BY Vt'ALTER II. HARPKR. 431 



placed on the table and crushed liy rubbing the hand-stone back- 

 wards and forwards o^•er them. Sometimes two hand-stones are 

 used, one in either hand, and sometimes the grinder is given a 

 sweeping circular motion. It is of course the hand-stones which 

 principally concern us. These assume slightly different shapes, 

 but this is owing to chance, for the aboriginal wastes no time in 

 preparing them, and any stone which has one flat surface, and 

 may be held in the hand, will suit his purpose. Specimens of 

 grinders, smooth on both sides, circular in shape, and from 1 to 3 

 inches in thickness are shown in the various Museums, but, as a 

 general rule, a large water-worn pebble or an irregular piece of 

 sandstone, smooth on one side, is used I have seen grinders 

 formed by striking' the end off a pebble instead of the side; this 

 gives the stone a somewhat conical appearance, but nothing- 

 resembling the shape of the objects under consideration. The 

 larger hand-stones have sometimes one or more hollows in the 

 upper surface, thus affording the operator a firmer grasp. So 

 little are the hand-stones valued by the aborigines that a woman, 

 finding her burden too heavy, will unhesitatingly cast them aside. 



Dr. Stirling says (Report Horn Exped. Yol. iv. p. 100) : — "As 

 suitable bed-stones cannot be everywhere obtained they are carried 

 from camp to camp, often for long distances; the hand-stones, 

 however, can be picked up anywhere, and were frequently found 

 lying about in abandoned camps." 



This style of mill is generally used also for pounding, but in 

 some districts special stones are used as pestles and mortars. The 

 mortar consists of a circular or oval slab of stone from 6 to 12 

 inches in diameter, hollowed in the centre, and is usually formed 

 from a harder material than that employed for " grinding tables." 

 The pestle is sometimes identical with the hand-stone I have just 

 described, but is more frequently an oval or rounded pebble about 

 the size of an orange, a flat base not being absolutely necessary 

 for pounding work. 



It will at once be seen what avast difference lies between these 

 stones and those which form the subject of this enquiry. The 

 first are the work of an hour; the second the labour of days. The 



