BY R. ETHERIDGE, JUN. 373 



self-evident from the shape of the implement, for in this state it 

 coulcl hardly have been securely fastened between the halves of a 

 bent handle ; but in whatever way it was held, the implement was 

 awkward and unwieldy. The cutting edge is unsym metrical, and 

 the bevel on each face unequal. The stone is a basalt, much 



in. 



weathered. Measurements : — Length, 9fin. ; breadth, 6 

 thickness, 1 Jin. ; weight, 5JJb. 



The Queensland Museum possesses two remarkably good oval 

 axes. One of these (PL xxxiv.), a large flat tool composed of a fine 

 micaceous mudstone, from the Herbert Gorge, and a travelled stone 

 or pebble, has had its original form utilised by the cunning abori- 

 gine, who has reduced its pristine bulk by rubbing, the irregularly 

 concentric stria? on the surface, arising from the grinding process, 

 being still visible. The broader end has been bevelled off to 

 produce a cutting edge with a similarly wide sweep and truthful- 

 ness of outline to the specimen last described. The butt is rather 

 attenuated, the size here having been again reduced by friction 

 above and below. The extremity of the butt is grasped by the 

 flimsiest of withies — a supple stick of Eremophila, so Mr. Turner 

 thinks, passed round it and retained in position by a " stop " of 

 black gum, with which the butt is enveloped, but without in any 

 way impinging on the withy, which remains free and loose. The 

 withy is simply bent round the stone head without being fastened 

 in any other way, whether by pegs between the stone and handle, 

 as described by the Rev. P. MacPherson,* 4 or otherwise. In this 

 condition it is held precisely as a blacksmith holds his cold chisel 

 when about to be struck by the hammer. The two portions of 

 the handle are held together, immediately under the head, by a 

 piece of thin split cane. The withy is in one piece, about twenty- 

 two inches long when doubled, and where bent the bark has been 

 removed and the fibre separated to render the bend supple. The 

 bevel is rather flat. The general measurements are : — Length, 

 81in. ; breadth, 5±in. ; thickness, 1-J-in. ; weight, 31b. 2oz. 



One of the most remarkable implements I have yet met with is 

 an axe, triangular in shape, and to some extent resembling the 



* Journ. R. Soc. N. S. Wales for 1885 [1886], xix., p. 114. 



