42 Proceedings of the Royal Societ// of Victoria. 



JMouiit Erebus and IMouut Terror, although we have not the 

 remotest idea that they exist there. This manner of distribution 

 is advanced by Mr. Gavin Secular.^ 



Darwin's suggestion that the specimen he examined may have 

 been transported by the aborigines seems to have received a 

 good deal of support as a general explanation, and in that 

 particular instance the Rev. W. B. Clarke looks upon it as the 

 most reasonable view. Professor Tate also supports this explana- 

 tion, and submits the following documentary evidence of the 

 value set upon obsidian bombs by the Australian black. A 

 correspondent from Salt River, King George's Sound, states : — 

 " Tiie black stones are very rare and much prized by the natives, 

 who believe the possessor bears almost a charmed life and is able 

 also to cure sick people of any complaint they may be afflicted 

 with, as also to bewitch their enemies, or anyone with whom they 

 have a grievance, tormenting them with all kinds of diseases, 

 and finally destroying life itself." Mr. Canham, of Stuart's 

 Creek, writes : — " With the stones will be found one to which a 

 strange story is attached. I was told by the native I had it 

 from that it was taken out of the breast of a sick man by one of 

 their ' koonkies ' or doctors, who, however, did not succeed in 

 saving the patient's life, as some other ' koonkie ' of another 

 tribe had a greater power than the one who took the stone out. 

 The sick native I mention died hei'e of disease of the lungs, and 

 all the koonkies in the country could never have saved him." 

 Professor Tate apparently does not think this mode of distribu- 

 tion altogether satisfactory, as he offers quite a different 

 interpretation to account for the presence of obsidian bombs 

 between the Stevenson River and Charlotte Waters. 



Messrs. Twelvetrees and Petterd mention that they have been 

 informed that in the Coolgardie district. West Australia, they 

 are collected by the aborigines, and used as charms by pressing 

 them on the part of the body which is suffering pain. Mr. Johns 

 informs me that Mr. Archibald, late curator of the Warrnambool 

 Museum, told him, but in rather vague terms, that they were 

 carried by the blacks as amulets, and sometimes broken up to 

 obtain splinters for barbing spears. Mr. Johns himself does not 



1 Trans. Philosoph. Soc. Adelaide, S.A., vol. ii. (1879), p. CS. 



