Narrative Of The Overland Expedition Of The Messrs. Jardine, From Rockhampton To Cape York, Northern Queensland By Frank Jardine And Alexander Jardine
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The Only Covering Worn By Them
Is A Narrow Belt Of Twisted Grass, With A Fringe Of Strips Of Palm
Leaves In Front.
The men go entirley naked.
The aborigines make no
huts. In the wet weather a rude screen of leafy boughs, with palm
leaves - if any happen to grow in the neighbourhood - is set up as
a shelter.
14. The arms used by these natives are few and simple. Four sorts
of spears, made from the suckers of a very light wood tree with large
pith, headed with hard wood and generally topped with bone so as to
form a point or barb, are the most common. The end of the tail of a
species of ray fish is sometimes used as a point. It is serrated and
brittle, and on entering any object breaks short off. It is said to
be poisonous, but I do not believe such to be the case, as one of the
marines stationed here was speared in the shoulder with one of these
spears, and no poisonous effect was produced. The point which broke
short off, however, remained in the wound, and could not be extracted
for many months. The spear most commonly in use, and the most
effective, has merely a head of very hard wood, from a species of
acacia, scraped to a very fine sharp point. These are the only
spears which can be thrown with any precision to a distance - they
are sent with considerable force. I extracted two from the thigh of
one of my horses; the animal had another in the shoulder, which had
entered to a depth of five and a half inches.
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