298 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL STONE WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS, 



Towards the butt the sides rapidly attenuate to a suitable 

 circumference to render the implement of a fit size to be held in 

 the hand ; and there is the possibility, therefore, of the members 

 of this group having been so used, although I did not suggest this 

 in a former })ai)er when dealing with similar tomahawks. The 

 butt-end is rounded and shows traces of abrasion and chip[)ing. 

 The length of this remarkably fine implement is eight and a half 

 inches, the breadth two and five-eighths, greatest thickness one 

 and three-eighths inches, and the weight one pound fifteen ounces. 



The surface is roughened by weathering. 



XX. — Toy Tomahatvk. 



I am indebted to the Rev. J. ]M. Curran for a veiy extraordinary 

 little implement. It is from the west, probably the Bogan country, 

 and consists of a greenish-coloured rock agreeing in hardness and 

 specific gravity with berpentine, according to Mr, G. W. Card. 

 It is a flake and not a pebble, thickest at the anterior end and 

 thinning off to a mere nothing at the butt. The cutting edge is 

 only very slightly curved, whilst the bevel is remarkably short 

 and abrupt on each face, bounded posteriorly by sharp ridges, 

 instead of graduating insensibly into the body of the implement. 



The dimensions of this little toy are — Length one and a half 

 inches, breadth one and one-eighth inches, thickness seven-six- 

 teenths of an inch, and w^eight three-quarters of an ounce. It is 

 difficult to conceive that this little implement could have been 

 put to any utilitarian purpose, and I can only regard it, wdth the 

 present knowledge I possess of Aboriginal stone implements, as 

 a picanniny's tomahawk. We know that amongst the Aborigines 

 the children were provided with miniature weapons and imple- 

 ments, as a part of juvenile instruction. Mr. Smyth remarked* : 

 *' The toy weapons which are made for the use and amusement of 

 the children, the care that is taken in teaching the boys to throw 

 the spear, to use the stone tomahawk, the shield, and the club 

 . . make them when even young quite accomplished 

 bushmen." 



* Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, i. p. 49. 



