ng grubs out
of the trees, for making holes to get out opossums, etc., for stripping
bark, ascending trees, for cutting bark canoes, and a variety of other
useful purposes. The rod for noosing ducks, (tat-tat-ko) and other wild
fowl, is about sixteen feet long, and consists, in its lower part, for
the first ten feet, of hard wood, tapering like an ordinary spear, to
this is cemented with resin, a joint of tolerably strong reed about
sixteen inches long, at the upper end of this is inserted and cemented
with wax, a tapering rod of hard wood, three feet long and very similar
to the top joint of a fly-fishing rod, to this is spliced a fine springy
and strong top, of about eighteen inches in length, at the end of which
is bound a piece of fine strong cord, which works with a running noose
upon the tapering end of the instrument. Needles are made from the fibula
of the emu or kangaroo, and are pointed at one end by being rubbed on a
stone, they are used in sewing as we use a shoemaker's awl, the hole is
bored and the thread put through with the hand; the thread is made of the
sinews of the emu and kangaroo. The netting needle is a little round bit
of stick or reed, about the size of a lead pencil, round which the string
is wound, no mesh is used, the eye and hand enabling the native to net
with the utmost regularity, speed, and neatness.

The nets for hunting, for carrying their effects or food, for making
belts for the waist, or bandages for the head, are all made from the
tendons or fur of animals, or from the fibres of plants. In the former,
the sinews of the kangaroo or emu, and the fur of opossums and other
similar animals, are used; in the latter, a species of rush, the fibres
of the root of the mallow, the fibres of the root of the broad flag-reed,
etc. and in some parts of the continent, the fibrous bark of trees. The
materials are prepared for use by being soaked in water and carded with
the teeth and hands, or by being chewed or rubbed.

String is made by the fibres being twisted, and rubbed with the palm of
the hand over the naked thighs, and is often as neatly executed as
English whip-cord, though never consisting of more than two strands,--the
strands being increased in thickness according to the size of the cord
that may be required. Nets vary in size and strength according to the
purposes for which they are required; the duck net (kew-rad-ko) has
already been described, as also the kenderanko, or small net for