IMPLEMENTS BEAKING SIGNIFICANT MAEK8. 



193 



and by means of these Tally-sticks they keep an account of the number of sheep 

 that die. Also during shearing-season each man keeps an account, by means of 

 notches or cuts on pieces of wood, of the number of sheep he has shorn. Besides 

 these, I do not know of any Tally-sticks in use amongst the natives ; and these 

 may have been introduced by Europeans." 



9. On a small lanceolate weapon-point with a notched base, such as figs. 5 

 and 6 in B. Plate XIII. (and, like that, also from the Gorge d'Enfer), we see 

 small notches crossing each edge, but not continued on the faces : on one 

 edge sixteen, irregularly paired, are visible on one edge ; and only six remain 

 on the other (broken) edge : see fig. 2, B. Plate XXVI. It is possible, however, 

 that these numerous small transverse nicks were intended to serve for a kind of 

 barbing, to make the weapon hold better ; or they may have been for poison ; or 

 they may have been Marks of Ownership. 



10. Such Marks of Ownership as we see on the bone Arrow-heads of the Esqui- 



Figs. 73a-g. 



Esquimaux Owner-marks on Harpoons. (In the Christy Collection.) 

 a b c d e f g 



\ 



maux, figs. 73 a-g, and on Colonel A. Lane Fox's Australian Club, fig. 74 (p. 194), 

 are not uncommon on weapon-heads from the Caves of Dordogne* and elsewhere. 

 Such a mark, consisting of three parallel oblique notches, is found on the side or 



* Colonel A. Lane Fox, F.S.A., in a Memoir (' Archaeological Journal,' No. 94, 1867) on the " Oghams " 

 inscribed on stones found in Ireland, has noticed the ogham-like appearance that many of the Esquimaux 

 marks of ownership have (p. 9, and figs. 1-32); and he notices the occurrence of similar primitive scorings 

 on ancient Danish bows. The inscribed implements, alluded to above, from the Dordogne Caves indicate a 

 still higher antiquity for the use of such markings, as is indeed almost anticipated by Colonel A. L. Fox at 

 page 12 of his memoir. See also 'Trans. International Congress Prehist. Archseol.' 1868, pp. 313-316. 



We may add that in Stokes's ' Discoveries in Australia ' &c., 1846, fig. 30 (in the plate opposite page 170) 

 represents some ogham-like and other markings in use among the Australian savages, and very similar to 

 those above alluded to. 



