34 MEilOIES OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



" The design traced upon the message stick is varied in tlio extreme. It may follow 

 some definite plan or consist of a number of figures of irregular outline with little or no trace 

 of any recognisable plan. As is usually the case with Western Australian aboriginal art, 

 representations of natural objects such as trees, plants, animals, birds, and man are absent; the 

 only exceptions are message sticks of the type figured in the British Museum Handbook, to the 

 ethnographical collections upon wliich luimau beings, plants, and snakes (?) are depicted. 



" Practically all the designs may be classed as geometrical, closely allied to the conven- 

 tional patterns met with on certain types of shields, spear-throwers, bull-roarers, and churingas 

 of Western Australia. 



' ' In describing and classifying the patterns I have commenced with those designs 

 that most closely resemble a conventional type, and have endeavoured to show how the 

 various schemes adopted are related to this and to one anotlier. 



' ' The regular pattern, a duplicated longitudinal zigzag, is not uncommon on objects 

 made by Western Australian aborigines;'^ it is present on several message sticks, C. 34.5 West 

 Kimberley, 3829 from the Isdell Eanges, West Kimbcrley, &e.; by the rounding of the angles 

 the line may become sinuous as in C. 709 from the Gaseoyne River and C. 3-16 from West 

 Kimberley. Subsidiary markings in the form of groups of short transverse scratches similar 

 to the ornamentation on certain tyjies of wooden spears are present on some of these message 

 sticks from the Kookyrui district, the Upper Gaseoyne Eivcr 5454, the Ashburton Elver 4028 

 and Walima, Lake Way 2537. 



" By altering the relative position of the two lines they are in some instances made to 

 enclose lozenge-shaped areas which are brought into greater prominence through being covered 

 with numerous short transverse cuts or scratches. This variety is not uncommon in the 

 Kookyrui district, where some specimens have been collected having the pattern burnt in, not 

 incised. 



" Another variety may be termed the ' Banksia-leaf ' pattern. This is a modification 

 of the regular zigzag, produced by the introduction of a long individual baud between the 

 zigzags. The distribution of this pattern appears to be confined to the nortli-west of Western 

 Australia (Pilbara district, &c.), the eight specimens in the collection having been obtained 

 at Wehna and Bermier Island. Those from the latter locality were made by the natives from 

 the Ashburton and Lyons Eiver. There are also message sticks with the ' Banksia-leaf ' 

 pattern arranged transversely on the stick instead of longitudinally. 



" The transitional forms between these more or less regular designs and those in which 

 HO order can be recognised are naturally very varied. They are well illustrated by a series 

 from Kookynie. 



" yjiecimens without any trace of regular ;irraugoinent have been obtained from 

 the Gaseoyne, Ashburton, and various unknown localities. Included among these are designs 

 similar to those figured in the British Museum Handbook. Four examples of these are present 

 in the collection; one came from the Gaseoyne, the others are without data. 



' ' A type which may have evolved from tlie above main group of duplicated zigzags is 

 represented by specimens from the Gaseoyne, Ashburton, and Kimberley (?). Ilero the 

 zigzags have been modified to form a number of adjacent angular figures. The outlines and 

 .shading consist of deei>ly incised grooves into which black earth or charcoal has been rubbed. 

 The six specimens ornamented in this manner were collected more than twenty years ago and 

 are undoubtedly genuine. 



"Hiit. Mils. Ilaiidhk. Klhriog. collections (1910), fig 92a, page 110. 



