PROBLEMS OP ABORIGINAL ART IN AUSTRALIA. 



213 



terise tlie religions observances of the blacks, that they are 

 a decayed mechanical snrvival of forms that mnst once have 

 had meaning and reality. 



As for the ancile, or elliptic shield, one can make nothing of 

 it. Grey fancied it was some charm connected with the find- 

 ing of game; bnt snch an explanation sorely needs explaining. 



Another cave introduced a fresh problem. [Fig. 3,] 

 Fronting it, high up on the vertical face of a cliff, and un- 

 reachable without mechanical aid. had been carved out of the 

 solid stone a human head in profile, which I show. It was 

 2 feet long and 16 inches across, and 1^-inch thick ; and 

 I leave my hearers to say Avhetber it is not a striking and 

 distinguished face. It is absolutely different from the heads 

 of modern Aborigines. The worn edges of the cameo, where 

 it joined the rock-surface, seemed to mark a long interval 

 since it was carved : the difficulty of carving it where it stood 

 must have been immense — unless, indeed, the rock-face had 

 been near the ground at the time, and tjie ground had worn 

 away since — which, again, would probably imply antiquity. 



What a problem this Caucasian face presents ! Is it that 

 of some stranger from Europe long ago 

 — perhaps before the Portuguese or 

 Spanish visitors of the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries ? In all proba- 

 bihty European ships traversed the 

 Pacific before the days of Balboa ; for 

 Greek columns are found in an island 

 of the South Sea : and the prevalence 

 of small-pox among the Australians 

 when we first settled there is said — 

 with what truth I must leave patlio- 

 logists to decide — to postulate previous 

 residence of Europeans amongst them. 

 There is nothing, however, to identify 

 the head before us with any particular 

 time or country. It presents a problem 

 gruesomely suggestive. The severed 

 head has been carved on the rock, pro- 

 bably from a sense of its beauty : the 

 body was in the hands of cannibals, 

 and may have been "carved" after a 

 more tragic fashion 1 



In another cave, elevated several feet above the sur- 

 rounding ground, was a painting [Fig. 4] 10 feet 6 inches 



FIG. 4. 



Stippled circle and eyes 

 = yellow. 



