EvrHERIDGE 

Some Lnplements, etc., of the Alligator Tribe, Port Essington. 229 
Wales Commission, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. I need only 
add that our thanks are due to Mr. Stockdale for the native names of many of the 
specimens, numerous items of information regarding their uses, &c., and for the 
original drawings of Pl. xxxv. 
The articles described in the following pages are of more than ordinary interest, 
for I believe they are the most complete set that have yet been noticed from any 
one Australian tribe fey se, and from the fact that several of the specimens are now 
for the first time brought under notice. 
The three Alligator Rivers, East, South, and West, fall into the south-eastern 
corner of Van Diemen Gulf, within the boundary of the Northern Territory of the 
Province of South Australia. We are informed by the late Mr. George Windsor 
Ear]* that the lower parts of the Alligator Rivers are occupied by the Bimbirik 
Tribe, a comparatively large community, and it is more than probable that this is the 
Aboriginal name for the former possessors of the present weapons and implements. 
Mr. Stockdale coincides in this opmion. The neighbours of the Bimbirik people on 
the east of the Coburg Peninsula are called Jalakuru, whilst the tableland to the 
south is occupied by a still more powerful tribe called the Marigianbirik, or “ People 
of the Mountains.” 
In the following pages the weapons will be described first, followed by the 
implements and articles of dress. 
I.—WEAPONS. 
SPEARS. 
The North Coast spears generally seem to be remarkable for their more or less 
tS) 
ornate carving and gaudy colouring, thus standing out in strong contrast to those 
used by the Aborigines of the southern part of the Continent. 
Foremost amongst the spears is the 4//eztch, or stone headed spear, consisting 
of sapling or reed shafts, coloured with red pigment or ruddle,t and moderately short 
stone heads of flesh-coloured granular quartzite. I have already figured} one of these 
heads from Settlement Creek, and the reader is referred to the description accom- 
panying it for descriptive particulars. The quartzite heads are held in place by 
gum-cement§ and native twine, the latter coated with clay and coloured white with 
* Journ. R. Geogr. Soc., 1846, XVI. p. 242. 
+ The methods of preparing this widely distributed article of personal adornment and ornamental use would form 
the subject of an essay alone. 
£ P.L.S.N.S.W., 1891, VI. (2), p. 37, t. 4, f. 2. 
§ The composition of this most excellent cement differs widely in various parts of the Continent. There were a 
least half-a-dozen different recipes known to the Blacks. 
