PICTORIAL ART AMONG THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 297 
specimens, amounting in the aggregate to upwards of two 
hundred and thirty separate carvings, representing human 
beings, animals of various kinds, warlike implements, dances, 
hunting and fishing scenes, etc.* 
MARKED TREES. 
Aboriginal drawings on trees consist of representations 
of men, animals, weapons, the different heavenly bodies, 
hghtning, and a variety of characters consisting of curved 
and zigzag lines, lozenge and oval shaped designs, chevrons, 
bars, etc. Marked trees of this kind are found at those 
camps where the initiation ceremonies are performed. The 
graves of the natives, the scenes of some of their fights, 
and remarkable events in thew daily life are likewise 
commemorated by curious symbols marked on trees standing 
around the spot. 
The specimens of native art found upon trees are executed 
in various ways. The mode of drawing most generally 
adopted is to outline the object by a nick cut with the 
tomahawk into the bark of the tree. In some cases the 
whole of the bark withm the outline of the figure is 
removed; in other instances a portion of the bark is first 
removed from the tree, and the design cut into the wood. 
Some of these native drawings are merely scratched upon 
the bark of the tree, whilst others are painted upon the bark 
with red ochre or charcoal. 
I will now proceed to describe some carvings copied by 
me from a number of trees on a Kamilaroi Bora ground on 
Redbank Creek, a tributary of the Weir River, in the parish 
of Tallwood, county of Carnarvon, Queensland. These 
carvings are shown on Plate X, hereto annexed, as Figs. 
1 to 18 inclusive. Fig. 8 represents the crescent moon, cut 
through the bark, and a short distance below it are four 
zigzag lines. On another tree, Fig. 13, there is a centipede 
3 feet 1 inch in length, with eighteen legs, chopped through 
the bark into the wood, with some diamond or lozenge 
shaped devices below it. On a forked box tree was the 
outline of an iguana, Fig. 17, 5 feet 2 inches long, cut 
through the bark. Fig. 18 represents a carpet snake 
* Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. Aust., Queensland Branch, vol. x, pp. 46-70 ; 
Ibid., vol. xi, pp. 86-106. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., London, vol. xxv, 
pp. 145-163 ; Jbid., vol. xxvii, pp. 532-541. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 
Philadelphia, vol. xxxvi, pp. 195-208 and pp. 466-478. 
