HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
77 
gradation of size may be found from that of five or six inches in leiigtli to that of 
as many feet. Most of the smaller sizes have a perforation at one end, the larger 
ones are, with few exceptions, unperforated. Both surfaces are marked with 
various patterns, of great sameness of style in all those collected on the Expedition, 
which are cut with the incisor tooth of some small marsupial such as Bettongia. 
And almost invariable they are uniformly coloured with red ochre, Mulga {Acacia 
anetcra) seems to be the wood used. 
The incised patterns consist, in the great majority of cases, of a series of 
groups of concentric circles, half-circles or larger or smaller arcs; of bands made 
up of sinuous or straight lines or of rows of dots, these various elements being 
usually combined to form the whole pattern. A few typical examples are shown 
on Plate VII. Some of the longest of them show abundant signs of having been 
smeared with blood and decorated with Portulaca down, and two or three bear 
the sinuous outline of a snake incised along the whole length. 
The form of the stones is most frequently that of an oval, ellipsoidal or 
asymmetrical plate of micaceous rock; occasionally they are obtusely pointed at 
the ends like the sticks, or, more rarely still, approach a cylindrical shape with 
rounded ends. The greater number are unmarked, but a few bear patterns of the 
same general character as the sticks, though simpler and more rudely executed. 
Some have been uniformly reddened with ochre, others not so, and only rarely does 
a perforation exist. A few examples of both sticks and stones show unmistakeablc 
signs of age in the smoothness of the surface or in the obliteration of the patterns 
by much handling. Examples of the stones are also shown on Plate VII. 
While a section of the Horn Expedition was in the neighbourhood of the 
short but high range which has hitherto been designated as Haast’s BlulF, but 
whose constituent peaks are now named Mounts Francis, Edward and William, 
we received information that a collection of these sticks and stones were concealed 
in a cave at a remote place called Kundunga, about ten miles due east of Mount 
Francis, and with some difficulty we persuaded our local guide to take us to the 
locality. 
About half-way up the side of a rocky hill, about 150 feet high, was a small 
cave, in the fissile micaceous schist of which the hill was composed; this was 
about 8 feet deep, with a mouth of about 4 feet in width, and 3 in height. A 
ledge at the entrance had been made with a row of stones, and just within this 
were laid about 70 of these wooden and stone articles, 15 being of the latter 
character. All were placed with their long axes parallel, and these in the direction 
of the depth of the cave, the stones being undermost. The whole collection was 
