THE OVEN-MOUNDS OF THE ABORIGINES IN VICTORIA. 53 
Moreover, some mounds contain ashes and charcoal without any 
stones. This is sometimes accounted for by the fact that there are 
Along the Coolebarghurk and Cargerie Creeks, honeycomb, the 
volcanic lava commonly called bluestone, is invariably found in 
the ovens, because the country through which these creeks flow is 
covered with lava. On the Moorabool, however, the Silurian 
slaty shale, producing the picturesque scenery of the river just 
n 
CircLes oF STONES ABOUT OVEN-MOUNDS. 
Besides the stones which are used for making the cooking oven, 
there are sometimes others which present all the appearance 
of having been designedly placed as circles about the mound. 
write 
64 feet in diameter, and was embedded in a layer of ashes which 
extended quite distinctly below the stone oven ; moreover there 
were several of those shallow excavations around, from which no 
the earth had been scooped out to cover over the bark and 
of stones, extending very nearly round the whole oven-mound, 
which here specially attracts our attention. The stones are there in 
large numbers, and the question arises for what purpose were they 
