58 



The figure on plate xvii. represents an emu. Its pecu- 

 liar feature is the upturned position of the head, which is 

 rot very clearly delineated. The strong, muscular, upper 

 portions of the legs have been rather exaggerated by the 

 artist. The plump body of the bird is true to nature, and 

 the correct number of toes has been assigned to each leg. 



The following design (pi. xviii.), which is less favourably 

 preserved, depicts either a bustard ( Eiij)odotis australis) 

 or a crane, in a rather unnatural attitude, which abo may 

 be that of a dead bird. The long, thin neck is more sugges- 

 tive of a crane than a bustard. A portion of another bird 

 is also indistinctly visible. 



Fig. 72. 



A group of drawings on a single piece of bark was found 

 bv Mr. P. Foelsche at Port Essington, and is represented in 

 fig. 72. 



One of the figures repeats the salient features of the 

 kangaroo already described. 



The figure on the right-hand side illustrates the method 

 of hunting the turtle by harpooning it from the bow of a 

 canoe, the rope that is attached to the harpoon being plainly 

 visible and connected with the canoe. 



The figure of a human being adjacent to this group may 

 or may not belong to the former. It is of a character simi- 

 lar to the drawing described from Blunder Bay; while the 

 long breasts suggest a woman, the opposite sex is also 

 clearly indicated in the sketch. The hands and feet are 

 crudely represented, the latter being abnormally large. 



The largest figure, on the left liand, is that of a boat 

 with a mast and tackle, and three men aboard. These 

 are not nude, but clothed, and consequently not in- 

 tended to be aborigines. The boat, which is quite different 

 from the native canoes, mav be intended for one of the 



