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Rh Long after the receipt of the message-stick from Queensland, the Honorable Fred. P. Barlee, M.P., the Colonial Secretary of West Australia, was good enough to send me two message-sticks.—(Figs. 172 and 173.) The stick shown in Fig. 172 is ten inches in length, and a little more than three-tenths of an inch in diameter. That shown in Fig. 173 is nearly seven inches and a half in length, and four-tenths of an inch in diameter.

They are formed of a hard yellowish wood, the name of which I am not able to give. The marks are neatly and clearly drawn, and are filled in with a black pigment, so as to be distinctly seen.

Mr. Barlee says, "The accompanying 'native sticks' used by Aboriginals in the vicinity of Shark's Bay are new to me, and will probably be of interest to you. They are used, I am informed, as messages to distant tribes in cases of hostility and other matters connected with tribal customs."

These message-sticks will be regarded by scientific men as of peculiar interest and value; and no doubt some special enquiries will be instituted in order to discover to what extent this system of conveying intelligence amongst savage tribes prevails, in what manner it originated, and how far it has been perfected.