PICTORIAL ART AMONG THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 3801 
useful members. The fingers, toes, face, and other features 
were formed of clay, and attached to the wooden frame. 
Human hair and feathers were then fastened on the head, 
thus completing the rude image. 
Black fellows belonging to the south-east coast of New 
South Wales, between Sydney and Cape Howe, have told 
me that at their Bunan and festive gatherings, images were 
formed of mud or clay and placed against trees for the 
purpose of supporting them in an upright position. 
In an article dealing with the Bora ceremonies of the 
Kamilaroi tribes at Gundabloui,* I described two male 
figures cut out of bark, and fixed up against trees. One of 
these had his head ornamented with emu’s feathers, and the 
other held in his hand a hielamon, or native shield. I also 
described the figure of an iguana about 3 feet long, a figure 
of the sun 2 feet in diameter, and one of the full moon 18 
inches in diameter, all cut out of bark and fastened to trees. 
Mr. John K. McKay, of Dungog, informs me that when 
travelling on the Moonie river upwards of thirty years ago, 
he saw an image made by the aborigines on the right bank 
of that stream, about thirty miles above Nindigully, Queens- 
land. It was apparently intended, he thought, to represent 
aswan of enormous proportions, or some mythologic creature 
of aboriginal lore. The body was about 15 feet long, 6 feet 
wide, and about 4 feet high; it was formed of bushes and 
leaves pressed closely together, and covered with a thick 
coating of mud. The head and neck consisted of a bent 
log of the required shape, about 10 feet long, one extremity 
of which was fixed into the ground at one end of the heap 
of bushes, the other extremity being cut into shape to 
represent the head, which was elevated several feet above 
the surface, the whole figure was then ornamented with 
daubs of white and red—the head being painted with the 
latter colour. This image was at a deserted camp of the 
natives, and before going away they had taken all the 
sheets of bark which they had been using for their own 
gunyahs, or shelters, and laid them over the monster to 
protect it from rain. There was a cleared space several 
yards wide all round this animal, where the natives had 
apparently been dancing corroborees while remaining in the 
camp adjacent. 
* Journ. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales, xxviii, 113: Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxiv, 
A417. 
