88 NOTES ON IHK IllNTINi; STKKS, ETC. 



Tasmanian origin, and now in the British Museum. These 

 baskets were originally in the possession ol G. A. liobinson, 

 tioni whom Miliigan obtained them. There cannot be the 

 slightest doubt tiiat these two baskets are not of Tasmanian 

 »ori<man.>iiip. Tlie plaiting is so dilFerent trom tlie Tas- 

 manian baskets, and discloses also a niucU higher style, that 

 it would be most remarkable had th»e Aborigines practised 

 simultaneously such diflferent kinds of plaiting (2b). Like- 

 wise, the woodcut, fig. 3, from a basket in the Museum or 

 Oxford, IS cercainly not taken from a basket made oy Tas- 

 maniaji Aborigines, and Ling Roth s assumption that a race 

 who appear to have been lower in the scale of civilisation 

 than many races whose industrial remains have lately be- 

 come known to our times, should have known the stitches 

 which lorin, in fact, the foundation of our modern point 

 lace (27) is unfounded. It is greatly to be regretted that 

 the learned author of the Aborigines of Tasmania, who gives 

 in the 2nd edition a wood cut of the pattern of basket work 

 from Queensland, which is very similar to that of the Ox- 

 ford basket, has not corrected his errors in the 2nd edition. 

 Such statements as the above are ver-*- misleading, and are 

 apt to throw quite a wrong light on the Tasmanian civilisa- 

 tion. 



Ling Koth remarks that the plaiting of the Tasmanian 

 baskets is similar to some fabric fi-om the Lake Dwellings of 

 Eobenhausen and Wangen. I am unable to verify this 

 statement ; the only two illustrations of basket work from 

 the Lake Dwellings I have at my disposal are two figures in 

 Reinhard s "Der Mensch zur Eiszeit in Europa, which are 

 apparently copies from Ileierli, "Urgeschichle Der Schweiz." 

 Both, figures 341 and 342, represent specimens of basket 

 work from Wangen. but the pattern is unquestionably much 

 sup'n-ior to the Tasmanian one, and of quite a different 

 workmanship (28). This might have been expected ; the 

 Lake Dwellers (Rohenhausenian) had attained a much 

 higher stage of civilisation than the Tasmanian Aborigines, 



(28) Though Ling Roth had already expressed his gravest doubts 

 as to the authenticity of these Imskets (2nd ed.. 1899, page 144), 

 these more than doubtful specimens still seem to figure as Tasmanian 

 baskets. In an article on the earlv lilstorv of Tasmania ("Tasmanian 

 Mail," necember 12, 1908, by Ida Lee, one of these selfsame baskets is 

 figured as a "reiic of the natives of Tasmania in the Britisli Museum." 

 It seems almut time that the autliorities of the Britisli Museum re- 

 moved thofe two questionable baskets, or at least marked them with 

 a great query. 



(27) Aborigines of Tasmania, 1st ed., page x. 



(28) The i>a1terii of plniting given tiy Mortillet (mui^e prehlstort- 

 que, PI. LXVII., flg. 739, from Wangen) Is exactly the same as that de- 

 scrll)ed by Kelnhard. 



