OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 25 



more perfect in form and highly polished, as seen in the speci- 

 mens from the Namoi River district, while some of those of the 

 Northern tribes of Queensland appear rather to have been formed 

 by splitting pieces off them. In Western Australia the implements 

 found are of the very rudest description. They do not appear to 

 possess sufficient river pebbles from which to form their weapons, 

 their tomahawks being merely small sharp pieces of granite stuck 

 into each end of a lump of grass tree gum in the centre of which a 

 handle is firmly attached, and thus forms a double tomahawk. Their 

 knives are of two kinds, one made of a piece of sharp crystal with 

 one end protected with fur and gum. The other specimens of 

 knives are formed by simply sticking a number of small sharp 

 pieces of granite in a row to a stick with gum. 



1 must next draw your attention to the stone weapons made in 

 ■ the form of arrows used either as spears or arrows, the only 

 specimens of which are to be found on the north coast of Australia, 

 west of Cape York. The spears are a long and formidable wooden 

 implement pointed with a black igneous glassy crystalline stone. 

 The arrows are tipped by the same sharp stony formation and are 

 found in the hands of the same tribes. I have still another very 

 remarkable weapon to show, appropriately called a " gubba gubba " 

 or headache stone. For this rude and curious weapon I am 

 indebted to my friend Mr. Beddome, lately Government Resident 

 at Cape York. In the old world some remarkable round stones 

 have been at various times found with large holes in the centre ; 

 and it has been a matter of much conjecture what these stones 

 actually were, some suggesting that they were weights for fishing 

 tackle, others, that they had had strings attached to them and were 

 used for throwing at a distance. The specimens which I show 

 you set the theory at rest, as far as Australia is concerned, for 

 they are mounted in such a way that they may be used as a most 

 formidable weapon of offence. The stones of which these weapons 

 are composed, are circular in form, six inches in diameter, having 

 a large hole in the centre through which a strong wooden handle is 

 passed, and the two are firmly bound together with gum and fibre. 

 The stones themselves are, as I have said, quite round and 

 beautifully bevelled off to a very sharp edge. 



