1S6 THE PEOCEEDINGS OF THE tiNNEAN SOCIETif 



on a similar material ; unfortunately, owing to the perishable 

 nature of the bark and to the pigment used, commonly pipeclay, 

 being easily defaced, few of these illustrations have been saved. 

 Mr. Brough Smythe has, however, been successful in preserving 

 some few of these relics, and has figured them in the valuable 

 work which he has just published on the habits and customs of 

 the natives of Victoria. I have on several occasions seen in 

 caves, drawings of various objects made by the natives, with out- 

 lines of lizards and kangaroo, &c., these latter invariably on a small 

 scale, and all associated with the well-known " red hand " — but I 

 have never met with, until now, such large drawings of animals 

 on sheets of bark, as those I now place before the Society. I 

 have indeed seen even larger sheets of the same material, but these 

 were ornamented by the natives with angular figures painted 

 with red, white, and yellow clay, and a colouring matter, which 

 is obtained from the inside of lumps of ironstone, similar to that 

 used in former times by the aborigines to cover their bodies with. 

 I fancy the only use made of such drawings as these must be to 

 render their meetings more attractive when dancing before the 

 fire in the wild gesticulations of a corrobborree, or they may be 

 drawn for amusement when confined to their caves by the 

 inclemency of weather, certainly not made to ornament their 

 gunya's as we, our rooms, with pictures. 



Eigs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, plate 15, are all on one sheet of bark, 

 about 2 feet 2 inches long, and 10 inches wide. 



Fig. 1, plate 15, the figure of a turtle. The body of this 

 figure is red, and the pattern lines are white ; measuring 7 inches 

 long and 7 broad. 



Fig. 2, plate 15, also the figure of a tortoise, 9| inches long, 

 and 6 wide. This figure is yellow, and has defaced white lines 

 running slantingly across it, and two more defaced lines 

 running from the head to the tail. 



Fig. 3 is yellow, outlined with' a white margin, possibly 

 intended for the figure of a man ; it measures about 6 inches long. 

 The hands of this figure are furnished with six fingers; the pos- 

 terior limbs are more like the posterior ends of a seal than human 

 legs. 



