lOO ABORIGINES NAMES OF MINERALS AND ROCKS. 



I am afraid, however, that it will be impossible to 

 arrive at the meaning- of potta, or po-ta. The suffix 

 *' ta " is frequently found in other words, and probably 

 the correct spelling of the freestone would be 



Po-ta-male and 

 Po-nin-galee. 



Thoug'h the suffix " nin " in the word used by the 

 Northern and Western tribes differs from that used by 

 the others, there can be no doubt that po-nin-galee is 

 practically the same word as po-ta-malee. 



6. IRON ORE. — Iron ore is fairly common in Tas- 

 mania. Large pieces of limonite occur at numerous 

 places in the weathered diabas — for instance, on the 

 Brighton Plains, near Shene. Layers of impure sandy 

 ore are pretty common in certain permian sandstones — 

 for instance, near Baskerville, on the Macquarie River ; 

 and last, but not least, the fine haematite ore on the 

 Penguin River, is well known. Iron ore was apparently 

 greatly valued by the Aborigines as the substance which 

 they turned into red ochre by roasting. 



Milligan gives the following words : — 



Eastern Tribes — Latta. 

 Southern Tribes — Lattawinne. 



The suffix " winne " occurs in numerous words, and 

 its meaning is not quite known yet. The real word for 

 iron ore is undoubtedly 



La-ta, 

 in which we again find the same suffix " ta " as in the 

 preceding po-ta. 



7. RIEID OCHRE. — As this substance has formed the 

 subject of a special paper, it is sufficient to mention its 

 name only. 



Milligan gives the following: — 

 Eastern Tribes — Ballawinne. 

 Southern Tribes — ^Balla-winne. 



We know that the suffix " winne " is unimportant, 

 and that the proper name is therefore 



Ba-la. 



