26 
invariably made of soft wood, usually from the bark of eucalypts. 
The so-called yam sticks (* wannå ”), which are used in general 
both by male and female (more usually the latter) to unearth 
roots, lizards, grubs, etc. are made very large in size. Some 
specimens were 6 ft. or more in length. 
A useful implement was found among the belongings of the 
Karkurrerra l'ribe. It consisted of an ordinary rod of mulga, to 
one end of which was attached, by binding with kangaroo-sinew, 
a small spade or chisel-shaped piece of iron roughly ground into 
shape (Plate IIL, fig. 6). The iron had been sharpened along the 
cutting edge, and had been made narrower at the opposite end— 
such that it could be more easily bound to the rod of mulga. 
The iron had no doubt been obtained from the hoops of an 
abandoned water keg, or suchlike, of a former expedition. This 
implement was useful both for digging and for sharpening 
Spears, etc. 
The native hand mill consists of a grinding-stone, “miri,” 
usually a water-worn pebble three or four inches in diameter, 
worked by hand upon a flat slab of rock, “tchewa.” (See Plate 
IV.,fig. 4.) The motion is not circular, but backward and forward. 
Not only is the hand stone used to grind up various seeds of 
acacia, eucalyptus, portulaca, and other plants, but also to crush 
the bones of cooked meat to secure the marrow. ‘Lhe hand stone 
is usually carried about by the gins in their ** mikas" ; the lower 
slab is, however, not generally transported, on account of its 
weight, a suitable slab or the level surface of a rock in situ in the 
proximity of the ranges being not difficult to find. 
Stone knives (*gadorg" or “nyilla”) used for the various 
acts of mutilation that are practised require no detailed descrip- 
tion. They are merely sharp chips of flinty rock (chalcedony), of 
very variable shape and size, derived from the “Desert Sandstone" 
formation. None of the well-made trigonal * knives" that have 
been recorded from the MacDonnell Ranges and elsewhere came 
under my observation. The small flint chip (**kunndi") embedded 
in the handle of the spear-thrower (“ mero”) has already been 
referred to; it is most frequently used in the scraping into form 
and pointing of spears, and the making of other implements. 
Fire-making. —The implements and methods used for the mak- 
ing or kindling of fires are multifarious. 
In the first and simplest case the use of the firestick is 
universal. This consists simply of a piece of bark or a dry stick 
glowing at one end. It is carried about in the winter wherever 
the natives go, each member carrying his own. Directly a halt 
is made, a fire is lit, in day-time to cook the game, at night to 
supply warmth during sleep When camp is left a fresh stick is 
taken from the fire. 'Lhe stick is carried in the hand with a 
waving motion from side to side, in front of the native. When 
