26 . Coast Line Formation of the Western District 



From Belfast, for a distance of from four to five miles 

 easterly, I have often found pure flint nodules, with the 

 outward white coating precisely the same in appearance as 

 those obtained out of the chalk hills of Kent ; and if it were 

 not for the number picked up from time to time at various 

 places on the line of hummocks, I should have been disposed 

 to think their occurrence purely accidental, the more espe- 

 cially as I know of no other place where they occur near to 

 Belfast, nor do I know nor can I conjecture the agency at 

 work in their formation. 



Between two and five miles east of Belfast I have been 

 much surprised to find the frequent recurrence of human 

 remains (nearly always in pairs), which had become bared 

 and the bones mingled together, owing to the action of 

 the wind on the drifting sand. I have counted as many 

 as 50 undoubted remains, without taking into account scat- 

 tered bones which may have belonged to other groups ; but 

 in only one case have I seen a perfect skeleton, and this was 

 just above high- water mark, the sand around it being tinged 

 a darker shade, the skull being a little distance away, and 

 perfect. Owing to matters of business preventing my 

 attending to the affair at that time, I lost the opportunity 

 presented of securing the skeleton, owing to the wind and 

 other causes having disturbed the remains. That all the 

 remains were human cannot be doubted, because of the 

 presence of the leg, thigh, and arm bones, the ribs and 

 vertebrae, and frequently the skulls, with the front teeth of 

 the upper jaw wanting. 



From frequent enquiries made of the oldest residents in 

 reference to the remains, I could obtain no information ; and 

 natives who used to muster in Belfast under the genial 

 hospitality of their protector, Mr. Dawson, when first ques- 

 tioned on the subject evidently knew nothing of it ; but 

 after they had time to consider the object of the questioning, 

 they, with the well-known courtesy of the race, had a reply 

 which they evidently considered was the answer wanted. 



Some years afterwards, in conversation with Mr. Goodall, 

 the Superintendent of the Framlingham Aboriginal Station, 

 he informed me that he had no doubt he could obtain what 

 information there was to be had from an old Port Fairy 

 blackfellow on the station ; but on my expressing doubt as 

 to the value of such evidence, he replied that from long 

 acquaintance with them he felt sure he could question them 



