NEW SOUTH WALES. 275 



itself. The figure is five feet in height. It is marked out by 

 means of an incised groove, which is an inch and a half in depth. 

 The figure is shaded, or rather rendered more conspicuous by 

 the chipping of irregular small holes all over the area represent- 

 ing the body, and also as in the charcoal drawings of opossums, 

 by means of lines. 



The fore-legs of the Kangaroo seem not to have been finished, 

 or the artist has been especially unsuccessful in his attempts to 

 represent them, and perhaps has tried to correct them, as appears 

 possible from the number of lines. The contour line of the body 

 is carried across the root of the tail. Similar drawings, executed 

 by cutting grooves in stone, are common about Sydney. 



In Peron and Leseur's " Voyage,"* a plate is given of similar 

 drawings of fish and Kangaroos by Blacks, from Port Jackson, 

 and one of the drawings shows a similar attempt at irregular 

 shading, as seen in some of the present figures. Another plate 

 of the same work, shows the Blacks living on the shore, about 

 caves under cliffs, such as those here described. The plates in 

 question are unnumbered, and I could not find reference to them 

 in the text of the book. 



Besides the drawings, in almost every cave were hand marks. 

 These marks have been the subject of much discussion, and 

 various speculations have been made as to some important 

 meaning of the " Eed Hand of Australia." These hand marks 

 have been made by placing a hand against the flat stone, and 

 then squirting a mixture of whitish clay and water from the 

 mouth all around. The hand being removed, a tracing of it stands 

 out in relief, and where the sandstone is red, appears red on a 

 whitish ground. 



The hand marks have evidently been made hap-hazard, just 

 as the drawings. They are now often out of easy reach, the 

 former floors of the caves having slipped away. They are 

 grouped in all sorts of ways, and amongst them I saw one in 

 which a finger was missing, the native having possibly had a 

 finger cut off as a matter of ceremony. The figure of a whole 

 man is said to exist thus executed, in Cowan Creek, close by. 



* " Voyage des Decouvertes aux terres Australes." Peron et Leseur. 

 Paris, 1807, Atlas. 



T 2 



