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that are common in the country. Less frequently, quartzite, 

 and a jasper-like rock, formed by the decomposition of diabase, 

 were utilized for implement-making. Although possessing an 

 unlimited supply of such basic igneous rocks which, on the 

 mainland, supplied the Australian natives with the raw 

 material for the making of their polished tomahawks, the 

 Tasmanians never got so far as to use this common stone of 

 their own country for such a purpose. They had only a 

 limited range, as to types, in the making of their implements, 

 the shape appears to have been indifferent, the object aimed 

 at was a cutting or scraping edge. 



Dr. F. Noetling, in an important paper [xn., (a) p. 1, 

 (h) p. 14] on the Tasmanians, divides their implements into 

 two classes, as follow: — "There is a large group of imple- 

 ments which leaves no doubt that it was the intention, the 

 will pf their makers, to produce a certain, well-defined form. 

 These implements bearing evidence of the intention or will 

 to produce a certain shape may be conveniently termed : 

 Morpholithes. The other large group represents all those 

 numerous, shapeless implements, which bear no evidence of 

 the maker's will or intention to produce a definite shape. This 

 group of implements may fitly be termed: Amorpholithes" 

 [xii., (a) p. 1]. It is to this latter class that Dr. Noetling 

 refers most of the Tasmanian implements. He says, "If 

 we examine any larger collection of implements made by the 

 Tasmanian Aborigines, the most striking feature we notice is 

 a bewildering mass of forms, none of which are exactly alike, 

 and the total absence of any definite intentional or conventional 

 shape. We may examine them over and over again; there is 

 a sort of general likeness, a family likeness, so to speak, but 

 each specimen constitutes an individuality of its own, different 

 from all the others. This absolute want of any intentional 

 shape at once fixes their position in the scale of evolution, and 

 they must be considered as belonging to the first and lowest 

 group of stone implements, viz., the Amorpholithes." 

 [xii., (a) p. 7.] 



The testimony as to whether the Tasmanians, in any 

 case, ground the edges of their cutting tools, is conflicting. 

 Brough Smyth says, definitely, "I can state with certainty 

 that not one has been ground, and that no attempt has been 

 made, in any case, to give an edge by grinding." [xxiii., 

 p. 403.] 



Prof. E. B. Tylor quotes Dr. J. Barnard Davis with 

 reference to Tasmanian works of art in his possession as 

 follows. — 'Among a few exceedingly rude stone -drippings or 

 implements made from a dark-coloured chert .... I have 

 a more finished stone implement of an oblong form with one 

 h2 



