408 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



been chalked, does not appear in the figure. Is it intended to 

 alarm the game and drive it into another direction ? I am informed 

 by Mr. C. E. Stewart that he has seen many similar figures that 

 look like pegged-out skins near Kuruman on rocks forming the bottom 

 of a " pan." 



Fig. 7 is that of an Ostrich seemingly rising. 



Fig. 8 is that of the Wildebeest. Judging from the shape of the 

 horns it is not the Black Wildebeest {Connochaetes gnu), which 

 is there represented, but its ally, the Brindled Gnu {Connochaetes 

 taurimcs), which is found now further north only. The attitude 

 of the animal, which is so remarkable owing to the great sloping 

 of the hindquarters, is admirably reproduced. 



On other stones are depicted, among others, a two-horned 

 rhinoceros and an equine animal, probably a zebra, &c. The 

 original rock-engravings are in the South African Museum. The 

 hollowed parts have been very carefully touched with chalk to 

 bring them out clearly enough to be photographed, because the 

 figures engraved on the dolerite rock are not deep ; many seem 

 to have weathered away at the same ratio as the surface of the 

 rock itself ; in many the patina is almost that of the untouched 

 rock surface, or the outline and etched parts are worn out nearly 

 flush with the original plane of the rock. Most of them would 

 be passed unnoticed even by people in search of them, except when 

 dew or rain has been retained in the very shallow cavities. Per- 

 sonally I think that some specimens of this type of rock engravings 

 are extremely ancient. 



Figs. 9 and 10 of Plate XIV. are a good representation of such 

 engraved stones photographed in situ. They were kindly sent me by 

 Mr. F. B. Parkinson, who writes: "One of the stones is within a few 

 yards of the other, and the engraving is not apparently so old, as 

 photographs show it without whitening. The bird in left-hand bottom 

 corner is evidently a recent production." This is probably the true 

 explanation. The surface of one stone has undergone more weather- 

 ing than the other because it is of an older date. The texture of the 

 stone is the same, and the exposition identical. It may be argued 

 that this Karroo dolerite, in spite of its hard texture, weathers away 

 very rapidly, or that the depth of the engravings will greatly depend 

 on the depth of the crust of the surface. But the depth of the 

 pointing does not vary much in the engravings from the neighbour- 

 hood of the Orange Eiver Colony observed by or sent to me by 

 Mr. Parkinson. The tools used for the work have been found 

 in situ. They are flakes with well-rounded, uneven, worn-out 

 points, made from a shale hardened by the intrusion of dolerite, and 



