BY rUOrKSSOR SIR T. W. E. DAVID. K.B.E., ITC. 127 



another stone used as a hone stone. Their implements are 

 distinctly of a Palaeolithic type, strikingly like those of 

 Piltdown man, but many of them show exquisitely fine finish 

 by the method of re-touchinpr, as proved by many fine speci- 

 mens in the collections of the Tasmanian Museum, Hobart, 

 as well as in those of Dr. W. L. Crowther, some of the best 

 of which were collected near Ross and Oatlands. Their 

 implements mostly show concave surfaces, evidently used 

 for spokeshavinpr their spears and shapinjr their throwing 

 sticks. These throwing sticks (Lughrana) had an effective 

 range up to about 40 yards, and their spears (Perenna) up 

 to about 60 yards. The latter, hardened at the point by fire, 

 wbuld go through the body of a man at a range of 60 yards. 

 The club, waddy, or throwing stick was about, 2 feet long, 

 notched or roughened at one end to give a grip; sometimes 

 knobbed at the other end. None of their stone implements 

 was ever hafted. Occasionally in the kitchen middens may 

 hi found palettes of the nature of stone dishes, or shallow 

 mortars, in which they ground their hsematite for raddling 

 their hair. They had no nets nor fish hooks, and do not 

 appear to have eaten fish. The aboriginal women made 

 neat baskets (Tughbrana), or "dilly-bags." 



b. Tasmanian aborigines had no knowledge of making 

 large dug-out canoes, or outrigger canoes, such as those used 

 by the Australian aborigines from Hinchinbrook Island 

 northwards to Cape York, or the large dug-out canoes, or 

 the stringy-bark canoes used by the Australian aborigines 

 from Carpentaria to west of Darwin. The canoes of the 

 Tasmanian aborigines had a maximum length of 9 to 10 

 feet, a width of 3 feet, and a height of 1', feet, with a depth 

 inside of about 9 inches. They were practically three cigar- 

 shaped bundles of bark tied together with grass string or 

 strips of kangaroo skin so as to form a rough canoe or 

 slightly hollowed float. They were propelled by poles 

 whether in deep or in shallow water. Crude craft as these 

 were, the aborigines nevertheless were able to cross in 

 them from the mainland to Maatsuyker Island and Maria 

 Island; the latter involved a voyage of about "^ miles. The 

 Seri Indians in Sonora (California) in their •'balsas" (30 

 feet long bundles of reeds lashed together) can even cross 

 the Gulf of California in calm weather. This is from 50 

 to 100 miles in width. (31). 



That the formation of Bass Strait, or, at any rate, the 

 western part of it, in which King Island lies, must date 



