HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
95 
An unusufil form of t]ii.s implement from Northern Queensland, in wliich tlie 
curvature of the handle lies in the same plane as the cuttin" edge is described by 
Mr. Etheridge,* who prefers the name “gouge.” 
In working, this implement is used in the same kind of way as the spear- 
thrower, that is, it is grasped with one hand just above the mass of resin with tlie 
concave surface of the handle, where this is curved, towards the person and the 
strokes are made in the same direction. For heavy work its weight and solidity 
give it an advantage over the lighter instrument previously described. 
On a previous trip I saw many such tools amongst tribes to the north of the 
McDonnells, but in the districts visited by the Horn Expedition I did not see a 
single example of the genuine article in the hands of the natives, though they are 
undoubtedly used by them. We have them also from Western Australia and from 
districts towards the Queensland boundary, so that their range is undoubtedly wide. 
As a working tool its place, in the McDonnell Ranges and to the south, seemed to 
be taken by the spear-thrower, which was found in the hands of nearly every adult 
native. Two examples, however, were collected of the same kind of implement, in 
which a piece of flat iron had replaced the stone chip, thus making a more efficient 
tool, though, one which had lost the charm of a purely native product. This chisel 
end, from its appearance and slight curvature, may be presumed to be a piece of a 
wheel-tyre. 
In one of these from Alice Well, on the Finke, the accidental removal of a 
portion of the mass of Triodia resin permitted it to be seen that the piece of iron 
rested on a notch cut out of the convex side of the handle (Mulga), to which it 
had been fii'st secured by kangaroo tendon before the application of the resin. 
The other, presented to me by Mr. Grillen, was of finer workmanship, the handle 
being of smooth and well-polished Desert Oak, the junction of the blade with the 
haft being completely concealed by an unusually large mass of resin, 4 inches long 
by 2rr inches broad, which was more protruberant on the same side as the 
concavity of the handle. 
Some interesting notes might be written of the various adaptations to native 
purposes of the materials of civilisation. I will here only mention one other as 
appropriate to a region traversed by the telegraph line. Considerably to the north 
of the McDonnell Ranges the natives have learned to utilise the porcelain 
insulators for the manufacture of very beautifully made spear-heads; these are 
not necessai’ily robbed from the poles for many are broken by lightning and the 
pieces can be picked up in quantities. 
« Proc. Linn. Soc. of N.S.W., vol. vi., 211(1 series. 
