bar is several inches in diameter, and has to be fitted down to less than
one inch. Of the use of wedges he knows nothing, so is compelled to work
away with the tomahawk, and to call in the aid of fire; and when he has
managed to reduce the spear to something approaching its proper size, he
gets a lot of oyster-shells, and with them completes the scraping, and puts
on the finishing touches. It may easily be imagined what a boon glass must
be to the savage, enabling him to do the latter part of the operation in a
tithe of the time.

I am afraid that it is often the habit with us Australians to either
destroy or carry away as curiosities, the weapons and other little things
that the blacks manufacture, utterly regardless of the loss we thus inflict
upon them; for without his weapons the wretched native is not only
defenceless against neighbouring tribes, who would not scruple to attack
him when unarmed, but he is also literally deprived of the means of
subsistence. Without his spear, he is unable to transfix the kangaroos and
wallabies on which he so much depends for his daily food, and, robbed of
his boomerangs and nullah-nullahs, the wild duck can pass him scatheless,
and the cockatoo can scream defiance from the lofty trees. I know that
this practice of returning laden with native spoil is more frequently the
result of thoughtlessness or curiosity than anything else. The implements
appear so trumpery, that the European thinks they can be of little use to
anybody, but the bad blood thus engendered between the aborigines and the
settlers is greater than would be easily credited. Another reason, I would
venture to submit, in opposition to this custom is, that in the case of the
blacks doing any mischief, no method of punishing them can possibly be
devised equal in severity to the destruction of their weapons. A tribe is
rendered more helpless and more innocuous by this than by shooting down
half the males, and I am sure that if they once found that only in case of
mischief was this punishment resorted to, we should hear infinitely less of