148 
president’s ADDRESS — SECTION E. 
mouthpiece (if I may so call the mouth end) is If inches, and that of the 
outer end is If inches. The mouthpiece is the natural colour of the 
wood, though darkened by constant use from the hands and lips ; the 
othe r portions are painted in sections, red and white alternately, with, 
along the whole length, incisions made with some sharp instrument in 
t ns iortn a a a A A A A. Where the bamboo has split, the openings have 
been filled with gum. A monotonous sound is produced by the breath 
or the performer. A species of Sistrum is in use {Plate W ) about 
lOO mdes inland from Port Douglas and Cairns, on the north-east coast 
o Queensland, consisting of seven shells strung on string, and suspended 
•“9 11 ? a y er tebra of a dog. The apices have been completely ground 
oh, leaving only two body whorls, and these have been transversely 
cut through. The string, which is two-ply, and made of fibre dyed 
brown is passed through the hollow body whorls of the shells and out 
t no ugh each slit on the backs. The two parts are brought together 
and knotted so as to form a loop. One of the free ends is then put 
through the neural canal of the vertebra and tied. In two of the 
shells the string passes through the slits, and not vertically down the 
body ot the whorl at all. The jingle caused by shaking the shells is 
pleasant and melodious, the vertebra being licld in the hand I am 
indebted to my friend Mr. E. Etheridge, the Paleontologist of the 
Australian Museum at Sydney, for this description of tlie Australian 
Sistrum. 
CONCLUSION. 
The art and skill with which some of the figures are drawn, and 
the great effect which has been produced by such simple means, render 
it most probable that many of them must have been executed with the 
intention of exercising an influence upon the fears and superstitious 
feelings of the ignorant and barbarous natives ; for such a purpose 
they are, indeed, well calculated. I have no doubt that were this 
subject followed up by intelligent explorers and others, who may be 
brought into contact with examples of native art, much profit'and 
great pleasure would be derived from their reproduction and publica- 
tion. A family likeness marks all of them j the details are everywhere 
the same ; no variations show themselves. All arc imitative, and are 
the 1 esultant product of untutored taste, although diligent research 
ma\ bring to light other illustrations of the awakening consciousness 
of the savage, who may have tried in carving, sculpture, or in painting 
to express the artistic tastes he felt working within him. Australia 
contains a secret that may possibly be discovered if the symbolic 
character found in numerous places can be interpreted. Until this 
is determined, and what is now unintelligible made clear, all con- 
clusions, in default of other evidence, must necessarily be conjectural. 
In respect to the quarries and the wells, and the patient toil they 
have entailed in their working, I must conclude that when one 
witnesses the slow progress made by good workmen, aided by steel 
and the most modern explosives, and when one calls to mind the fact 
that the natives bad no better tools tlian they could fashiou out of 
wood or stone, the realisation of the vast amount of labour involved in 
these excavations strikes one with amazement. 
