364 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL STONE WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS, 



piece of rock produced by chipping and friction, with the butt end 

 squared-off, or hammer-head shaped. The bevelled faces are longer 

 than in the first example of this type, and the cutting edge but 

 little curved. It is composed of a dark green diorite with triclinic 

 felspar, macroscopically developed in an aphanitic base, and is 

 heavy for its small size. Its measurements are :— Length, 2 Jin. ; 

 breadth, 2§in. ; thickness, 1-Jin. ; weight, 8oz. 



The third tomahawk of this series is equally peculiar with either 

 of the others, if not more so, from its very short and broad pro- 

 portions, the high angle of the bevelled faces, and particularly 

 straight cutting edge. It seems to have been made out of a rough 

 haphazard piece of grey diorite (triclinic felspar and hornblende) 

 very much weathered, certainly not from a pebble. As sometimes 

 happens in these implements, one face is longer than the other, 

 and thus destroying the bilateral symmetry of the tomahawk. 

 The cutting edge is straight and long. The measurements are : — 

 Length, 2-|in. ; breadth, 2§in. ; thickness, 1 Jin. ; weight, lOoz. 



4. Gad-shaped Type. This is a very interesting and well marked 

 section, and does not seem to have been much noticed by authors. 

 The form is always long, the transverse always greatly exceeding 

 the longitudinal diameter, the section almost always more or less 

 rounded, sometimes slightly flattened at the sides, and very rarely 

 quadrangular. 



Two examples of this form are lent by Sir W. Macleay, but 

 beyond the fact that they are New South Welsh, no further history 

 is known. Both have been pebbles. One, of greenish syenitic 

 granite, is square-headed at the butt, whilst the original rotundity 

 of the pebble has not in any way been interfered with. The 

 anterior end is very narrow, remarkably so for an aboriginal 

 tomahawk, and in consequence the cutting edge is much reduced, 

 and the curvature very slight. The other example is composed of 

 a fine-grained dark green diorite, and has had the natural rotundity 

 of the pebble reduced by friction, producing flattened sides, and 

 the butt is obtusely pointed. The cutting edge is broader than 



