ROCK PAINTINGS AND CARTINGS OF THE ABORIGINES. 
633 
■the fact of it being found in the same caves as the red figures inclines 
roe to believe that stone of this kind has been used in the composition 
of the red colouring matter with which some of the figures in those 
■caves have been drawn . 
The stone itself has a red streak not unlike the colour of these 
figures, and a drawing might be rendered durable by first smearing 
the rock with grease and then drawing the figure on it with a piece of 
this stone. 
Under conditions approximating to those under which the aboriginal 
artists laboured I have stencilled objects resembling those described 
by smearing the rock with fat, and then, having placed the object to be 
pictured on the greasy surface, I have blown flour in a dry state on to 
the rock around it. The only difference between those I have pro- 
duced myself and those I have seen in the Wollombi district is a 
certain dinginess of colour in the latter, for which time alone would 
account. The aboriginals may have obtained the white powder by 
crushing white pipeclay, two beds of which are to be found in the 
Wollombi district at the base of the Ilawkesbury Sandstone beds, and 
at the outcrop the pipeclay is often so stained by iron that it could be 
used to produce the yellow colour in which some of the hands are 
stencilled. 
Although our aboriginals bad no written language in our sense of 
the term, yet in some instances it has been shown (notably in “ The 
Aborigines of Victoria,” by Brough Smythe) beyond a shadow of a 
doubt that they are able to convey their thoughts to one another by 
means of characters earved on wood. In the paper above mentioned on 
the Bora ceremony, by Mr. II. IT. Mathews, there is given an example of 
pictography ; but as the aboriginal artist had been in contact with 
civilisation too much value should not be placed on this as a proof that 
they understood that art. I have also heard, although on rather 
doubtful authority, that the natives of Western Australia are able to 
communicate with each other by carving figures of animals on trees. 
No doubt many of these figures are fanciful, and many representing 
objects familiar to the aboriginals may have been drawn merely for 
pleasure ; .but it is hard to believe that the hands which we "find 
stencilled.in groups varying in number and in the relative positions of 
the individual members of the group — and that those series of lines 
called tribal marks to be seen varying in number and length— are 
without meaning. 
Plate II.— POCK CAPVINGS. 
By R. H. MATHEWS , L.S. 
The number and variety of the cave paintings discovered and 
recorded by Mr. Enright render it unnecessary for me to add any 
further examples. I will therefore proceed to describe a large number 
of aboriginal rock carvings discovered by myself. All the carvings 
shown . on Plate II. are situated in New South Wales, and, unless 
otherwise stated, are in the county of Cumberland. They are all 
carefully reproduced to a given scale, a copy of which is drawn upon 
the plate. The position of each carving on the public maps is stated 
in the descriptions. 
