22 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



hatchets, knives and spears (such as I show you) are still found in 

 the hands of the dark tribes, and also in Queensland. 



The hatchets found in "Western Australia appear to point to one 

 of the lowest types of creation, their stone implements being so 

 primitive that, unless the stones were found in gum and fixed to 

 handles, I scarcely think it would be credited that they had ever 

 been used for the important duties they had to serve. Some are 

 said still to be found in the hands of the natives of the northern 

 part of South Australia, and also in the back rivers of Queensland, 

 especially to the north-west, where fine specimens can be procured 

 with handles fixed to them with a gum resin, just as they were 

 originally found throughout the Continent. 



Most of the specimens from New South "Wales which I show 



you have been ploughed up in various districts such as Dapto, 



Baulham Hills, Monaro, Ashfield, and Kurrajong, while others 



have been dug out of the beds of oyster shell, found so abundant 



near the mouths of our principal rivers, under shelving rocks, 



evidently the scene of many a cooking fire. I presume the hatchets 



got mixed with these masses of shells by their making use of them 



to open the large mud oyster, which, judging from the abundance 



of the shells, were then to be found in quantities, or it might have 



been, that it was around the fire that they manufactured their 



implements, melting and moulding the wax which was to secure 



the handle to the stone. Others of the tomahawks I have received 



from the Wollombi, having been dug from the bottom of the large 



caves in that district, on the arched roofs of which are still 



to be found impressions of the " Red Hand " and other 



fisures. Other hatchets have been found in the crevices of rocks 



about the locality where they were sharpened and the edge ground. 



Of these localities I shall speak presently. Generally one or more 



of these hatchets were to be found in the graves of the natives, 



but unfortunately almost all of the old mounds have disappeared, 



and it requires a keen eye to discover them. It seems to have been 



one of the native customs of the New South Wales blacks to bury 



the goods and belongings of the men of the tribes with the bodies, 



and it is in this way that I account for their being ploughed up 



from time to time. 



