BY FJii'i'Z N(ii.;tlin(;, ma., I'll u. 105 



2. DiD THE ABOKlGiNES KNOW THE ART OF 



GRINDING?— ri. XVil. 



It has always been most emphatically asserted that 

 the art of grinding was unknown to the aborigines. My 

 collections have, however, proved that the oj)eration of 

 grinding was not unknown to them. It ajapears, however, 

 that thoy nevei", under any circumstances, used it in the 

 manufacture of tero-watta, but strictly limited it to the 

 manufacture of the Hat, so-called "sacred" stone (1). I never 

 found a single tero-wattai which even shows the faintest 

 indication of being ground or polished, but I have found 

 numerous sacred stones, which show more or less distinct 

 traces of having been subjected to the process of grinding. 

 I described some specimens in a previous paper (2), but, 

 though the indications may, perhaps, not be quite 

 so convincing, the specimen PI. XVII. from the 

 Old Beach gives us an absolute proof. This 

 specimen was found by Mr. E. S. Anthony, who 

 kindly presented it to me. It is an oval, very flat 

 diabase pebble, measuring 5 x 3^ to Ij inch, and weighing 

 lib. 8oz. avoir- Both the upper and lower sides are flat, 

 but while the lower side is rough, probably on account of 

 weathering, the upper side has been most elaborately 

 polished and ground. The grinding even extended to the 

 peripheral portion, and fine sharp edges were produced. 

 Three rough marks, extending obliquely across the upper 

 side, form a conspicuous feature, particularly as the surface 

 between them is slightly convex. In my opinion, these 

 mai'ks are incidental, and they represent a jDortion of the 

 original crust, which was not quite removed when the 

 pebble was ground. 



The specimen is well preserved, except for a large frag- 

 ment broken off from the marffin. Now such sharp faces 

 ?.nd edges as this specimen exhibits can only be produced 

 by grinding; any other explanation is impossible. Modern 

 mnn would assume that the stone was ground on another 

 one ; at least, if he were to reduce such a stone he would 

 proceed in such a way- The Tasmanian may have pro- 

 ceeded differently; he rubbed and ground the specimen 



(1) I pr fer to use the term "sacre.d" in=tp,nfl of "mnsic" in c^P9crihing 

 this pecuUar group of stones, because it bettor expresses tlieir nature 

 than the word magic. 



(2) Some implements of <ho Ta'manlnn aborigines. The Tasmanian 

 Naturalist, vol. 1, No. 3, 1907. 



