1898] 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 221 



Aktesian Water in Australia 



The construction of Artesian wells all over the arid districts of 

 Australia, to which we have often referred in these pages, bids 

 fair to develop the resources of the continent in a remarkable 

 manner. The Rev. J. Milne Curran read an interesting paper 

 on the subject before the geological section of the Australian 

 Association, in which he briefly sketched the history of Artesian 

 exploration. Referring to the Ballimore, Trangie, Coonamble, and 

 Dubbo bores and the cores brought up from the 1896 bore at Salis- 

 bury Downs, the author of the paper concluded that the Artesian 

 water of the north-west and west of New South Wales was derived 

 from Triassic strata, and that there was no evidence to show that 

 a single Artesian well in New South Wales derived its waters 

 from Cretaceous rocks. Mr R. L. Jack, in the discussion which 

 followed, stated that Artesian water had just been struck in Queens- 

 land, on the central line of railway at a place called Maria Creek, 

 west of Dawson River, in rocks of Permo-carboniferous age. These 

 are the oldest rocks in which Artesian water has been struck in 

 Australia. 



The Aborigines of Jamaica. 



Vol. II. of the Journal of the Institute of Jamaica (July 1897) 

 contains a paper by Mr J. E. Duerden, curator of the Museum of the 

 Institute, on the " Aboriginal Indian remains in Jamaica." From 

 this we may gather that the antiquities of the island are being in- 

 vestigated with zeal and studied in a systematic manner, and that 

 endeavours are being made to collect material for the formation of a 

 really good museum of local antiquities. Chapter I. deals with the 

 kitchen-middens, refuse and shell-heaps, of which a large number 

 have already been discovered and partially explored. From them 

 much may be learnt as to the life of the Indian inhabitants in pre- 

 Spanish times, a culture which waned rapidly under Spanish domina- 

 tion. A brief sketch is given of the individual finds of this class and 

 of the objects found therein ; and, while no great detail is as yet 

 forthcoming, the preliminary investigation will, no doubt, lead to 

 more systematic and exhaustive research. The Burial Caves are 

 treated of in Chapter II. The prevalence of cave-burial in Jamaica 

 was due to presence of very numerous natural caves and sink-holes in 

 the ' White and Yellow Limestone ' formation which covers a large 

 proportion of the island of Jamaica. The human crania found in these 

 caves shew in all, or nearly all, instances traces of artificial deformation, 

 very marked in some cases. Examples of pottery vessels, which in 

 the kitchen -middens are, as might be expected from the nature of the 

 deposits, always in a fragmentary condition, have been found in a 



