54 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



could not help feeling astonished at the labour bestowed on the 

 work."* 



If, as previously stated, according to current report, the designs 

 on the trees be the same as those on the 'possum rugs, the transfer 

 of them to the trees surrounding a grave must have had some 

 important and lasting meaning to the survivors. The figures on 

 the rug may have indicated some degree of ownership, a crest, 

 coat of arms, or monogram, as it were, and in such a case the 

 reproduction on the trees surrounding a grave may be looked 

 upon as an identification of the deceased. Henderson speaks of 

 the tree carvings as symbols. "A symbol is afterwards carved 

 upon the nearest tree, which seems to indicate the particular 

 tribe to which the individual may have belonged."! Or had 

 they a deeper esoteric meaning, one only known to the 

 learned men of the tribe 1 Smyth statesj that the figures on 

 the inner sides of the 'possum rugs " were the same as those on 

 their weapons, namely, the herring-bone, chevron, and saltier." 

 How easily these same devices can be traced, in a general way, both 

 on the carved trees and some of the wooden weapons, is amply 

 shown by many of the excellent figures given in Smyth's work. 

 This painstaking Author, in briefly dealing, too briefly in fact, 

 with this interesting subject, says,^ " The natives of the Murray 

 and the Darling, and those in other parts adjacent, carved on the 

 trees near the tombs of deceased warriors strange figures having 

 i7ieanings no doubt intelligible to all the tribes in the vast area 

 watered by these rivers." By the Kamilaraij] they were regarded 

 as " memorials " of the dead. 



It is much to be regretted that before the last reuniant of this 

 fast disappearing race has passed away, a translation, or at any 

 rate an explanation of these matters, cannot be obtained. 



* Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, I., p. 292. 



t Ob?. Colonies of N.S. Wales and V.D. Land, 1832, p. 149. 



J Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, I., p. 288. 



§ Ibid, p. 28G. The italics are mine. 



II T. Honery, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. Gt. Brit, and Ireland, 1878, vii., 

 p. 254. 



