238 VICTORIA. NEW SOUTH WALES. 



four-footed animals, probaljly opossums {Phalangishi), the draw- 

 ing being of about the size of that animal. Two of the figures 

 are roughly shaded. There were several similar rows of the 

 same figures in one cave. 



Figure 2 is a tolerably good representation of one of the fish 

 of the Creek. It also is shaded. 



Figures 3 I do not understand. The larger may be intended 

 for a shark. Figure 4 is evidently intended for a white man. 

 North American Indians are said to have distinguished white 

 men in their drawings by putting a tall hat on them. Such 

 a form of headdress must be astonishing to a savage at first 

 acquaintance. 



Near one of the caves, on a flat slab of stone standing 

 naturally erect, is a figure of a Kangaroo cut out in the stone 

 itself The figure is five feet in height. It is marked out by 

 means of an incised groove, which is an inch and a half in 

 depth. The figure is shaded, or rather rendered more conspic- 

 uous by the chipping of irregular small holes all over the area 

 representing the body, and also as in the charcoal drawings of 

 opossums, by means of lines. 



The forelegs of the Kangaroo seem not to have been 

 finished, or the artist has been especially unsuccessful in his 

 attempts to represent them, and perhaps has tried to correct 

 them, as appears possible from the number of lines. The 

 contour line of the body is carried across the root of the tail. 

 Similar drawings, executed by cutting grooves in stone, are 

 common about Sydney. 



In Peron and Leseur's "Voyage"* a plate is given of 

 similar drawings of fish and Kangaroos by Blacks, from Port 

 Jackson, and one of the drawings shows a similar attempt at 

 irregular shading, as seen in some of the present figures. 

 Another plate of the same work, shows the Blacks living on 

 the shore, about caves under cliffs, such as those here described. 

 The plates in question are unnumbered, and I could not find 

 reference to them in the text of the book. 



Besides the drawings, in almost every cave were hand marks. 

 These marks have been the subject of much discussion, and 

 various speculations have been made as to some important 

 meaning of the " Red Fland of Australia." These hand 

 marks have been made by placing a hand against the flat 

 stone, and then squirting a mixture of whitish clay and water 

 from the mouth all around. The hand being removed, a 

 tracing of it remains, and where the sandstone is red, appears 

 red on a whitish ground. 



* " Voyage des Decouvertes aux terres Australes." Peron et Leseur. 

 Paris, 1807, Atlas, 



