ABORIGINAL IMPLEMENTS AND "WEAPONS — ETHERIDGE. 6 



and size of at least two, would admirably adapt them. Again, 

 the entire absence of scratches favours this view. The general 

 likeness to a " Bull-roarer '' of tlic smallest and longest of the 

 three pebbles, and the similarity of the sculpture of the incised 

 implement to the circular ornament seen on some of these objects 

 of Aboriginal veneration leads me to infer tiiat these stones were 

 employed in some of the Black's secret rites, but the precise use 

 must still remain unknown.* 



One of the most beautiful examples of circular concentric 

 sculpture with which I am acquainted is represented in PI. i., 

 Figs. 3 and 4, a " Bull-roarer " from the Urania Tribe, Linda 

 Creek, W. Queensland. There are five circular figures on each 

 aspect of the implement, merely differing in size and the number 

 of contained circles, and similar to those seen on the stone imple- 

 ment already described ; they occupy more or less the entire 

 surface of this implement. 



The central and largest disk (PI. i.. Fig. 4), in which there 

 are sixteen circles, is separated from the others by a crossbar 

 above and below it, each of four incised lines ; these do not occur 

 on the other or slightly convex face of the " Bull-roarer." The 

 uppermost and smallest disc on this aspect (PI. i.. Fig. 3) differs 

 from the others in that the concentric circles are fewer in number, 

 leaving a plain and unincised intermediate area between the outer 

 circles and a central nucleus of three. Between this disc and the 

 second, and below the fifth, are two incised arcs of four and 

 three lines respectively, and similar to that already described 

 on the stone implement (PL i.. Fig. 2). This "Bull-roarer" is 

 sixteen inches long by two and a quarter wide, and is more 

 acutely pointed at one end than the other. It is attached to a 

 long cord composed of human hair and fine emu down, and is 

 covered with ruddle and grease. 



The second and third " Bull-roarers " are equally well incised 

 witii circular and other figures. They are said to be from South 

 Australia, but are, 1 think, more likely to come from Central 

 Australia. Taking the larger one first, measuring fourteen inches 

 by two inches, we see on the more convex of the two faces 

 (PI. ii., Fig. 5), a central figure answering to the uppermost in 

 PI. ii., Fig. 3, a nucleus of circles within a circumferential set, 

 five in both cases. Above and below this is an arc or semicircle 



* Since tlie above was written I have read the following passage in th^ 

 " Horn Scientific Expedition Report" (Vol. i.. Narrative, &c., 1890, p. 35), 

 l>y Prof. Baldwin Spencer. Speaking of the Churina or " Bull-roarers," 

 met with in Central Australia, he says — " Stone ones are still more 

 valuable and sacred than wooden ones, which are usually spoken of as 

 " Irula," the patterns on which are copied from the older stones, the 

 history and origin of which are lost in the dim past." This rather tends 

 to confirm the view I have taken of this incised stone implement. 



