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[Page 15]
fitted into the shaft of Graßtree and bound round with
Kurragung string and covered with Graßtree gum _ about
a foot of the Ironbark point of the fighting spears were
always covered with Graßtree gum, which they said
would come off and make a very nasty wound = The
hunting spears had no gum on the point, Some of them
had very nasty looking spears for fighting = they were made
like others except for about a foot of the point - which
was flatened = with five or six barbs on it - quite ¾
of an inch long, so that if a fellow got one in him the
only way to get rid of it was to cut it off and pass it
through = they were very nasty looking tools = but I don't
think they used them much, I fancy they were only for
show, I never heard of a Darkie being speared with
one = For fishing they used quite a diferent spear
they were much longer and had three points, with
us on the Upper Manning, they were simply made
with three Ironbark points = fire hardened = the shaft
was the same but stouter as they were intended more for
short range, but on the Coast and Lower Manning, where
they lived mostly on fish they were always pointed
with a peice of flint or quartz. The three points were
fixed into the shaft the same way as the other spears
and then bound togeather two or three inches from the
shaft to keep them from spreading, one of the Ironbark
points was longer than the other two & in striking a fish
11a