470 MATHEWS — ROCK CARVINGS AND PAINTINGS. [Nov. 19, 



acres in extent, the carvings being numerous and widely scattered 

 over it. These drawings are generally found on the tops of hori- 

 zontal rocks, but are sometimes met with on the smooth walls of 

 rocks occupying various slopes between the horizontal and the per- 

 pendicular position. 



Denuded rocks are more general on the tops and sides of hills 

 than elsewhere, owing to the soil and disintegrated matter being 

 carried away by the weather to lower levels, hence w$ find these 

 carvings more numerous in such situations than in the valleys, where 

 masses of rock are less plentiful. It is obvious, however, that the 

 natives, with their primitive tools, would be guided more by the suita- 

 bility of the rock for their purpose than by its location ; but where cir- 

 cumstances permitted, preference seems to have been given to rocks 

 occupying prominent positions or which were situated in mountain 

 passes along which the natives traveled from one part of their 

 hunting grounds to another. Fine-grained sandstones of a durable 

 character, with tolerably smooth surfaces and in dry situations, 

 appear to have been chosen. 



In nearly all carved figures, owing to age or weathering, the 

 grooves along their outlines have assumed the same color as the 

 original undisturbed surface of the rock. Some of them can be seen 

 without difficulty, but numbers of them are so much defaced by long 

 exposure to the weather that it requires some practice to be able to 

 distinguish them, and they would be passed by unobserved by any 

 person unaccustomed to them. They are more easily seen on sunny 

 than on cloudy days on account of the light falling on all parts of the 

 figure when viewed from different standpoints. The best time to 

 observe those which are very faint is either on a dewy morning 

 shortly after sunrise, or any time after a shower of rain ; the dew 

 or the rain, as the case may be, collects in greater quantities in the 

 grooves than elsewhere and indicates their position. 



Some of the carvings are so indistinct that it is necessary to make 

 a chalk mark along the grooves before a complete idea of the out- 

 line of the figure can be obtained. Most of them exhibit tolerably 

 strong likenesses of the objects they are intended to represent, but 

 some grotesque drawings occasionally met with were probably 

 intended for legendary monsters, or creatures of the native artist's 

 imagination.^ 



1 For examples of these mythologic and strange drawings, see my papers in the 

 following publications : Froc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, vii, N. S., PI. ix, Fig. lo ; 

 Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. Ausi., Qld, Brch,, x, PI. ii, Fig. 15; Am. Anthrop., 

 Wash., viii, PI. ii, Fig. 30; Journ. Anthrop. Inst., Lond., xxv, PI. xvi, Fig. 6. 



