404 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES, 
first three were found by me at the place described, and the last 
was discovered not far from it near the Crackenback River. 
It seems that the first thing in shaping a tomahawk, after 
selecting a suitable pebble, was simply to beat another stone 
against it and chip the edges to a slanting face that would produce 
a sharp angle with one of the planes of the stone. This is all 
that has been done to the first three specimens represented, the 
rock of which is a fine grained felspathic quartzite of dark grey 
colour. 
The finished implement is made of a similar material, but 
somewhat lighter in colour. It is a well finished weapon 
or tool with a sharp cutting edge and highly polished bevelled 
sides. The other part of it is dressed smooth by being beaten 
with another stone. By this method also the indented hollows 
for fingerholds on the broadest surfaces of it are evidently pro- 
duced. The implement seems to have been only intended 
to be held with the hand when it was in use, and is in 
reality an adze rather than a tomahawk. It weighs twelve 
ounces. 
A Native Burial Place. 
During my visit to the Monaro District in the early part of 
1889, I opened a grave near Cobbin (situated between the Snowy 
River and its tributary the Mowamba River) that was pointed 
out to me by Mr. Thompson, the owner of the run. To this 
gentleman I owe the particulars I am about to communicate con- 
cerning the individual whose remains I undertook to disturb. 
It had been an old man who for several years prior to his death 
was carried by the tribe from place to place when they shifted 
their camp, because owing to some hip disease he was unable to 
walk. The wailing and lamentations over his death lasted for 
three nights and three days, and a great many natives assembled 
to assist in the funeral ceremonies. A number of half decayed 
sticks still lying in a semicircle about twenty yards from the grave 
marked the place where some brushwood had been heaped up to 
form a shelter against the wind, and some charcoal indicated the 
spots where the fires had been lighted during the nights. 
