KY RICHD. HELMS. 
403 
trying to get another from a friend who had still two left. He 
complained bitterly to me that "white fellow " destroyed all the 
" possum," a grievance, I was later informed, he was constantly 
harbouring and generally ventilated to new acquaintances. He 
died recently at Cooma, and with him it may be said the last 
remnant of the real old stock of manly savages belonging to this 
tribe disappeared, reaching a good old age and weathering the 
tempest of vice and demoralisation foisted upon these unhappy 
people by civilised whites. 
I have been told a few stories of individuals who have been 
illtreated and even murdered by white blackguards, but these 
isolated instances are nothing compared to what the rum bottle 
and diseases have accomplished towards wrecking these tribes. 
Forty years ago they could muster several hundred individuals, 
although from time immemorial they had been in constant and 
bloody contentions with most of their neighbours, and to-day, 
after such a short span of time, owing simply to altered conditions, 
they have all disappeared but two. 
Not far below Jindabyne, where the valley of the Snowy River 
somewhat narrows between rather rugged hills, used to be in 
olden times a favourite camping place of the natives who assembled 
here (even within the knowledge of some settlers) in considerable 
numbers, mainly for the purpose of making stone implements. A 
shingle bed near one of the bends in the river furnished excellent 
and abundant material for tomahawks amongst the flattish and 
more or less oval pebbles. 
Many half finished tomahawks and pebbles, the shaping of 
which had just been commenced, have from time to time been 
picked up near this locality, and some may still be found there. 
The blacks were not likely to encumber themselves with too much 
weight, and therefore only the finished articles were carried away, 
the unfinished being left behind to be taken in hand again on the 
next return to the place. 
Plate xxix. represents three such pieces of stone showing 
the commencement of the work, and one finished tomahawk. The 
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