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ND WEEKLY MERCURYTheMtiiTtiba Cibbers of Australian Aburijrincs.theFjHowlng i*i tbo inll text of the pnpera road on Monday night *.o the Muiil.nd Scientific Society by Me. A. J. Prentice, B.A., and Mr. W. A. Squiro.Mr. Prentiec’e pupor was to the following effect: The two spociwona which two beforo your notice.to-night are* the property of Mrs. J. S. Skeot of* -.t-fl- L» 1UC.ftloroo. During a recent vioifc to that town Skoet brought thooo two stunes under u.v notico and, recognising ftt onco thoir Bcioutiflc iin 'fcance, I have obtniucd tho lono of them for th« -urpoae of hnving then; properly doeoribed,report* -.a. And photographed, The circumstance? unde, winch tboae a acred mystic oyinbola of tho Ab.ngmou carao into tho posacwiou of Kur.-p.iaus are strongly HSRcrtivo of thoir absolute identity with the iur f.med and uiuoll dbetu*ed hl't hithorto unprocurable .«ur^nllagUberB,, of thu A uttrnlinn Aboriginal witchdoctors. To tho year 1831 Mt«. Sttoct whilo paeaing along a track looting from tbo wiw-mlPfl to tho beach near Raloigh township on tbo Bollinger River cunc upon a camp of blnckD from which all tiiB men were nbeont. While locking round the camp Htao peered into n hollow tree, and there aiiijngBC woapono and other aboriginal treaaUrM -*he found theae two stones wrapped up ia mgs-She took them out and asked a giu what thuy wore —tho gin cither could not or would rot eta to, bub aha slid that tho lady could bare thorn, and that they had belonged to an old blnokfeliow who had died ou tho Clarence. Thinking that- the atones probably had.aomo tribal or rtflt;i|fIou« significance. Mm. Skeot. kept th* m, but unfortunately they have become rather more chipped and lass eveuly smooth Chan when she found them. Tho blocks oFton naked Mrs. Skoi'fc what nhe had done with tho stones, and if nhe would return thorn —in face, they pestered her incessantly about them until the time ahe left the district. The nto-ic* are as to ahapo moat approaching what:« known us an ellipsoid, bub the ends of tlie larger one are rather more pointed, and of the ocher rather more blunt than in tho fcruo ellipsoid, and tho girth of oaoh of thorn is not a trim circle. Their dimension* and woight are as follows:—L irgor: Weight, Wax. i length of longest axis, 34 tuehoa; hinjtn of greatest diameter, 2 9-10m.; circumference rnuud ende, 9iin.; circuuiPorenou round middle, 8in. Smaller: Weight, lG.'Z. (originally about UJojt. adriUB.); length of longest axis, 3 3-lGm.; length of greatest diamotor, 24iu.; ciiouraferonco round ondii, 9 1-lGin.: ciroumferonco round middle. 7Jin. Tho larger atone has markedly pointed ends nud npproaoboa a Lisbon lemon in abapv, the onda of the smallor one are markedly oblate. Each stono ia composed or the uauio mineral and they have oviduntly been mnnu-factucod together. 'J'he mineral in aragonite, one of the eryalollinc forms of limestone, ita chemical composition ia calcium carbodatn the same as thu closely allied mineral oalcib’ (or spar) which it much resombles. It contains 50 per cent o: linm, the oxide of calcium (On. O.). and « per cent of carbonic acid (Co.). thu? forming itu symbol (Cn Co,). Aragonite crystallines in wlmt ia called tho rhombic eyatetn. and in the places where chips hove been kuocked off these etones, the crystalline ntruo-ture of their component mineral can hu o'oarly ^eon. They huro evidently each been ground down from n large aragonite orystalliUO mass, and us aragonite ie u rolativoly 6ofc miueral standing only 3.6 to 4 in iloh'e sc.ilo of hardness in which quartz is 7 and the diamond 10, it will be seen that itor caluite, tlm aver.ago hnrdnosa of which is 3, were the most suitable uiiteriala from which tho aboriginal high priest could make hia eacrod cm-blemf. Tho eolour of eac'u atone ij the eair.o — a yellowish whiro—quite usual ia aragonite, and the lustre ia translucent. The scones must havu boon artificially me.de, a?, natural conditions, no substance however much it wore rolled or water-worn ■uich ft shape, especially aragonite, which splinter nnd break oif along tho planes crystallization. This and calcite would be the best white minerals available to tho blacks for easy grinding to the required shape, but which would, when ground down, keep its form fairly well. Mr.under would attain would of itsFrank Rnfciey, F.G S., in his 11 Mineralogy, p fit(18S7 ed.), soys of nrsgonita that it unui,-times occurs in bnsnlta and lavas as a deposit from warm solutions. Mr. Grenville A. J. Cole. P.O.S., in his Aid; in Practical Geology/’ p. 141 (1891 ed.), aaya that uragonito ia common in the deposits of warm waters, and forms radial groups in tho caritiea of altered rocks. So that tbo probnbl-t source of tho original aragonite manses from which these stones havo been grOQud is some zeolitic deposit in Hoino of our luvn flows. Aa to the amount of knowledge) possi*«Fcd by blacks at tho present day with rogard to these atones I haronotmiyetbeen able get Biucb direct information, and if fcbeyaro ‘'raurrobn gibbcra it ia almost useless to show thorn to an aborigine and question him so to wlmt they arc, ns tho very esaanca of hie knowledge of fcliom iu the cbligatlou put upon him not to speak of them to a woman or ft white man under penalty of death or aevoro tniebnp. One old black at Moree, who eoeuiod over GO yeara of ago, aaid that he knew nothing of them as regards religious or Bora ceremonies, but still he had a special name for the stones and called one of them whou ehown to him— Mingoora.and invisible gi or ha-1 cibbDra a'.muutvl by tb -llflv.: th poi: ungu»rd“d mu visible Miu-li I tribes a opecial Wand-mg, p'-acbodi.-s Co ui ilf-i Can b«f cliarmed rendered e.wy aacrcd atones. Tatuog'iiung rc matter. Ho sni foot.’ I foundmatism. Hie found hia foot broken bottle, i caused to enter thrown some lij mind, and lufun migioal purpose called Into ncti aboriginen in til nml of others, b. many instanOM h ivo bcoomo j are subject to of Cos-'3 din froi: pending Invisib death naturally Kara j is or maglt aay, buvo iinpli Uuliko tho mod* to give the t aworving belief 1 An Australian word gibbor (the the general unrr. word gihbir nr ii man), and ICabb To snow that th of tho mysteries P.-ftfler in hia pap (1892) rrelntas years ugosomn o' bail obtainod a fi them to tho gin' the ciiiofa of thn cmsider wlmt sh great orator, in daring that the and not the gins, their opportunity and feasted on tt ticated case Gringni blacks, blacks * was if Toe K'ikian (\ received nt tlic c officiating chief ends with cocks lt;nro suppose ! to 1devil at tho tiuir restored them t Clint tho lads h»v after tbo ccrcino marry. Among American Indian which uro only o| through a prct-?n life, again. Capt f.ioular juncture chief threw at like a bean. V motionless as if c giithor that each been initiatdd liof boinu animal n boar, owl, etc., pi hia totem, in whiThoy bcJii’vo th
Newspaper Details
Maitland Weekly Mercury
Maitland, New South Wales, AU
Sat, Aug 08, 1896
Page 3
Full Page
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USA 09 Sep 2022
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