ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES 
By Dr. George Horne. 
In the early years of last century 
the whites first encountered the blacks 
at Risdon Ferry. Thirty years after 
a very small remnant were segregated 
on Flinders Island, so rapid was the 
annihilation. The Bruny tribe was, ap¬ 
parently, not a large one, though it 
varied in numbers with the nomadic 
habits of the natives. When ex¬ 
amining the ground at Adventure 
Hay for tracks of the original in¬ 
habitants the same thing strikes ojje as 
in Victoria, i.e., the vast extent of the 
shell beds. These were the feeding 
grounds of the aborigines, and are most 
marked where the edges of cliffs have 
been broken down, or where roads have 
cut into the surface. From six to 12 
inches is the limit of the soil above 
these shell beds, and with the exception 
of ostrea edulis, they are the same as 
those which abound there to-day. 
• lust to the north of the beach, where 
our ramp was situated. Dr. 1’ulleine 
pointed out that they had evidently 
accumulated their crayfish debris. Many 
hundreds of claw-points were found in 
half a square yard, hut none were to be 
gathered outside the area; nor was any 
other shell mixed in this magma, al¬ 
though many were strewn around. This 
peculiarity of placing a particular shell 
or food remains hv itself was noticed 
near Cape Li.ptrap, in S.K. Victoria, 
where small masses of mussel (mytilus), 
mutton fish (ha'iotis), and others are 
similarly grouped. So thick were the 
shells opposite Cook’s (?) Tree and on 
the little rise just east of the long 
white bridge over the creek that the 
farmers cart them away to use on their 
or< hards and gardens. 
Rut few chips and implements are 
picked up in the feeding beds, though two 
well-marked scrapers were found in the 
acre of level grass opposite Penguin 
Island. I, however, dug lip a couple 
ol square yards there without any re¬ 
sult. The chipping grounds are gene¬ 
rally a little back from the feeding 
places, and all have this point in com¬ 
mon. They are all near fresh water. 
The thick nature of the timber would 
make it difficult for the unclothed native 
to penetrate far into the interior, and 
game would there be captured with 
difficulty. It was for this reason that 
frequent lire* were lighted, partly from 
the spread of those used for warmth, but 
chiefly intentionally lighted to drive out 
the game. The chipping grounds, or, 
rather, the camps of the aborigines, 
were four in number. The first occu¬ 
pied the site of our camp, and extended 
into tile potato patch behind. It was 
situated on the banks of where the 
creek then ran. as is shown by the 
waterliole (now dry) at the end of the 
mess tent. The chips extend in a tri¬ 
angle into tile potato patch, and a 
search there was always well rewarded, 
for the cultivation exposed numbers 
of worked Implements. Another spot 
was found in a Hrc which showed in the 
middle of the long, sandy sweep that 
stretches east from the jettv at the old 
mi I. This was also close to sandy 
ground, and contained numbers of 
worked stones, as well as many shells. 
These two camps were in characteristic 
spots, being near water, and also near 
randy soil. This is more comfortable 
to camp on than the rnckv ground, and 
1 lie sand is not only warmer, but affords 
good drainage, and does not get slushy 
a s does the clay soil. Another chip¬ 
ping tied was placed on the high ground 
at the end of the tramway, a few yards 
east of that long sandy stretch which 
forms the southern boundary of Adven¬ 
ture Bay. Here the fragments chipped 
off in making implements lay scattered 
about abundantly, as did also the com- 
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