18 



The shelly layers invariably follow the irregularities of 

 the surface along the coast line upon a vegetable loam 

 irrespective of level. The layers are very irregular in thick- 

 ness and extent. On favourite promontories of the natives, 

 such as New Town Bay Point, the burnt heaps are over four 

 feet thick. 



4. Inland where the levels, free and open, are far under 

 the undisturbed heights at which the shelly layers frequently 

 are found along the coast, I have never found traces of the 

 shells anywhere at or near the surface. This would not be 

 the case if there were an upheaval sufficient to have raised the 

 shells along the estuary to their present position. 



5. The gravelly and pebbly beds have evidently been dis- 

 tributed by fresh water, most probably at a period long 

 anterior to the introduction of the existing marine fauna, 

 because in my opinion they contain remains of an extinct 

 tertiary vegetation in situ ; and I have never been able to 

 trace any recent or marine shells in their beds. 



6. Extensive isolated patches occur, in every respect 

 identical in character, at such heights upon the Domain as to 

 make it difficult to conceive that they were deposited there 

 by other than human agency. 



7. Frequently where the surface soil gives evidence of 

 having been least subject to aerial erosion the shelly accumula- 

 tions suddenly cease entirely, to reappear again and again in 

 such a manner as would be difficult to account for if we 

 supposed they were produced in the bottom of a shallow 

 estuary, or at any limit within the influence of its waters. 



8. The accumulations are certainly not due to the agency 

 of winds. 



Taking all these points into consideration I think it is clear 

 that the accumulations are solely due to human agency ; that 

 they are in reality, as described by Mr. Gunn, the " kitchen 

 middens" of the extinct Tasmaniaus. That they are vast in 

 extent and thickness along our estuaries is to be expected 

 when we consider how much this rude people depended upon 

 the marine shells for subsistence. It must be borne in mind 

 also that the Tasmanian race, from an ethnological point of 

 view, must have existed for countless generations upon the 

 island; for otherwise how can we account for the marked 

 racial type when compared with the natives of ihe Australian 

 mainland and elsewhere? I think therefore that I am 

 justified in separating the surface shell layer from the under- 

 lying gravels and drifts as shown in sections 4 and 5. 



The latter I conceive to be the upper members of the 



