PALEOLITHIC RACES 531 



exclusive characteristic of the neolithic period ; but as the 

 Australians are still in a palaeolithic stage of culture, they present 

 us in this case with an exception, for which various explanations 

 may be found. 



Bone is used for some implements, such as awls and gouges ; 

 the fibula of the kangaroo or emu when ground down to a fine 

 point makes an excellent awl, which is used for piercing holes in 

 skins, preparatory to " sewing " them together with the sinews 

 of animals. We shall meet with bone implements in deposits of 

 the upper palaeolithic period. 



The Australians, unlike the Tasmanians, are acquainted with 

 the art of fishing, using for this purpose special spears provided 

 with several points, or, in some parts of the continent, actual 

 fish-hooks, which are made of wood or shell. 



A wooden rod about the size and shape of a lead pencil 

 serves as a comb. A heavy wooden stick, chisel-like at one end 

 and pointed at the other, is used by the women for digging 

 up yams and other roots. On occasion, as in household brawls, 

 it comes in handy as a weapon. 



The Australians are quite at home in the water; they are 

 expert swimmers and divers, and they know how to make 

 and handle several kinds of water-going craft. The rudest 

 of these is a raft, made up of bundles of rushes, such as the 

 Tasmanians possessed. Another raft is constructed of the 

 trunks of trees, two or three, 15 to 20 feet in length, being 

 lashed together : on this two or three persons may be paddled 

 or punted across a river. Rafts were probably used at a 

 very early stage of human culture ; but the birch boat, which 

 the Australians also possess, takes us at once to a higher 

 level of development. This is generally made by carefully 

 removing with a stone axe the bark of a single tree, generally 

 a eucalyptus, known as the red gum ; struts are placed inside 

 to open it out, and it is propped up by sticks placed at the 

 bow and stern ; the ends are ingeniously tied up with string 

 furnished from the bark of another eucalyptus (stringy bark), 

 and after being left to dr}^ for about a fortnight the boat 

 is ready to be launched. Sometimes a lump of clay is placed at 

 the bottom of the canoe, and on this a fire is lighted, which 

 gives warmth to the fisherman and serves to cook his catch. 



Their huts, though very rude, show some advance on the 

 Tasmanian wind-screen ; but they are seldom occupied for more 



