498 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



articles for barter with their hosts in exchange for the grass seed. 

 Peny also said that such stones were used in incantations for causing 

 the supply of game and other food to increase, for the making of rain, 

 and other secret ceremonies. This statement was confirmed by another 

 old man, who said the stones in question were kept by the head men, 

 or " doctors," the women and uninitiated not being allowed to see 

 them. On the death of the owner, they were hidden in the ground 

 near an old camping place of his, or else near his grave. 



A station manager on the Darling River told me that some 

 thirty-five years ago he was one day drafting cattle on a sand ridge on 

 his property. He was assisted by his Avhite stockman and a black- 

 fellow, all of them being on horseback. The trampling of the hoofs 

 of the stock disturbed the loose sand and brought one of these curious 

 stones to the surface. At lunch time-, the manager picked up the 

 stone, which was nicely marked along the shaft, and expressed his 

 intention of taking it home to the house as a curio. The blackfellow 

 interposed, saying that if such a stone as that were taken to the 

 house, and any woman should see it, all the blacks would die. He 

 accordingly took it away and covered it in the sand where it had been 

 found. It is to be regretted that the manager, who was not then 

 taking much interest in the customs of the blacks, did not make in- 

 quiries. The above incident is a corroboration of the sacred character 

 of stones of this kind. 



At a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, in 1884, 

 one of these implements was exhibited on behalf of C. S. Wilkinson, 

 19 in. long and 4 in. in diameter.* In 1888, another specimen was 

 shown on behalf of Rev. J. M. Curran, 11| in. in length by a thickness 

 of 2^ in.f In 1898, W. R. Harper described some similar stones.J In 

 1902, Wm. Freeman exhibited a specimen 17 in. long and 3^ in. in 

 diameter, at the Hobart meeting of this association. § 



7.— REMAINS OF THE STONE AGE IN YICTOEIA, 

 By CHAS. DALEY, Hon. Secretary Field Naturalists' Cluh, Ballarat. 



Around the southern coast of Victoria, on the open ocean or the 

 shores of sheltered bays and inlets, may be found almost continuously 

 abundant traces of the occupation of Australia by the native races. 



More particularly is this noticeable wherever the freshwater 

 streams join, or where rocky shelving reefs run out into the sea ; for, 

 at such places, when uncovered at low tides, food was abundant and 

 more easily obtainable than on the sandy beaches, whilst the wooded 

 bluffs and high sand-dunes also provided acceptable shelter from wind 

 and weather. 



Frequently near a sheltered headland, in the vicinity of fresh 

 water, the natives for generation after generation made their 

 shifting camps, using the same cooking-places or ovens for pre- 

 paring their food, practising their ancient tribal rites, construct- 

 ing their implements of stone, wood, and bone, for use in war 



* Proc. Linn, Soc. N. S. Wales, vol. ix., pp. 507-508. 



t Op. cit., vol. xxiii., p. 43G. 



X Op. cit., vol. xxiii., pp. 420 sq. 



§ Rep. A. A. A. Science, vol. ix , p. 539. 



