94 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
an effective missile.* This has been tei’ined both a chisel and a gouge, but, perhaps, 
in view of the manner in which it is used, adze would be a more appropriate name 
than either. 
The usual form consists of a chisel-edged chip of opaline quartzite or other 
hard stone affixed by means of Triodia resin to a nearly straight or more or less 
curved handle of hard heavy wood. 
The following is a description of a specimen from Alice Springs in the 
possession of Professor Spencer (Plate VI., Fig. 12) :— 
The handle is a nearly straight piece of hard heavy wood, probably the heart- 
wood of a species of acacia, having a diameter at the middle of 1| inch, thence 
tapering very slightly to each end. The surface is scored with well-marked longi¬ 
tudinal parallel grooves to within 2^ inches of the commencement of the mass of 
resin, and on this remaining portion of the handle—that which is grasped by the 
hand—are roughly made notches, arranged so as to form spiral lines ; these are 
partially obliterated by the polish of long usage. At the other end some indistinct 
scratches form an annular band, which do not appear in the figure. The mass of 
Triodia resin, in which the chip is imbedded, is about 2^ inches long by 2 inches 
wide, and 1;| inch tliick at the thickest part. 
The cutting edge is provided by a chip or flake of opaline quartzite, which is 
so embedded in the resin that a small working part, only, is exposed. This has a 
bevelled and a straight side like a carpenter’s chisel. On the bevelled side a width 
of -| inch is left uncovered by the resin mass, rather less on the other; and, on the 
latter, which is that held towards the person in using the implement, the resin is 
massed rather more thickly than on the former. The cutting edge is finely 
serrated, nearly straight, and 1| inch in width, though behind it the chip is some¬ 
what wider. By the colouration of the surface of the fine serrations it would 
appear as if the edge had been recently improved by careful chipping. 
The total length of the implement is 30 inches. It will be observed that in 
this case the handle is practically straight. This seems exceptional for, in a large 
number of these implements in the South Australian Museum, collected from many 
parts of Central Australia, some, often a considerable degree of curvature is 
present in the handle, and this is in the plane at right angles to that of the cutting 
edge of the flake. So also, while the degree to which the flake is exposed is very 
variable its edge is usually not straight but arc-shaped. No specimen in the 
Museum, moreover, is as long as that described. 
Aborigines of Victoria.” R. Brough Smyth, vol. i., p. 310. 
