Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/73

68 thick, brought to a blunt point at the end. The mallee is the wood from which it is generally made. There is a lesser Nulla Nulla which may, with more propriety, be termed a cudgel, common to all the tribes. It is two feet long, one inch thick, with a small nob at the end; a few inches from the nob it has a slight curve. This instrument is used as a missile in hunting. Being thrown at the game it is hurled with amazing rapidity, and if the object aimed at be within anything like a reasonable distance and moving, it is pretty sure of being successful. None of these bludgeons are carved in any way, the handhold is merely slightly roughened, to obviate accidental slipping.

The stone axes of these aborigines are precisely similar to those found in the ossiferous caves of Central France. Seeing two of those implements together, one taken from the caves above mentioned, and the other from these natives, it would be quite impossible to determine which was of European, and pre-historic origin, and which of Australian, and, consequently, recent manufacture.

In putting one of these axes into a handle (it will be observed that the accepted order of things is reversed in this instance, usually the handle being put into the axe), a section of a tough sapling, three feet long by an inch and a half thick, is procured; the wood preferred being a species of acacia. This piece of sapling is split down the middle, one half only being required for the handle; this half is made pliant by a process of steaming, which is achieved by