1897.1 :\[ATHEWS — AUSTRALIAN ROCK CARVIXGS. 203 



closely than any other I can compare it with. It may, however, be 

 intended to represent some bird. 



Fig. 31. This figure is delineated on the same flat rock of Hawkes- 

 bury sandstone as Fig. 29. It measures four feet five inches from 

 the point of the nose to the tip of the tail ; the head contains an 

 eye, and there is also a dot on the ear, apparently to indicate the 

 hollow part of it. I submit that this is intended to represent an 

 opossum,^ because the portion of the body is more horizontal 

 than in figures of kangaroos and kangaroo-rats, in which the fore 

 part of the body is always more or less elevated. The position of 

 the tail, pointing slightly upwards, also strengthens the supposition 

 that it is an opossum. 



Fig. 32. This carving is on a flat rock of Hawkesbury sandstone, 

 not far from the last-described carving, and appears to be intended 

 to delineate a bird on the wing,- but it is difficult to suggest what 

 bird is the likeliest to be indicated, and in trying to arrive at a definite 

 conclusion the forked tail should not be lost sight of. From the extrem- 

 ity of one wing to that of the other measures three feet, and the total 

 length from the head to the end of the tail is one foot eleven inches. 

 It is well known that the natives had animals and birds as totems ; 

 among these may be mentioned the eagle hawk, the crow, the white 

 cockatoo, the emu, the kangaroo and so on. 



Fig. ;^;^. This peculiar carving is executed on the same group of 

 flat rocks as the preceding, and delineates the lower part of the 

 body of a man, from the waist downwards, the knees being bent 

 outwards, with the feet also in the same direction. From the out- 

 side of one knee to the outside of the other measures three feet eight 

 inches. The figure may have been intended to indicate that the 

 man was sitting on the rock, the rest of the body being upright 

 and not shown ; or perhaps it was intended to convey the idea that 

 the rest of the man's body had gone into the rock, leaving this part 

 protruding. I have seen similar figures carved upon rocks, but 

 they are uncommon,' 



1 For another carving of an opossum see Fig. 7, PI, 3, J^oc. Roy. Geog. Soc. 

 AusL, Queensland, p. 67. 



^For carvings of birds on the wing the reader is referred to Fig. 2, PL 99, il- 

 lustrating my paper on " Rock Paintings and Carvings of the Aborigines of New- 

 South Wales," published in the Report of the Australasian Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, Vol. vi, pp. 624-637. 



' For a similar carving see Fig. 10, PI. 2, attached to my paper on <'Rock Pic- 

 tures of the Australian Aborigines," Froc. Roy. Geog. Soc. Aust., Queensland, 

 Vol. xi, pp. 86-105. 



