president’s ADDRESS SECTION E. 
137 
is obvious when treated with judgment and skill. They give life, 
movement, and mystery to the place, such as would overawe the timid 
superstitious native mind. The description given by Sir George of the 
locality in which he found these works of art is certainly calculated to 
intensify the feeling of fear which the native imagination is too ready 
to create. He says- — “ The cave appeared to be a natural hollow in the 
sandstone rock ; its floor was elevated about 5 feet from the ground, and 
numerous flat broken pieces of the same rocks, which were scattered 
about, looked at a distance like steps. 'I hese lead up to a cave, which was 
35 feet wide at the entrance, and 10 feet deep, but beyond this several 
small branches ran further back. Its height in front was rather more 
than 8 feet, the roof being formed by a solid slab of sandstone about 
9 feet thick, which rapidly inclined towards the back of the cave, 
which was there not more than 5 feet high.” 
On this sloping roof the principal figure ( Plate A) of the series 
was drawn, and in order to give greater effect the surface of the rock 
round about it was painted black, the figure itself being coloured with 
the most vivid red and white ; thus making it appear as if standing 
out from the rock. He thus describes the figure — “Its head was 
encircled by bright red rays, something like the rays one sees pro- 
ceeding from the sun when depicted on the signboard of a public 
house; inside of this came a broad stripe of very brilliant led, which 
was crossed by lines of white, but both inside and outside of this red 
space were narrow stripes of a still deeper red, intended probably to 
mark its boundaries ; the face was painted vividly white, and the eyes 
black, being, however, surrounded by red and yellow lines ; the body, 
hands, and arms were outlined in red, the body being curiously painted 
with red stripes and bars.” This imposing and awe-inspiring figure 
was not the only representation of the human form in this cave, for 
on the left-hand wall, which partly faced you on entering, was a 
painting, very vividly coloured, representing four heads joined together, 
drawn in such a manner, and in such a position, as to look up at the 
principal figure,” which he has described ; and “each bad a remarkable 
head-dress, coloured with bright blue, and one had a necklace on. 
Both of the lower figures ( Plate B ) had a sort of dress, painted with 
red in the same manner as that of the principal figure, and one of 
them had a band round Its waist. Each of the four faces was marked 
by a totally distinct expression of countenance; and although none of 
them had mouths, two, 1 thought, were otherwise good-looking. The 
whole painting was executed on a white ground. 3 * The next most 
remarkable drawing in the cave was an ellipse, three feet in length 
and one foot ten inches in breadth ( Plate C) ; the outside line was of 
a deep blue colour, the body of the ellipse being of a bright yellow, 
dotted over with red lines and spots, whilst across it ran two transverse 
lines of blue. This portion formed the ground or main part of the 
picture, and upon this ground the native artist had painted a kangaroo, 
two stone spear-heads, and two black balls. There was another sketch, 
representing a native carrying a kangaroo (Plate D). The number of 
drawings in this cave was from fifty to sixty, the majority of them 
consisting of men, kangaroos, &c. ; these latter figures, being carelessly 
and badly executed, were surmised to have held a different origin to 
those first described. Another very striking work of art exhibited in 
the gloomy cavities at the back of the main cavern was the outline of 
