ARTISTIC SENSE IN ABORIGINES. 433 



bands and girdles are frequently ornamented with pigments, with 

 feathers, and kangaroo teeth, whilst armlets are also sometimes 

 worn. Towards North-West Australia the pearlshell, cut into 

 shape and marked, is sometimes worn suspended from a girdle. 



The artistic tatooing for which the Maoris and some other 

 Polynesian races are remarkable is not found among the Australian 

 natives, the initiation and other marks made by incision on the 

 bodies at certain rites and ceremonies are disfigurements rather 

 than otherwise. 



The feathers of birds are often used with effect for ornamenta- 

 tion. A Queensland correspondent writes : " Here they show 

 conspicuous taste. In corrobborees they often decorate them- 

 selves most artistically, not so much in the painting of their bodies, 

 but in the way they use leaves, flowers, and especially feathers of 

 cockatoos, etc., in their decorations and in their dances." 



In ornamenting the bodies with pigments for corrobborees and 

 ceremonials, etc., the Australian aborigines, like most savage races, 

 follow to a great extent the lines of the bony structure in the applica- 

 tion of colours ; but it is in the representation of tribal rites and 

 totemic displays, such as Professor Spencer and Mr. Gillen had the 

 unusual privilege of closely observing and so graphically describing, 

 that the Australian natives exhibit much ingenuity and a consider- 

 able amount of genuine, although primitive, artistic talent and 

 imagination as well as constructive ability. From the meagre 

 materials at hand in the form of stone, twigs, wood, feathers, bone, 

 down, string, etc., they are skilful in preparing the elaborate head- 

 pieces and emblematic objects pertaining to their observances. 



It is rather surprising that in the ornamentation of weapons 

 and utensils, and in personal adornment, there is almost an entire 

 absence of the representation of natural forms, either animal or 

 vegetable. This has been commented upon by many writers on the 

 subject, the conventional treatment being universal throughout 

 Australia. In accounts of the Central and Northern tribes of 

 Australia a good idea is given of the elaboration in regard to the 

 significant designs connected with tribal ritual, etc., as shown in 

 the Churinga or sacred stones and pieces of wood, in which the 

 concentric circle is a prevailing form, with variations in wavy lines, 

 spirals, etc. These sacred Churinga were held in great veneration, 

 and probably their ancient origin and attributed inherent virtue 

 helped to preserve their conventional character. Occasionally 

 there is a suggestion of imitation of natural forms, as in the serpen- 

 tine representations, totemic ground drawings, etc., but little 

 direct reproduction. Conservatism, so marked a character of the 

 Australian aboriginal social life, the ingrained subordination to 

 restrictive traditional customs, the absence of stimulating agencies 

 in a country so thinly populated, and probably some prevalent 

 superstitious feeling restraining them from directly reproducing 

 animate nature in adornment, may in part account for the absence 

 of natural forms. Certain districts have their own particular 

 designs, as in the circle, the zig-zag hatching, the parallel lines, 



