92 NOTES ON THE SHELL-MOUNDS AT SEAFORD. 



covery of a bone (which I now exhibit) which gives evidence 

 of having been worked or ground. As far as I know it is 

 the first bone instrument of the kind that has yet been re- 

 ierred to in connection with the history of the Aborigines of 

 this colony. It was discovered by Mr. Herbert Luttrell in 

 breaking down the shells from one of the faces opened to 

 supply the kiln. Mr. Eonald Gunn has stated that in re- 

 moving haliotis or mutton fish from the rocks to which they 

 closely adhere the natives used a wooken spatula-shaped in- 

 strument, and Backhouse writes that the mutton fish were 

 often taken in deep water by the native women, who dived for 

 them and forced them off the rocks by means of a wooden 

 chisel. The French explorer, La Billardiere, saw how these 

 chisels were made. " We observed," he writes, " some of the 

 savages employed cutting little bits of wood in the form of a 

 spatula, and smoothing them with a shell, for the purpose of 

 separating from the rock limpets or sea-ears on which to 

 feast." I think it quite probable that the bone instrument 

 before us was used for a similar purpose. On examination it 

 will be found that it is somewhat worn just at the spot where 

 it would be most likely to show the effects of friction if used 

 to work and lever the sea- ear from the rock. In any case it 

 is interesting, as indicating one step towards a degree of 

 civilisation that the Aborigines of the colony were destined 

 never to reach. In putting down the prospecting holes above 

 referred to I satisfied myself that the shell deposits at Sea- 

 ford extend over several acres of ground, varying in depth 

 from 6in. to 6ft. It is the vast extent of these deposits that 

 renders it almost impossible for anyone at first blush to 

 realise that they are the refuse heaps of the Aborigines. When 

 it is remembered, however, that the tribes near the sea-shore 

 lived principally on shell fish — for, according to Calder, and 

 other authorities, the natives of Tasmania would rather have 

 starved than use any kind of scale-fish for food— it will easily 

 be seen that large refuse heaps would very rapidly accumu- 

 late on the feeding grounds. The best authorities agree that 

 the natives were very ravenous eaters, and setting the num- 

 ber of the Oyster Bay tribe at 500 (an estimate I have heard 

 given), and putting down to the account of each member of 

 the tribe a consumption of 20 oysters per day, that small 

 calculation alone would give 20,000 single shells per day to 

 the refuse heaps. There is one thought in connection with 

 this matter with which I will conclude my somewhat desultory 

 notes. Lubbock has pointed out that — " A country, the in- 

 habitants of which live by hunting and fishing, can never be 

 thickly populated." Regarding the shell-mounds at Little 

 Swanport in the light of this fact, and taking into consider- 

 ation their vast extent, the conclusion is forced upon us that 

 the spot must have been frequented by the natives for a very 



