306 R. H. MATHEWS, ESQ., L.S., ON 
very natural, and it leads us, of course, to the consideration of 
aboriginal man. He was evidently imaginative, but of an 
imagination more primitive in its nature, I should suppose, than 
their skill would be. 
The reference to serpent worship towards the end of the paper 
is very interesting, because we know that there have been in many 
countries, far distant from one another, tendencies towards serpent 
worship and so towards the imitation of serpents and reptiles 
connected with serpents. 
Then the “talking sticks”? remind us of the North American 
Indians, who have samples of peculiar language, sometimes on 
sticks and sometimes on slugs of wood. We would like to know 
the relative dates of these different classes of objects and works 
of art. 
I was rather surprised to see that Mr. Mathews had had a 
conversation with the native artist, the very person who apparently 
had produced some of these objects. We should like to know 
a little more about the date and the object which led the various 
persons to make those things—whether it was a mere freak or 
religious superstition, about which there is such uncommon 
reserve. 
The Rev. W.S. Lacu-Szyrma.—With regard to the subject of 
native art I fancy that it is much higher than one would suppose. 
The illustrations in Mrs. Langham Parker’s book on Folklore are 
reproductions of native art, and I believe with regard to pictorial 
representations they are of a much higher stage than one would 
anticipate—indeed there is a realism, in some of the work which 
is represented, which certainly is striking. It gives one an idea 
of Australia in a rough way,and the natives; and being black 
they are fair representations of them, and they throw a light on 
the early stages of culture which even the people of Britain 
must have passed through. But the confusion of ideas of 
animals and men is remarkable. In some of their stories you 
hardly know whether they are referring to men, women or 
animals. In some of their sentences the idea seems to be rather 
confused, and I suppose is taken from the transmigration of 
souls and of metamorphoses and such expressions of thought 
as we find in the Arabian Nights and the transmigration into 
animals there represented. The subject of these Australians 
throws light on the matter, for they are one of the few people 
