ach of which is tipped and barbed with a smaller bone than is used
for the kalak.

The throwing-stick in use at Cape York extends down the North-East coast
at least as far as Lizard Island; it differs from those in use in other
parts of Australia in having the projecting knob for fitting into the end
of the spear parallel with the plane of the stick and not at rightangles.
It is made of casuarina wood, and is generally three feet in length, an
inch and a quarter broad, and half an inch thick. At the end a double
slip of melon shell, three and a half inches long, crossing diagonally,
serves as a handle, and when used, the end rests against the palm of the
right hand, the three last fingers grasp the stick, and the forefinger
and thumb loosely retain the spear. With the aid of the powerful leverage
of the throwing-stick a spear can be thrown to a distance varying
according to its weight from 30 to 80 yards, and with considerable
precision; still, if observed coming, it may easily be avoided.

The only other weapon which I have seen in Torres Strait is a peculiar
kind of club procured from New Guinea, consisting of a quoit-like disk of
hard stone (quartz, basalt, or serpentine) with a sharp edge, and a hole
in the centre to receive one end of a long wooden handle.

The huts which the Kowraregas and Cape York people put up when the rains
commence are usually dome-shaped, four to six feet high, constructed of
an arched framework of flexible sticks, one end of each of which is stuck
firmly in the ground, and over this sheets of tea-tree (Melaleuca)
bark--and sometimes an additional thatch of grass--are placed until it is
rendered perfectly watertight.

PETTICOATS AND FISHING GEAR.

Not only at Cape York but throughout Torres Strait the males use no
clothing or covering of any kind. At Cape York and the Prince of Wales
Islands grown up females usually wear a covering in front, consisting of
a tuft of long grass, or flag (Philydrum lanuginosum) or split pandanus
leaves, either hanging loosely or passed between the legs and tied to
another behind; over this a short petticoat of fine shreds of pandanus
leaf, the ends worked into a waistband, is sometimes put on, especially
by the young girls, and when about to engage in dancing. This petticoat,
varying only in the materials from which it is made, is in general use
among the females of all the Torres Strait tribes except the Kowrarega,
and much labour is often expended upon it