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—in fact. they pestered ner incessantly auous until the* time bUc left the district. The atones aro as to ahopo moat approaching what xo knowu in an ellipsoid,” bub the end* of tlie larger one are rather more pointed, and of the other rather more blunt than in bho true ellipsoid, and tho girth of each of thorn is not a trno circle. Their dnncn-sionp and woigbfi are as follows:—L irgors Weight. 17*ojs. j length of longest axis, 3J inches; hmjtn of greatest diameter, 2 9-10m.: circumference rnuud ends, 9£in.; circuuiforenou round middle, 8in. Smaller: Weight, lGoz. (origiunlly about t6ox. 2driO0.); length of longest axis, 3 3-lGin.j length of greatest diamotor, 2Jiu.; cuouraferoncc round endB, 9 l-l6io.; circumference round middle. 7?in. Tho larger atone has markedly pointed ends nud approaohita n Lisbon lemon in ahnpv, the onda of the snmllor one are markodly oblate. Each stono ia composed or the wauio mineral and they have oviduntly been manufactured together. 'J'he mineral in aragonite, one of the crystalline forms of limestone, its chemical composition ia calcium carbonate the same as tho closely allied mineral oalciti1 (or spar) which it much resomblea. It contains 50 par cent of lime, the oxide of calcium (Cu. O.). and H per cent of carbonic acid (Co.). bhns forming ir.i symbol (Cn Co,). Aragonite crystalline in wimt m called tho rhombic system. and in the places where chip* linvo been knocked off these obones, thecryaUllinn ntrue-ture of their component minora! can bo o'ourly ^eon. They hnvo evidently each been ground down from a large aragonite orystalliuo mass, and as arugoaite ie u relatively soft mineral stauding .inly 3.6 to 4 in Moh'B ac.ilo of Uarduess iu which quartz in 7 and the diamond 10, it will be sc-n that it or calcite, the average hnrduum of which is 3, were the most suitahlo materials from which the aboriginal high prieat could make hia sacred emblems! Tho colour of each atone ii the same — a yellowish whir.)—quite usual in aragonite,and the lustre u translucent. Tho Htonoa uiuat have boon artificially made, a.’, under natural conditions, no Hiibstance would howeror much it wore rolled or water-worn, attain nuch a shape, especially aragonite, which would splinter and break off along tho planes of It* crystallization. This and oalcico would be the b*st white minerals available to tho blacks for easy grinding to the required shape, bub which would, when ground down, keep its form fairly well. Mr. Frank Rutley, F.G S., in hio Mineralogy,” p 81 (18S7 ed.), aayii of aragonite that it sometimes occurs in basalts and lavas as a deposit from war in Boluiious. Mr. Grenville A. J. Cole. F.G S., in liis Aide in Practical Geology,” p. HI (1891 «‘d.), aaya that aragonito is common in the deposits of warm watora, and forms radial groups in tho cavities of altered rocks. So that tho probnbl-t source of tho original nragouifce masses from which thrsu stones havo been ground is some zeolibic deposit in noma of our luvn flows. As bo the amount of knowledge) possessed by blacks at tho present day with regard to these atones I havo notunyet been nbleget much direct information, and if they aro ” raurrnbn gibbera” ic ia almost useless to show them to an aborigine and question him as to what they are, U3 tho very essence of hio knowledge of them is the obligation put upon him nob to speak of them to a woman or a white man under penalty of death or aevcro miebnp. One old black at Moree, who see mod over CO years of ago, said that he knew nothing of them us regards religious or Bora ceremonies, but util 1 he had a special name for the stones and called one of them whoa shown to him— Aliugoora.
Newspaper Details
Maitland Weekly Mercury
Maitland, New South Wales, AU
Sat, Aug 08, 1896
Page 3
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USA 16 Oct 2022
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