94 NOTES ON THK HUxNTING STICKS, ETC. 



As Bn. Duteirau has been careful enough to add even 

 Ihe day of the month when he publii^hed his engravings, 

 we know that they were made after the Black War (1830). 

 probably just before the Rev. George Augustus Robinson 

 brought the last 203 survivoi^ to Flinders Island. The 

 lirst engraving published, July 15th, 1835, is entitled "Tas- 

 manian Aborigines, ' and represents a group of ten Abori- 

 gines (7 men and 3 women) cordially receiving Robinson, 

 who is wearing a quaint sort of a cap. The Aborigines are 

 depicted as naked, except for a loin-cloth, which is unques- 

 tionably an invention of the artist, and a concession to pub- 

 lic taste. All the women have the hair closely cropped, 

 three of the men have the peculiar wig-like head dress, 

 while four have it in apparently its natural curly state. 



Four of the men are simply armed with spears, while 

 two others who are squatting down are apparently making 

 spears. It will be noticed that two of the men are holding 

 their spears in the left, three of them in the right hand. 

 Robinson is grasping a native's left hand with his left, 

 while his right is held up in teaching or preaching position. 



Now, I shall presently show that, in all probability, 

 these engravings mu.st be reversed, and we have therefore 

 three men holding the spears in their left hand, 

 two in the right, while Robinson's right grasps the right of 

 the native, and his left is lifted. Unless we assume that 

 Robinson was natvirally left-handed, we must accept the 

 view that the print of the engraving ought to be reversed. 



Now, the second engraving published on August 24th 

 represents exactly the same two figures in e>:actlv the same 

 attitudes, with that difference, however, that while in the 

 above engraving they are separated by two women, Robin- 

 son and a man, and two dogs,they are in the second close to- 

 gether, each sitting, so to say, on a large bundle of spears, 

 which are absent in the above engraving. This seems to 

 indicate that the pictures were not taken directly from life, 

 but were composed in the ai-tist's home, from rough sketches 

 made elsewhere. This may somewhat reduce the value of 

 the engravings as evidence, because it is hardly necessaiy 

 for me to say. that memory' even supported by a sketch is 

 deceptive, and in the process of composing groups from 

 sketches enors axe verv likelv to creep in. This view also 

 accounts for a certain discrepancy in the proportions which 

 will be noted in the different groiips. 



The second engraving represents two "Aborigines mak- 

 ing and straightening ,speai-s." The two men are represents 



