall to the ground with his body cut
completely open by a broken boomerang.
It is in warding off the boomerang, therefore, that the chief skill of the
Australian is shown. When he sees the weapon is pursuing a course
which will bring it to him, he steps forward so as to meet it; and, as the
boomerang clashes against the shield, he gives the latter a rapid turn with
the wrist. If this manœuvre be properly executed, the boomerang breaks
to pieces, and the fragments are struck apart by the movement of the
shield.
Perhaps some of my readers may remember that “Dick-a-dick,” the
very popular member of the Australian cricketers who came to England
in 1868, among other exhibitions of his quickness of eye and hand,
allowed himself to be pelted with cricket balls, at a distance of fifteen
yards, having nothing wherewith to protect himself but the shield and the
leowal, or angular club, the former being used to shield the body, and the
latter to guard the legs. The force and accuracy with which a practised
cricketer can throw the ball are familiar to all Englishmen, and it was
really wonderful to see a man, with no clothes but a skin-tight elastic
dress, with a piece of wood five inches wide in his left hand, and a club
in his right, quietly stand against a positive rain of cricket-balls as long
as any one liked to throw at him, and come out of the ordeal unscathed.
Not the least surprising part of the performance was the coolness with
which he treated the whole affair, and the almost instinctive knowledge
that he seemed to possess respecting the precise destination of each ball.
If a ball went straight at his body or head, it was met and blocked by the
shield; if it were hurled at his legs, the club knocked it aside. As to those
which were sure not to hit him, he treated them with contemptuous
indifference, just moving his head a little on one side to allow the ball to
pass, which absolutely ruffled his hair as it shot by, or lifting one arm to
allow a ball to pass between the limb and his body, or, if it were aimed
but an inch wide of him, taking no notice of it whatever. The shield
which he used with such skill was the same kind as that which has just
been described, and was probably selected because its weight enabled it
to block the balls without the hand that held it feeling the shock.
To all appearances, the natives expend much more labor upon the
shield than upon the boomerang, the real reason, however, being that
much ornament would injure the boomerang, but can have no injurious
effect upon the shield. By reference to the illustration, the reader will see
that the face of the shield is covered with ornament, which, simple in
principle, is elaborate in detail.
There is a specimen in my collection which is ornamented to a very
great extent on its face, the sides and the handle being perfectly plain. It
has a number of lines drawn transversely in bands, which, however, are
seven instead of five in number. Each band is composed of three zigzag
grooves, and each groove has been filled with red ochre. The space
between is filled in with a double zigzag pattern, and the effect of all
these lines, simple as they are, is perfectly artistic and consistent.

SHIELDS.

The pattern, by the way, is one that seems common to all savage races
of men, wherever they may be found, and is to be seen on weapons made
by the ancient races now long passed away, among the Kaffir tribes of
South Africa, the cannibal tribes of Central Western Africa, the
inhabitants of the various Polynesian islands, the savages of the extreme
north and extreme south of America, and the natives of the great
continent of Australia.
At fig. 7 of the accompanying illustration may be seen a shield made
of solid wood, in which the triangular form has been developed in a very
curious manner into a quadrangular shape. The handle is made in the
same manner as that of the former shield, i. e. by cutting through two of
the faces of the triangle, while the front of the shield, instead of being a
tolerably round face, is flattened out into a sharp edge. It is scarcely
possible to imagine any instrument that looks less like a shield than does
this curious weapon, which seems to have been made for the express
purpose of presenting as small a surface as possible to the enemy.
The fact is, however, that the Southern Australian who uses these
shields has not to defend himself against arrows, from which a man can
only be defended by concealing his body behind shelter which is proof
against them: he has only to guard against the spear and boomerang, and
occasionally the missile club, all which weapons he can turn aside with
the narrow shield that has been described.
One of these shields in my collection is two feet seven inches in
length, rather more than six inches in width, and barely three inches thick
in the middle. Its weight is just two pounds. Such a weapon seems much
more like a club than a shield, and, indeed, if held by one end, its sharp
edge might be used with great effect upon the head of an enemy. Like
most Australian shields, it is covered with a pattern of the same character
as that which has already been mentioned, and it has been so thoroughly
painted with ochre that it is of a reddish mahogany color, and the real
hue of the wood can only be seen by scraping off some of the stained
surface. The name for this kind of shield is tamarang, and it is much used
in dances, in which it is struck at regular intervals with the waddy.
In the British Museum is a shield which is much more solid than either
of those which have been described. The manufacturer evidently found
the labor of chipping the wood too much for him, and accordingly made
much use of fire, forming his shield by alternate charring and scraping.
The handle is rather curiously made by cutting two deep holes side by
side in the back of the shield, the piece of wood between them being
rounded into a handle. As is the case with most of the shields, the handle
is a very small one. The face of the shield is much wider than either of
those which have been noticed, and is very slightly rounded. It is
ornamented with carved grooves, but rough usage has obliterated most of
them, and the whole implement is as rough and unsightly an article as
can well be imagined, in spite of the labor which has been bestowed
upon it.
We now come to another class of shield, made of bark, and going by
the title of Mulabakka. Shields in general are called by the name of
Hieleman. Some of these bark shields are of considerable size, and are so
wide in the middle that, when the owner crouches behind them, they
protect the greater part of his body. As the comparatively thin material of
which they are composed prevents the handle from being made by
cutting into the shield itself, the native is obliged to make the handle
separately, and fasten it to the shield by various methods.
The commonest mode of fixing the handle to a Mulabakka shield is
seen at figs. 4 and 5, on page 742, which exhibit the front and profile
views of the same shield. Another Mulabakka is shown at fig. 6. The
faces of all the Mulabakka shields are covered with ornamented patterns,
mostly on the usual zigzag principle, but some having a pattern in which
curves form the chief element.