Blacks of the Manning River District, New South Wales, 1851-1912 - Page 20

[Page 20]

came their Tomahauks were made of stone, In this

District, very rudly, they were mearly a scelp off one

of the big waterworn stones you find in the River

Bed, and when they got blunt thrown away, we used

to plough up lots of them, I never came across any that

looked as if any attempt had been made to sharpen

them = I have seen them from the Namoi and Barwon

beautifuly polished with the edge well sharpened

For the handle they used a pliable peice of withezel  I

suppose I must call it, twisted round the head of the

Toma[h]uck  and tightly twisted up, so that it made a

firm pliable handle = this was bound to the head

tightly with string + covered with Graßtree gim if they

could get it if not they used the Native Bee wax, they

must have been clumsey things = they must have had

great work to clime up the trees with them, I suppose

you know how they managed to do that. to get the

Possom's  by cutting a notch for a step = then  another on

the other side = or rather  their  other side, puting the

other foot in that, and so on, making steps right &

left as they went up the tree = that was the Men's way

of doing it, but most of the Women used a vine, holding

the two ends in their hands keeping the bight  as

sailors call it round the small of their backs and

jirking the vine up keeping their feet fast against

the tree and sort of walking up the tree, they could  

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