24 AJSTHROPOLGGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF QUEENSLAND. 



3. Marine sands and clays. 



4. Black soil (old land surface). 



5. Old freshwater clays (late Tertiary). 



"' In this connection it is in bed 4, an old surface soil 

 from a few inches to a foot in thickness that I have obtained 

 stone implements in three widely separated areas. 



" The Nerang River at Coong and Biribon, about three 

 miles downstream from Nerang township, is cutting back 

 southwards and continually exposing fresh sections. The 

 modern alluvium (No. 1) averages twelve feet in thickness 

 and is a fine loam without the trace of a stone in it. Four 

 years ago the river erosion exposed, in the old black soil 

 (No. 4) what I take to be an old camping ground, there 

 being a mass of burnt soil and wood a few feet in area, 

 lying upon the old land surface of No. 5. I have found such 

 hearths even of palaeolithic date. My son-in-law, Mr. E. 

 J. Cooper, on whose property this camp was found, carefully 

 watched it, and two ^ears ago iioticed a stone beginning 

 to protrude from the top of the old freshwater clay, No. 5; 

 close to the camp. I went down to Nerang and we dug 

 it out. It proved to be a crude stone implement. Last year 

 we visited a newly formed great drain on the Merrimac 

 estate, and from beneath the marine sand obtained another 

 implement. These we have presented to the Queensland 

 Museum, 



■' This year 1 obtained another similar implement from 

 beneath the marine, shell-bearing sands near the floodgate 

 on the same estate, and my son-in-law has found two more 

 hearths of })urnt soil further down the river from Coong. 

 The tools are quite crude, but unmistakable, and I incUne 

 to think may pertain to the Tasmaniau migration stage." 



Now with reference to the effect of civilization on natives 

 constitutionally, it is not ni}' intention to attempt to cover 

 the whole ground but rather to pick out here and there 

 isolated instances which ma>' be of interest in the light of 

 modern knowledge. One of the most interesting is the 

 subject of teething in small children. An outstanding 

 feature seems to be the fact that Aboriginal children under 

 natural conditions get their teeth at a somewhat earlier 

 age than white children and without any apparent pain or 



