Animal and Bird Traps of the Ngadjon

ESA Logo
Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge

Ngadjon shield found on 5 pound note
The cane was cut and used green, it was lightly pounded between two smooth flat stones to "makem loose" before being split into strands with their teeth. Strands were then scraped to uniform thickness by pieces of broken glass bottle. Before the whites brought bottles they used pieces of crystalline quartz or volcanic glass, which was lying around everywhere.
The animal or bird trap was made of woven lawyer cane, with ends of the cross pieces sharpened and pushed into the ground. It was about eighteen or twenty feet long (6m), about three feet high (1m) at the entrance and three feet wide (1m), tapering down to about a foot(30cm) each way at the other end. Each trap was set up some distance, probably thirty feet (9m) or so, from a tree with big flanges at the bottom, and one of the women hid there, covered with brush, until a bird or animal followed the nuts and fruits used as bait into the trap. The watcher then pounced and closed the entrance.
Short (1988) p59
In the Ngadjon language Jimama  means  turkey trap see   more Ngadjon Language...