PROBLEMS OP ABORIGINAL ART IN AUSTRALIA, 209 



They ouly evidence the possession of the artistic faculty in 

 the race, in common with other untutored races ; and, to 

 that extent, the baselessness of the idea that the Australian 

 is essentially different from the rest of mankind. His skull 

 is long, small, and poorly-shaped, and his intellectual capacity 

 low ; but generic or specific " differentia " there is none : 

 " God hath made of one Hood all the nations of the earth." 

 The corpuscles in that of the Australian are absolutely 

 indistinguishable from those of blood flowing in the veins 

 of Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Balfour. There is nothing in the 

 Australian to militate against the idea of unity in the origin 

 of mankind. 



The art which hitherto has engaged our notice is, no 

 doubt, inferior to that displayed by the Maori, the Fijian, or 

 the Polynesian. But a somewhat different class of aboriginal 

 work will now occupy our attention. 



Lieutenant Grey Cnow the octogenarian Sir George) dis- 

 covered, in 1841, in N.W. Australian caves, coloured di-aw- 

 ings of a very remarkable kind ; and many more have since 

 been met with, presenting features of a most piquant, and 

 distinctly "problematic," character. Mr. Worsnop has col- 

 lected descriptions of many of these, and I shall have the 

 honour of submitting representations of some of them ; 

 familiar, probably, to some present, but possibly fresh to 

 not a few, and of unquestionable and peculiar interest. 



In a temple-like cave of sandstone, in an elevated and 

 romantic situation, and approached by a rough staircase of 

 scattered rock some 5 feet in height ; — a cave 35 feet wide 

 at the entrance, 16 feet deep, and 8 feet high in front, roofed 

 by a solid slab some 9 feet thick, rapidly inclined towards 

 the back of the cave, where the height was some 5 feet, 

 Grey found, painted imposingly inside the sloping roof, the 

 first figure I show [Fig. 1]; the rock about it blackened, 

 and the figure itself a vivid red and white, so that it seemed 

 to lean out from the rock. Its head was encircled by red 

 rays, inside which came a brilliant red stripe, crossed by 

 lines of white, and bordered by a deeper red. The face 

 was vivid white, the eyes black, but surrounded by red and 

 yellow lines ; the body was outlined in red, marked with red 

 stripes and bars. This awe-inspiring figure was seemingly 

 being contemplated [Fig. 2] by four other figures on the 

 left-hand wall, which I also show ; vividly coloured upon 

 white ground, the fom- heads wearing a turban-like head- 

 dress (unlike any now worn by Aborigines) of a bright blue 



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