142 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS — SECTION E. 
Mr. Bradshaw, a station-holder on the Eitzroy .River, stated to 
me that on the Prince Regent’s River he saw numerous caves and 
recesses in the rocks, the walls of which were adorned with native 
paintings, coloured in red, black, brown, yellow, white, and a pale blue. 
Some of the human figures were life-size, the bodies and limbs very 
attenuated, and represented as having numerous tassel-shaped adorn- 
ments appended to the hair, neck, wrist, arms, and legs (Plates _ZT, Z, 
JZ, JV) ; but the most remarkable fact in connection with these 
drawings is that, wherever a profile is shown, the features are of a 
most pronounced aquiline type, quite different from those of any 
native lie encountered. Indeed, looking at some of the groups, one 
might almost think himself viewing the painted walls of an Egyptian 
temple. These sketches, he said, seemed to be of great age, but over 
the surface of some of them were drawn in fresher colours smaller 
and more recent scenes, and rude forms of animals, such as the 
wallaby, kangaroo, porcupine, crocodile, &c., &c. In one or two 
places he noticed alphabetical characters, somewhat similar to those 
seen by Sir George Grey in nearly the same latitude, but many miles 
westwards on the Glenelg River. 
At Buckland’s tableland, in Central Queensland, on the banks 
of Nardoo Creek, is a high cliff, and on its face is a magnificently 
executed picture representing a lake of fire, out of which are stretched 
dusky brown arms in hundreds in every conceivable position, the 
muscles knotted, and the hands grasping convulsively, some pointing 
a weird finger upwards, others clenched as in the agonies of death, as 
though a host were engulfed in a seething lake of fire. All these 
limbs are life-size, and the whole picture is about 70 feet across. 
Although the hands and arms are little more than outlines, yet so 
faithful are these from an anatomical point of view that every joint 
can be seen, and each looks alive. The proportions of the limbs 
indicate that they are those of blacks, and on some of the hands the 
fingers are bent backwards, as only little girls and aboriginals can 
bend them. Near the bottom of this picture feet are represented, 
mostly men’s and women’s sizes ; there are, however, some that are 
children’s. 
In addition, there are representations of boomerangs, nulla-nullas, 
coolimans, stone tomahawks, and other implements. The ground- 
work of this grand picture is painted in pigments of red, white, blue, 
and yellow, giving the general effect of a mass of sulphurous fire. 
The figures are the natural colour of the rock. Over the top of this 
pictograph is a projecting ledge varying in width from 4 feet to 6 
feet , the under side of this ledge is also painted. It is evidently of 
high antiquity, as the lowest of the pictures is at least 21 feet above 
any standing point, and is on the smooth face of a slab of rock, so 
that any bank or ledge of rock giving foothold must have been 
disintegrated and washed away since the picture was executed. On 
a close examination, judging from the peculiar granulated appearance 
of the groundwork and the absence of hard outline, the work appears 
to have been done in the way of splash-work, the object to be repre- 
sented being held fiat against the rock, and the pigment blown over it 
in a spray. The whole surface covered by this painting is above 500 
square feet. The natives in the neighbourhood have a horror of this 
place, and when questioned they declare they can give no information 
