ROCK PAINTINGS BY THE ABORIGINES. 357 
years ago, having suffered very little in that time. It may be 
mentioned that the Hawkesbury Sandstone is not very durable, 
even under the most favourable circumstances, and when located 
in damp situations, and subjected to much moisture, it crumbles 
away rapidly. It is owing to the very favourable situation of this 
cave, pointed out in the early part of this paper, that its walls 
are now apparently in very nearly the same state as when the 
drawings were made upon them. 
Going on now to describe the drawings shown on Plate 20, 
which is drawn to the same scale as Plate 19, it will be observed 
that they are not so interesting as those we have first noticed ; 
the cave is not so large, and the drawings are confined to impress- 
ions of the hand. This cave is situated on Crown land, in the 
Parish of Whybrow, County of Hunter, on the south side of 
Bulgar Inlet, a tributary of the Wollombi Brook, about a mile 
south-westerly from Thomas Hayes’ forty acres, being Portion 34 
in the Parish just named. ‘The caveis on the side of a hill facing 
the north-east, about one hundred and fifty feet above the level 
of the creek, and about one hundred yards back from it. It isin 
one of a number of large rocks a little way above the sandstone 
escarpment which bounds the creek, which bears at this place 
nearly east and west. There is good natural drainage, and the 
sun shines into the cave from sunrise till past mid-day, thus keep- 
ingit very dry. The cave is about sixteen feet long, and extends 
back into the rock about nine feet; it is about five feet high 
inside, but on account of its dome shaped interior, is only about 
four feet at the entrance. The formation of the rock containing 
the cave is sandstone conglomerate. The figures are drawn on the 
back wall of the cave, near the roof, and are in an excellent state 
of preservation. There are ten hands altogether, all being left 
hands, with the exception of one. Each hand is of the dirty 
yellowish-brown colour of the surrounding sandstone, but the 
surface of the rock, outside the margin of the figures, is smeared 
with a whitish or ash-coloured substance after the manner of 
*splash-work,” which causes the figures to stand out in relief. 
