38 
THE NATUBAL SCIENCE JOURNAL. 
2)epartment ot antbropologp. 
J. S. SILVIA, Editor. 
Acushnet, Mass. 
The Editor is desirous of keeping in close alliance with 
all interested in this department. All correspondence 
concerning Anthropolog}’, especially anything relating to 
new finds and explorations will be gladly received. 
A OONTEIBUTION TO AFSTEALASIAN 
AND POLYNESIAN AEOHiEOLOGY. 
P'rederic Gardner Hillman. 
HE object of this article is to treat, 
in part, of the stone implements 
of the natives inhabiting Australia, New 
Zealand and the groups commonly known 
as the South Sea Islands, together with 
the adjacent islands. 
Australia was, previous to its settle¬ 
ment by whites, inhabited by a black 
people quite distinct from the other races 
of Australasia and Polynesia, the only 
other places where they were found being 
Torres’ Island and the Wellesley Islands 
off the coast of Australia. (See uncivil¬ 
ized Races of Men. Rev. J. G. Wood, 
1870.) The type is widely divergent in 
many salient points from the Negro race. 
The Papuan race, a tall, finely devel¬ 
oped people, having, very rough skins 
and bushy hair, inhabit the islands of 
New Guinea, the Fiji, Solomon, Admi¬ 
ralty and New Hebrides groups, and the 
islands of New Britain, San Cristoval, 
Bouka, Bougainville, Ysabel, Santa Cruz, 
Niue, and Pitt's Island. 
The Polynesian race, which is superior 
to those already mentioned, and a really 
fine looking people without any of the 
repulsive features or characteristics so 
frequently found in savage races, inhabit 
the Tonga, Samoan, Marquesas, Society, 
Hawaiian, American, Marshall, Caroline, 
Phamix, Pelew, and Gilbert or Kings- 
mill archipelagoes; Strong’s Island and 
New Zealand. 
The islands of Tasmania and New 
Caledonia formerly supported another 
race which is now extinct in Tasmania, 
the skeleton of the last native being in 
the government museum at Hobart. 
I shall not, however, attempt in this 
article to go into any description of the 
ethnographic peculiarities of the races 
with whom the subject has to deal, but 
simply speak of the material and shape 
of their stone implements. 
We will commence with the stone axes 
or tomahawks of the Australians. They 
are made by grinding and rubbing one 
side of a stone to an edge, lude notches 
are then chipped in it, after which a 
flexible stick is bent over it, and the two 
ends are seized, wormed and parcelled 
closely together with sinew, which is put 
on wet. When thoroughly dry, it is 
plastered over with a kind of sticky wax 
called “ blackboy,” which when dry, im¬ 
parts considerable rigidity to the imple¬ 
ment. 
A typical implement is the Australian 
saw—made from a piece of wood, usu¬ 
ally a branch of a gum tree. A groove 
is made lengthwise in the wood, and 
chips of obsidian or quartz are inserted 
in the groove and the whole stick is then 
covered with the “ blackboy ” gum, leav¬ 
ing the chips or flakes of obsidian and 
quartz projecting outwards with the sharp 
edge uppermost at intervals of about half 
an inch. The saw is usually 15 to 18 
inches in length. Wood says: “For 
Australian work this simple tool seems 
to answer its purpose well enough. Of 
course it is very slow in its operation 
and no great force can be applied to it, 
lest the teeth should be broken or twisted 
out of the cement. The use of this saw 
entails great waste of material, time and 
