Some caves have been lately found in the limestone rocks about this selection; and since the valuable discovery of fossil bones in those at Wellington Valley, by Major Mitchell and others, limestone caverns have become one of the _colonial lions_; these, therefore, were pointed out to me as objects of great curiosity; I found them however very small, and they did not repay the trouble of getting into them. They resembled the small caves often seen in the limestone quarries of Plymouth and Oreston, in Devonshire, from which some valuable fossils have been procured: stalactites of course abounded, but neither fossils nor any red calcareous earth, in which those remains have usually been found deposited. Among a quantity of dust were several loose bones, which had been at first described to me as fossils, but which were the breast bones and tibiæ of the emu, and skulls, and other bones of dogs, which no doubt had been placed there by the natives, for the tibiæ of the emu (here called Béréban by the blacks) had a hole at the upper and anterior part; this perforation is made, as many of them afterwards told me, to enable them more readily, by admitting air, to suck out the rich marrow from the lower end, which was broken for that purpose. The extent of the cavern was from fifteen to twenty feet; the entrance so narrow, that the explorer could only enter feet foremost, nor was it sufficiently large in the interior to enable him to stand erect. About sunset we returned to Yas, having a fine moonlight night for our journey. The aborigines have many superstitious ceremonies connected with their practice of the healing art, as we find among all primitive nations; those persons who take upon themselves the occupation to attend upon the sick or wounded, unite the offices of priest, soothsayer, and physician. The few medicines administered by them are from the vegetable kingdom; they also make use of a crystal for the cure of diseases, not by administering it to the sick person, but the physician employs its aid, to act upon the superstitious mind of his patient; it is the common quartz crystal, and is called by the natives, in the vicinity of Sydney, Krardgee Kibba, or Doctor Stone.[69] This name, borrowed from the Europeans, is sometimes employed by the Yas natives, but that by which it is characterized by them and likewise by the natives of the Murrumbidgee and Tumat countries, is “Merrúdagalle.” The aborigines say they manufacture it, but would not mention the _ingredients of which it is composed; this was a secret_!! The women are never permitted to look upon it, and the priests impose upon their minds a belief, that, should their curiosity prompt them so far, they would instantly die.