— 
52 THE OVEN-MOUNDS OF THE ABORIGINES IN VICTORIA. 
nicintigied and formed one irregular cee with some 
approximation to the circular shape. interior ovens vary in 
size from three or four stones to a cart-loa 
In dealing with the external shape of the oven-mounds we have 
ur’ 
by the white man, but it is otherwise with the loose ashes 
io charcoal. While the ovens were in use the constant trampling 
of feet kept the ashes loose and all the more exposed to the trans- 
porting agency of the winds; moreover, when the ovens were built 
on inclinations more or less steep, the action of trampling would 
urge the ashes downwards in the direction of gravity. Thus the 
oven-mounds as well as the trees become records of the ro velliilg 
tion of the winds. The inclination of the trees is from 
north-west to south-east, and the drift of the ashes of the oven- 
mounds is the same, modified, however, by the action of gravity. 
When wind and gravity both acted in the same direction, the stones 
of the oven formed a sort of nucleus from which a fan or comet- 
shaped tail spread downwards. 
STRUCTURE OF OvEN-MOUNDS—INTERNAL. 
Having surveyed the oven-mound externally, we have to take 
pick and shovel to examine its internal structure. We select one 
for our operations on the Woodbourne Station, near the dam on the 
Meredith and Cargerie Road. The stones are ari ied than usual, 
being, in some cases, larger than a man’s head. tches of vari- 
ously coloured ashes are turned up, sometimes ret sometimes 
bluish-grey, but mostly black—sooty black. The colours seem to 
indicate different kinds of wood used for fuel. The stones also 
present the slain evidences of having been subjected to the 
action of fire. In many cases they exhibit a greasy appearance, 
strongly reminding us that, no doubt, t 
kangaroo, as well as of opossums and other creatures, had often 
oozed out upon dinie stones. Moreover the cooking by steam 
included putting hot stones in the inside of the larger animals, in 
which cases pieces of porous bluestone, Meer lava, would become 
saturated with animal fat. Some of the stones also presented the 
ghastly white appearance of havin ving been "eakjacted to great heat. 
But continuing to use the pick, we remove all the stones connected 
with the oven and come to a layer of ashes in which are no stones. 
This would se to indicate that quantities of ashes, in some cases 
at least, were allowed to accumulate before the stone oven was 
