have been a common occurrence for One hundred years ago it may
individual to be wounded by a native spear but to-day such things happen only in the remotest parts of Australia. Yet at Ipswich show. grounds in Queensland, doting a carnival, a number of" aboriginals wore giving a display of spear-throwing. One adept with the spear hurled his weapon a distance of over 200 yards: and to the astonishment of the spectators the weapon fell without the show ring' and entered a young girl's left thigh. The native, who was. from the Barambah Aboriginal Mission Station, was so troubled at the accident that he presented the little girl, Mona MeCoombes, aged seven years, who was luckily' not serious-_ ly injured, with all his weapons, including boomerangs and spears, a Christmas box. The sports had been originated for the purpose of raising money for the unemployed to enable them to enjoy Christmas. The aboriginal display was, the star attraction. The weapons used are made by the natives by means of a long and_ tedious} process of hand manufacture and much ingenious labour on decora-ton, The duties of tribal ceremonies performed by the aboriginals are often so severe that death ensues. From Towrana a station in Western Australia, comes the news that an aboriginal boy named Warrigal left the station to join a party of "bush" natives who were camped near a cattle pool on the Gascoyne River. The other natives heard the sound of tioned said that the "doctor men of the tribe had caught him. He complained of having had a very ough time, one stick having been driven into his hip and one into his abdomen. The wound in the abdomen healed, but a month afterwards the wound in the hip began to swell and give trouble. Then the boy's legs began to swell and was to be taken to a white hospital but on the day of his removal he died.
The customary procedure of the white police is to make inquiries into these deaths, but as a rule no very strict action is taken against the natives. The customs, belonging to their ceremonies date back thousands of years and the Into Professor Baldwin Spencer, the greatest authority upon aboriginal customs probably this country has known, gives numerous examples in his various works of the fortitude and bravery displayed by native boys during the progress of the initiation to manhood rites. By acting by singing, and pan-tom ime the moral laws and customs are taught.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.