SOME CURIOUS STONES USED BY THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 359 



Some CURIOUS STONES USED by the ABORIGINES. 

 By R. H. Mathews, l.s. 



[With Plate XV.] 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, December 6, 1911. ] 



In the report of the Australasian Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, Vol. xn, pp. 495 - 498, 1 described 

 some remarkable stones, chipped and ground into shape by 

 the aborigines, discovered over a large area of the north- 

 western part of New South Wales, but which have not 

 been reported from any other part of Australia. The 

 scattered remnants of the tribes in the region indicated 

 are all more or less civilized at the present time, and have 

 ceased to use these stones in their ceremonies. For this 

 reason it is especially important that all available inform- 

 ation should be collected and published as widely as possible y 

 in order to bring these relics under the notice of every 

 person who may have opportunities of obtaining further 

 particulars regarding this interesting subject. 



These prepared stones vary in length from less than half 

 a foot to more than two feet, in exceptional cases, but the 

 more common lengths range from 9 to 15 inches. They 

 are of different material, including sandstone, clayslate, 

 kaolin, quartzite and such other kinds of stone as might be 

 available. In the majority of specimens the longitudinal 

 axis is practically straight, as in Nos. 1, 2, 8, of Fig. 1. 

 There are others which have a crescent or horn shaped 

 shaft, of which No. 3 is an example. The shaft is generally 

 round in section, but examples are not infrequent where 

 the breadth of the stone is two or three times greater than 

 the thickness. Some are long and slender, as Nos. 2 and 8, 

 whilst others are short and squat like Nos. 4 and 9. 



