PROBLEMS OF ABORIGINAL ART IN AUSTRALIA. 229 



easy to draw curves as sharp lines. The non-Akkadian character, 

 if I may so call it, of the drawings does not seem to correspond 

 (as was pointed out) with those of the Cushite races in lands 

 north of the Persian Gulf ; but I do not think that difference would 

 prove that the Australians are not a Cushite race. I think they are, 

 and that they belonged to the eastern tide of emigration of Cushites, 

 and not the western, which presented different characteristics. 



One speaker referred to a peculiar object discovered 20 feet 

 below the surface at the foot of a tree, thought to be of Chinese 

 workmanship of two or three hundred years ago. About 20 feet 

 deep in the soil at Ballarat was discovered what you would 

 imagine must have been put there long ago. It was imbedded in 

 solid ground dug out for mining purposes, and what do you 

 think it was ? It was the head of a miner's pick of some sisty 

 years before only. Sometimes objects work their way down into 

 the ground, by what means it is hard to explain. 



The Chairman's suggestion about the absence of the mouth is 

 very interesting ; and I think it quite possible that some of the 

 drawings are Buddhistic. Probably they must be credited to 

 different periods : but it is remarkable that we trace no further 

 relics of Buddhistic teaching. If the absence of a mouth is 

 symbolic of silence, what means the absence of a nose in the case 

 of one of these figui^es ? 



As to the elevation of Australia, would not that rather point to 

 less separation by sea from Asia than before ? If it has been 

 rising all these ages, surely there would be more islands, as bridges 

 of passage across, than formerly. The interval of sea would be 

 deeper than in days gone by, and easier, not' more difficult, to 

 cross. There seems some doubt as to whether Torres Straits have 

 not been deepening. 



I thank you for your kind reception of my paper, and for the 

 interesting debate it has elicited. 



The meeting was then adjourned. 



FURTHER REPLY BY THE AUTHOR. 



September 10th, 1897. 



It may interest the hearers and readers of my paper to mention, 



that I have learned further particulars about the sculptures in the 



Vancouver Lake to which I refer in it : also about the Chinese 



figure found underground in Australia, mentioned by a member in 



