Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/68

63 the same purpose as feathers do on arrows. This spear is also made of mallee saplings; it is also propelled by the aid of the throwing stick.

The spear set aside entirely for killing fish, down in the depths of rivers and lakes, when the water is pellucid as crystal (as it becomes during the absence of rains in the summer months), is only five feet long, and an inch thick; it is perfectly smooth throughout the entire length. This spear is never thrown, but always used lance fashion; further on the method of using it will be found in every detail.

The canoe stick (it can scarcely be termed a paddle, as it has not any blade) is about twelve feet long and two and a half inches thick; it is round. At one end it has three grains affixed; the outer one being half an inch shorter than the outer ones. The latter have barbs just above the points, whilst the centre one is smooth. The outside grains are made of wood, hardened by fire, the centre one being of bone; the pole is made of pine wood. This implement has a twofold use, that of propelling the canoe being one, and transfixing fish with the grains being the other.

When bent upon harpooning fish with this grained canoe stick, they select a stretch of shallow water, full of reeds and other aquatic plants, over which the wary fisherman propels his canoe, using the plain end of the stick for the purpose. Every now and then he thrusts the stick sharply to the bottom, thereby disturbing the feeding fish. As a matter of course they rush away from the disturbance, shaking the plants in their hurry, which at once tells the keen-eyed fisherman the position of his prey. After the