9° 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



and this particular variety is often much larger, as shown in a specimen in this Museum, 

 No. 8740, unfinished, which measures 18 in. long by 14 in. in diameter. The second 

 specimen, No. 8750, measures 13 in. in length by 5 in. at the neck, and 7 in. through 

 the collar. It is decorated with white lines on a dark red ground. No. 8756, the third 

 in the figure, measures 12 in. long, with a diameter of 5 in.; the original decoration of 

 red zigzags is nearly obliterated. These three dilly baskets were colledled by Mr. 

 Harry Stockdale, of Sydney, in the Alligator River District near Port Darwin, and are 



FIG. 90. IIKCOKATKII DII.lv BASKKT. 



FIG. 91. PLAIN DILI.Y BASKET, AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



now in this Museum. From the same district, also from Mr. Stockdale's colledlion, 

 No. 8755 comes to this Museum, and it is a choice specimen of the most elaborate decora- 

 tion of the Australian basket makers. Unfortunately the method of coloring does not 

 prove lasting, and the pigment rubs off much in the manner of ordinary whitewash ; still 

 in this specimen, as may be seen in the illustration, Fig. 90, enoiigh remains to show that 

 the skill of the decorator was above the ordinary. The decoration does not extend quite 

 around the basket and is divided into five zones, the upper one composed of one horizontal 

 and a number of vertical white lines; below this seven vertical lines, rather shorter than 

 the last, flanked by two rosettes and what seems to be a hunting scene. Then comes a 

 corroboree in which the male figures are quite distinct; then a band of confused figures, 



