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The third weapon is a wooden throw-stick, made of a specially hard wood called miet, which grows in the mountains; it is about a yard long, and pointed at both ends; it is called ghatrif. The Gara are wonderfully skilful at hurling it through the air, and use it both in battle and for the chase with admirable precision.
Half a dozen were killed in this attempt before it was abandoned, and the efforts to set the blockhouse on fire were continued by another and most ingenious device. This was the throw-stick, or fire-bow, which they soon began to work with serious effect from behind their breastworks, which they had strengthened by rolling logs to the top of the banks.
Among the Australian tribes the age of virility and the transition into manhood is celebrated by ceremonial customs, in which the novices are subjected to minor mutilations. A sharp bone is used for lancing their gums, while the throw-stick is used for knocking out a tooth.
One of them had fixed to his left arm a shield of boughs which concealed his body as he crept towards a group of kangaroos feeding in the grassy bottom. As the hunters did not perceive us and we had time, we stood still watching them. The throwing or throw-stick, is to serve the purpose of a sling for casting the spear.