ABORIGINAL IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS — ETHERIDGE. 
3 
and size of at least two, would admirably adapt them. Again, 
the entire absence of scratches favours this view. The general 
likeness to a “ Bull-roarer ” of the smallest and longest of the 
three pebbles, and the similarity of the sculpture of the incised 
implement to the circular ornament seen on some of these objects 
of Aboriginal veneration leads me to infer that these stones were 
employed in some of the Black’s secret rites, but the precise use 
must still remain unknown.* 
One of the most beautiful examples of circular concentric 
sculpture with which I am acquainted is represented in PI. i., 
Figs. 3 and 4, a “Bull-roarer” from the Urania Tribe, Linda 
Creek, \V. Queensland. There are five circular figures on each 
aspect of the implement, merely differing in size and the number 
of contained circles, and similar to those seen on the stone imple- 
ment already described ; they occupy more or less the entire 
surface of this implement. 
The central and largest disk (PI. i., Fig. 4), in which there 
are sixteen circles, is separated from the others by a crossbar 
above and below it, each of four incised lines ; these do not occur 
on the other or slightly convex face of the “Bull-roarer.” The 
uppermost and smallest disc on this aspect (PI. i., Fig. 3) differs 
from the others in that the concentric circles are fewer in number, 
leaving a plain and unincised intermediate area between the outer 
circles and a central nucleus of three. Between this disc and the 
second, and below the fifth, are two incised arcs of four and 
three lines respectively, and similar to that already described 
on the stone implement (PI. i., Fig. 2). This “Bull-roarer” is 
sixteen inches long by two and a quarter wide, and is more 
acutely pointed at one end than the other. It is attached to a 
long cord composed of human hair and fine emu down, and is 
covered with ruddle and grease. 
The second and third “ Bull roarers ” are equally well incised 
with circular and other figures. They are said to be from South 
Australia, but are, I think, more likely to come from Central 
Australia. Taking the larger one first, measuring fourteen inches 
by two inches, we see on the more convex of the two faces 
(PI- Fig. 5), a central figure answering to the uppermost in 
PI. ii., Fig. 3, a nucleus of circles within a circumferential set, 
five in both cases. Above and below this is an arc or semicircle 
# Since the above was written I have read the following passage in th e 
“ Horn Scientific Expedition Report” (Vol. i. f Narrative, &c., 1896, p. 35), 
by Prof. Baldwin Spencer. Speaking of the Churina or “ Bull-roarers,’’ 
met with in Central Australia, he says — “Stone ones aro still more 
valuable and sacred than wooden ones, which are usually spoken of as 
“ Trula,” the patterns on which are copied from the older stones, the 
history and origin of which are lost in the dim past.” This rather tends 
to confirm the view I have taken of this incised stone implement. 
