comparatively small area of the present island free from ice. 

 It may further safely be argued, that if a huge portion of 

 Tasmania was covered under ice-masses of great thickness, 

 this barge quantity of ice must have had a considerable 

 influence on the climate. Whatever view we take, that 

 part of Tasmania which was not covered under ice was 

 certainly much colder than it is now, and being in such 

 close proximity to the glaciers, probably swept by icy-cold 

 winds for the most ])art of the year- It was all but a hos- 

 pitable and inhabitable region, in which those naked sav- 

 ages would have speedily perished had they been obliged 

 to live in it [lermanently. 



We can, therefore, take it as granted that the first 

 population of Tasmania settled in the island after the dis- 

 appearance of the glaciers, because all the camps and shell 

 heaps hitherto discovered are situated within the arid, 

 storm-swept and cold region above .mentioned- According 

 to information kindly supplied b.v Prof. Macaulay, Arch- 

 seolithcs have been found near the Great Lake on beds 

 which are probably of glacial origin. Of course, these im- 

 plements may have been left there long after tiae glacier 

 had disappeai-ed, but it is certain that they could not have 

 come to their present resting place previous or during 

 glaciation. 



We have now gained another important step. We 

 know that present Tasmania was uninhabitable for a primi- 

 tive race like the Aborigines during the glacial period, and 

 that their appearance may have either coincided with the 

 melting away of the ice, or took place immediately after 

 it. We also know that this immigration took place previ- 

 ous to the separation of the island from the mainland, and 

 we therefore come to the very important conclusion that 

 the island of Tasmania was separated from the mainland 

 after the disappearance of the glaciers. The Eolithic-Arch- 

 seolithic industry was, therefore, established in present 

 Tasmania in post-glacial times- 



Now, let us tui-n to Europe. The Eolithic-Archaeo- 

 lithic industry occurs in Europe chiefly in beds that are 

 either of prse-glacial or glacial age. There is a great differ- 

 ence of opinion as to the duration of the glacial period in 

 Europe, but on the whole geologists have agreed that the 

 ice age tei-minated abut 10-12,000 years before our present 

 era. 



Now, if we assume that the diluvial ice age was 

 synchronous all over the earth, the first immigration of 

 human beings into Tasmania must have taken place about 

 10 to 12 thousand years before our present times, and the 

 separation of the island from the mainland very shortly 

 after that period. 



