April, 1945 The Queensland Naturalist 
88 
then follow with their legs, one at a time. Owing to the 
light construction of the canoe it rides almost directly on 
the top of the water and in the hands of a dexterous 
paddler can attain a surprising speed. 
A MICRQLITHXC MOUNTED STONE ENGRAVER 
FROM WESTERN QUEENSLAND 
By NORMAN B. TINDALE, B.Sc., Ethnologist, 
South Australian Museum. 
(Plate III.) 
Among the many interesting ethnological relics of the 
present-day aborigines of Western Queensland in the 
Queensland Museum is a hatted microlithie stone graver. 
My attention was first drawn to this unique specimen by 
the late Lieut. Ken Jackson, whose lamented death on 
active service in New Guinea has deprived us of one of the 
foremost of our younger anthropologists. 
This graver is of particular ethnological interest 
because its form, method of manufacture and mounting 
shed light on the function, or one of the functions, of a 
special type of microlithie stone implement which -has 
otherwise been found only as an archaeological relic on 
many camp sites in eastern and southern Australia. The 
particular stone has been found in association with other 
implements known to be in use by the aborigines of the 
period immediately prior to the break-down of aboriginal 
culture upon contact with Europeans. Hence this hint 
as to its mode of use is of definite interest to students of 
ethnology and pre-history. 
The graver is a triangular flaked piece of opaque 
white chalcedony, set in black porcupine-grass gum at the 
end of a stick which is roughly 2 cm. in diameter, with the 
opposite extremity rounded and of somewhat greater 
diameter. The total length of the tool is 29 cm. The 
specimen was collected at Birdsville in Western Queens- 
land and presented by Dr. T. L. Bancroft (Q.E. 2045). 
It was used in the scoring of grooves on wooden imple- 
ments and in ornamenting shields and boomerangs. Dr. 
Bancroft at the same time and place collected mounted 
stone adzes or “tula,” characteristic of .the district, of 
