BY GRAHAM OFFICER. 241 



bulk by the action of weathering. I have preserved the best of 

 them, which will be forwarded to the Australian Museum. 



The bones of the skeleton were very decomposed, and most of 

 them crumbled away on being touched. However, I secured a 

 tibia, portions of a humerus, upper and lower jaws and pelvis, 

 which I have handed over to Mr. R. Etheridge, Junr. 



There can now be no doubt, as I think, but that both types of 

 the objects under discussion are grave-stones, and the question 

 now arises, " What determined their respective uses ?" 



The Rev. — Morgan, Presbyterian clergyman at Bourke, told me 

 that he was informed by an old blackfellow that the "stones'' of 

 type A were placed only on graves of men, while those of type 

 B were placed on graves of women. If this be so, it would seem 

 that these objects had a phallic significance, which has indeed 

 Ijeen surmised in the case of tj^pe A. 



The skeleton in the gra\'e above described is that of a young 

 person, the epiphyses of the humerus and femur at the proximal 

 ends not being united. The small size of the bones and small 

 development of the roughness and ridges for muscular attachment, 

 as well as the state of the teeth, indicate the same conclusion. 

 Being at sea while writing this, I am unable to say if Mr. 

 Etheridge has been able to determine the sex or not. The fact 

 that none of the front teeth in the upper jaw are missing would 

 point either to the conclusion that the subject was a woman, or 

 too young to have been admitted to the rights of manhood. 



Mr. Hatten and Mr. Goddard both emphatically state that 

 they have seen the A stones placed over men's graves, but do not 

 recollect seeing them on women's graves. 



I am thus inclined to the tentative conclusion that the peculiar 

 objects under discussion have a phallic significance; that those 

 of the A type were used to mark the graves of men, while those 

 of the B type were placed on graves of women, and perhaps on 

 graves of youths who had not attained their tribal majority. 



