26 RECORDS OK THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEI M 



I have now to call attention to a very extraordinary figure lent 

 to me by the well known Sydney collector Mr. P. G. Black, and 

 of which T have been permitted to take a copy for the Museum 

 collection. This animal figure (Plate vii., figs. 1 & 3) was dis- 

 covered in a village towards the head-waters of the (iiriwo River, 

 ;it from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea-level. Mr. Black informs 

 me that the (Jiriwo River, which does not yet appear in any of 

 our maps, is on the Buna Bay to Yodda Valley Road, and such 

 being the case, it is evidently not a tributary of the Yodda River, 

 but rises to the eastward in the same high country as that in 

 which the northern tributaries of the Yodda rise; most probably 

 the Giriwo River falls into Buua Bay. As to the figure, Mr. 

 Black writes me thus : — "This image must evidently have come 

 into the possession of the present race of natives by accident and 

 probably some considerable time ago, for it clearly belongs to the 

 same age as the discoveries made in the Yodda Valley. The 

 natives evidently thought a good deal of it . . . . and it 

 evidently belonged to the village, and to no one man in 

 particular." 



The object represents a rude animal figure, fourteen and a half 

 inches long by six inches wide, and weighs 17 lbs. The head, 

 arms, and upper part of the body generally are tolerably well 

 formed, the head thrust forward and inclined rather to one side; 

 the fore-arms are also bent forward and the indistinct hands 

 closed over what would be the abdomen, but is simply an obtuse 

 obconical pivot-like termination. When viewed from the side 

 the head is seen to be of a very low type, certainly not human, 

 but possibly marsupial. The antero-posterior outline of the head 

 in the middle line is nearly flat at the top but arched facially, 

 and the nose flattened with small nostrils and mouth. There is 

 no chin, the under surface being flat, with a central throat-lappet. 

 The eyes are large and prominent, the ears small, depressed, and 

 set far back, in fact represented simply by low prominences with 

 central depressions; the neck behind is represented by a project- 

 ing roll. When viewed from behind the shoulders are high and 

 narrow, and the central or vertebral region raised and rounded, 

 and terminating below in a short coxygeal projection; the arms 

 in their great length are decidedly simian. The stone is a horn- 

 blendic rock, and the tool marks are plainly visible. 



The use of this object is beyond speculation ; some have 

 suggested it to be a pestle or pounder, although 1 hardly think 

 it is of this nature. When seen from the front, back, or side in 

 profile, there is no suggestiveness about it, except that the head 

 presents a rude resemblance to that of the Spotted Cuscus 

 (Phalanger maculatus, Geoff.). On the other hand, if laid hori- 



