whole of their worldly property about
with them, and the Australian hunter is thus equipped: round his middle
is wound, in many folds, a cord spun from the fur of the opossum, which
forms a warm, soft and elastic belt of an inch in thickness, in which are
stuck his hatchet, his kiley or boomerang, and a short heavy stick to
throw at the smaller animals. His hatchet is so ingeniously placed that
the head of it rests exactly on the centre of his back, whilst its thin
short handle descends along the backbone. In his hand he carries his
throwing-stick and several spears, headed in two or three different
manners so that they are equally adapted to war or the chase. A warm
kangaroo skin cloak completes his equipment in the southern portions of
the continent; but I have never seen a native with a cloak anywhere to
the north of 29 degrees south latitude.

DESCRIPTION AND USE OF THE WEAPONS.

These weapons, although apparently so simple, are admirably adapted for
the purposes they are intended to serve. The spear when projected from
the throwing-stick forms as effectual a weapon as the bow and arrow,
whilst at the same time it is much less liable to be injured, and it
possesses over the bow and arrow the advantage of being useful to poke
out kangaroo-rats and opossums from hollow trees, to knock off gum from
high branches, to pull down the cones from the Banksia trees, and for
many other purposes.

The hatchet is used to cut up the larger kinds of game and to make holes
in the trees the owner is about to climb. The kiley is thrown into
flights of wild-fowl and cockatoos, and with the dow-uk, a short heavy
stick, they knock over the smaller kinds of game much in the same manner
that poachers do hares and rabbits in England.

CONTENTS OF THE WOMEN'S BAG OR WALLET.

Thus equipped the father of the family stalks forth, and at a respectful
distance behind him follow the women; a long thick stick, the point of
which has been hardened in the fire, is in each of their hands, a child
or two fixed in their bags or upon their shoulders, and in the deep
recesses of these mysterious bags they carry moreover sundry articles
which constitute the wealth of the Australian savage. These are however
worthy of a particular enumeration, as this will make plain the domestic
economy of one of these barbarian housewives.

The contents of a native woman's bag are: A flat stone to pound roots
with; earth to mix with the pounded roots; quartz, for t