PICTORIAL ART AMONG THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 307 
existing on earth, at the end of the nineteenth century, who are 
really in that state in which we suppose Europeans were, 
probably, on this island, say a thousand years before Christ. 
The Tasmanians were, I believe, still more antique and belonged 
to the paleolithic stage. They, of course, have passed away ; 
but the Australians are extremely interesting and still linger on 
in their early stage. 
The Rev. F. A. Watxer, D.D.—There are one or two points 
which I think are of great interest in this paper. 
I fancy it is a moot point whether one nation derives its arts 
and customs from a distant one, or whether, as human nature is 
much the same in all places, two nations that cannot communicate 
with each other have arrived at the same state of civilization. 
The talking stick, mentioned by the author of the paper, appears 
to differ in its use from that adopted in other parts of the world, 
such as the scytale in Greece, where a cipher was used for writing 
a message lengthwise on paper. When it was rolled it was 
unintelligible, the man who received it could decipher the 
message; but the herald who carried it could not. Therefore 
there is a slight difference between what he carried and that 
carried by the Australians; because the messenger in the 
Australian case had to remember the heads of the message; but 
the Greek messenger on the contrary could not understand it, 
and I think in some cases the message was to put to death the 
man who conveyed the message. 
I quite agree with what the Chairman has said—that serpent 
worship is a relic or observance found not only in many lands 
but in every land of which we have knowledge, and I do not, 
therefore, think that the serpent worship of India need only be 
quoted, for I have seen so many instances of ancient effigies of 
the serpent in my travels in Italy. Evidently the idea of every 
race was to propitiate the principle of evil, which idea ultimately 
gave way to those who possessed the greater and vital power of 
the Gospel. 
Mr. Martin Rovusr.—I should like to add, as the trend of the 
discussion is towards serpent worship, that the kings of Egypt 
decorated their heads with a serpent, as shown on the monuments. 
John Paton the missionary, when living in the New Hebrides, 
was called out one day by a man who said, “I have killed the 
Tebil!” ‘ Whatdo youmean?” Patonasked. ‘‘ Matshiktshiki,” 
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