[Illustration: Australian Weapons.] As we are now as close to Australia as we are likely for some time to be, we may as well take a voyage over and see what sort of man of war our dirty little friend the Bushman is. He is not at a loss for weapons, nor for skill to use them. They may be enumerated as follows:--The spear, nine or ten feet long, rather thicker than one’s finger, tapered to a point, hardened in the fire and sometimes jagged. The wammera or throwing stick, shows considerable ingenuity of invention; about two and a half feet long, it has a hook at one end which fits a notch on the heel of the spear, in whose projection it acts, much like a third joint of the arm, adding very greatly to the force. A lance is thrown with ease and accuracy sixty, eighty, and a hundred yards. The waddy is a heavy knobbed club about two feet long, and is used for active service, foreign or domestic. It brains the enemy in the battle, or strikes senseless the poor gin in cases of disobedience or neglect. In the latter instance a broken arm is considered a mild martial reproof. [Illustration: Throwing the Boomerang.] The stone tomahawk is employed in cutting opossums out of their holes in trees, as well as to make notches in the bark, by inserting a toe into which, the black can ascend the highest and largest gums in the bush. One can hardly travel a mile in New South Wales without seeing these marks, old or new. The quick eye of the native is guided to the retreat of the opossum by the slight scratches of its claws on the stem of the tree. The boomerang, the most curious and original of Australian war implements, is, or was, familiar in England as a toy. It is a paradox in missile power. There are two kinds of boomerang, that which is thrown to a distance straight ahead, and that which returns on its own axis to the thrower. “I saw,” says Mr. Mundy, “a native of slight frame throw one of the former two hundred and ten yards and much further when a _ricochet_ was permitted. With the latter he made several casts truly surprising to witness. The weapon after skimming breast high, nearly out of sight, suddenly rose high into the air, and returning with amazing velocity towards its owner, buried itself six inches deep in the turf, within a few yards of his feet. It is a dangerous game for an inattentive spectator. An enemy or a quarry ensconced behind a tree or bank safe from spear or even bullet, may be taken in the rear and severely hurt or killed by the recoil of the boomerang. The emu and kangaroo are stunned and disabled, not knowing how to avoid its eccentric gyrations. Amongst a flight of wild ducks just rising from the water, or a flock of pigeons on the ground, this weapon commits great havoc. At close quarters in fight the boomerang, being made of very hard wood with a sharp edge, becomes no bad substitute for a cutlass.