sual, being out
hunting. The gins spoke quite a different language from that of the
Hinchinbrook and Herbert River people, and Lizzie was a long time
before she could make them understand. They seemed to know nothing of
any white men, nor, I may say, of anything else in particular. They
were ignorant where the Mackay rose, or where it debouched, and could
give us no information regarding the waterfall we saw on the distant
range, what river it supplied, or what kind of country was between us
and the hills. Altogether they were a most unsatisfactory lot; and
having rummaged their camp without finding any suspicious articles, and
threatened them with wholesale destruction if they gave warning of our
approach to any other tribe, by either smoke signals or messengers, we
departed, much disgusted.

On arriving at the edge of a small copse, at a short distance from the
camp, we found the arsenal of the male portion of the tribe. Why they
had stacked their arms so far away from the gungales we never could
make out; but there they were, consisting of the usual spears and
shields, and, in addition, several of the enormous swords used by these
natives, of which we had often heard, but that few of our party, except
Dunmore, had ever seen. These curious weapons are made of the heaviest
iron-bark wood, are about five feet in length, by as many inches in
breadth, and about an inch thick in the centre--rather more than less,
and both edges scraped down to as sharp an edge as the material will
receive. They are slightly curved; but the most wonderful part about
them is the handle, which is so small that a European can with
difficulty squeeze three fingers into it. The mystery is, how do they
use them? for Goliath of Gath could never have wielded an instrument as
heavy as this with one hand. It is supposed that the warrior raises
the cumbrous weapon on his shield, and having got within sword's length
of his enemy, lets it drop on his head. This portion of a black's
frame is undeniably hard; but such a blow would crush it like an
egg-shell; and as he may be credited with sufficient sense to know
this, it seems difficult to understand why he should stand still and
allow such a disagreeable operation to be performed. Whether or not
the use of these weapons has been discovered since I left Australia, I
am unable to say; but certainly up to that time we who lived in their
neighbourhood were unable to appreciate the varied excellenc