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Polynesia, and that the numerals are the same in the languages of both countries ?

One remark more I would add. The writer alludes to the vast buildings in Egypt in ancient times, and intimates that when they were built the Egyptians had no knowledge of iron. Now it is true that Prof. Flinders Petrie holds that view: but M. Maspero holds the contrary. He says that in the masonry of the Pyramids a few remnants of iron tools have been found and none of bronze; and if more have not been found elsewhere it is highly probable that it is because iron rusts away more readily than any other metal; and he holds it as inconceivable that those vast structures could have been built without iron tools and especially that the statues could be so finished. He also denies that the Egyptians had the power to make their copper "as hard as iron," or to give it an iron-like temper. On the other hand he says the Egyptians had no knowledge of steel, but that in all likelihood they work, as he has known skilled forgers of antiquities to do. "These men," says he, "work with some twenty common iron chisels at hand, which after a very few turns are good for nothing. When one is blunted, they take up another, and so on till the stock is exhausted. Then they go to the forge, and put their tools into working order again. The process is neither so long nor so difficult as might be supposed. In the Boulak Museum there may be seen a life-sized head which was produced from a block of black and red granite in less than a fortnight by one of the best forgers in Luxor."

Mr. THEO. PINCHES, LL.D.-There is one question as to metals which is a very interesting one. My speciality, the study of Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, shows, it seems to me, that the use of iron was known at a very remote period-how far back I cannot say; but the Babylonians and Assyrians used it largely, and also copper and bronze.

It is a remarkable thing that jade is so very scarce in that part of the world, and that there have been so few examples of it found. If I remember rightly there is only one object of jade from Babylon and that is a cylinder seal, now in the British Museum. Others

may have been found of late years; but, if so, no knowledge of it has come to me.

The question of the colour of jasper, referred to in the paper, is somewhat new, and, as the Secretary remarked, in the course of reading it, it is generally of a red colour; but green jasper does occur.

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There are some green salt-cellars in the British Museum that are described as jasper.

The Babylonians studied astronomy for the purpose of foretelling events, and not for the purpose of navigating the ocean; and their knowledge of it is shown by the fact that they had named most of the stars, probably all the stars they could see, and it is to them that we owe the present names of the signs of the zodiac, and probably of most of the constellations.

The CHAIRMAN.-I think I shall be entirely in accord with the feeling of the meeting in asking our Secretary to communicate to the author our thanks for his very interesting paper.

The SECRETARY.-I should like to ask Dr. Walker what authority he has for making brass synonymous with bronze? Certainly they are not anything of the kind.

Rev. F. A. WALKER, D.D.-All I meant to indicate was that the word translated "brass," in the Holy Scriptures, is really bronze. It is not the same amalgam as brass.

[The meeting then terminated.]

ORDINARY MEETING.*

THE REV. CANON GIRDLESTONE, IN THE CHAIR.

The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the following paper was read by the Rev. Dr. Walker in the absence of the Author :

PICTORIAL ART AMONG THE

AUSTRALIAN

ABORIGINES. By R. H. MATHEWS, Esq., L.S. (With two Plates.)

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INTRODUCTORY.

OST of the drawings of the Australian aborigines are very primitive in execution, and conventional in type, but they are nevertheless of unquestionable value to the student of archæology. I have made accurate copies of a large number of these pictorial representations, which have not hitherto been recorded, and propose to treat the subject under the following divisions, namely: Rock PaintingsRock Carvings-Marked Trees-Drawings on the Ground-Images-and Carvings on Wooden Implements.

The Right Rev. Dr. Thornton, Bishop of Ballarat, Victoria, having favoured me with a copy of his valuable paper on "Problems of Aboriginal Art in Australia," read before your Institute on the 7th of April, 1897,† I have presumed to forward the following pages on the same subject, in the hope that they may, in some slight degree, serve to continue the interest awakened by his Lordship's paper. (I

* December 4th, 1899.

+ Journ. Trans. Vic. Inst., vol. xxx, pp. 205-232.

may state that this subject was treated by me before the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Section F, at Sydney, New South Wales, January, 1898.)

ROCK PAINTINGS.

In a number of articles contributed to different ethnological and philosophical societies, I have given a short account of the first discovery of these drawings in several parts of Australia, and described the manner in which the different styles of rock paintings are produced by the native artists, so that it will not be necessary to again refer to these parts of the subject. I shall therefore proceed at once to describe the cave paintings.

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Cave 1.-This shelter is situated in a high escarpment of Hawkesbury sandstone, known as "The Wallaby Rock,' near the left side of a small creek, about 15 chains in a north-easterly direction from the north-east corner of Portion No. 58 of 40 acres, in the parish of Bulga, county of Hunter. It is 85 feet long, and extends into the face of the cliff 18 feet at the widest part; the height from the floor to the roof at the back of the recess is 8 feet, which increases to 11 feet 6 inches at the entrance. The floor consists chiefly of soil and ashes, through which the rock protrudes in places. The front of the cave faces N. 60° W., and judging by the smoke-stains on the roof, as well as by the ashes on the floor, appears to have been used as a camping place by the aborigines. On digging into the floor, I found several stone-knives used by the natives in dressing the skins of animals, and for other purposes.

The total number of hands in this shelter, all of which are shown in the plate, is ninety-seven, four of them being shut hands, and thirty right hands. Some of them are smaller than others, and in several the arm is delineated almost to the elbow. Among the hands are a boomerang, and tomahawk with handle, executed in white stencil in the same manner. There are also three groups of lines drawn in white; the first group contains eight lines 9 inches long, with a white bar across the top of them; the second group has ten white lines 2 feet long; and the third group eight lines 15 inches in length. White and red lines, similar in character to these, have been observed in a number of caves, and are worthy of careful study and comparison. On the left of the boomerang is a pick-shaped object drawn in red,

the only instance of the employment of that colour in the cave. The other paintings represent a fish, a human figure, and two irregularly shaped objects, all drawn in white out

line.

This cave is one of the largest-as well as being amongst those containing the greatest number of drawings-which I have visited. To a spectator standing in front of it, with its immense array of upwards of a hundred objects painted in white on the dark coloured rock, the view is very imposing. The distance from the cave to the Macdonald river, in which the water is permanent, does not exceed half-a-mile.

Cave 2. This rock-shelter is situated at a place known as "The Gulf," about 13 or 14 miles from Rylstone, in the parish of Growee, county of Phillip. It is within sight of the main road from Rylstone to Bylong, and on the western side of it. The cave consists of a large hollow in a huge isolated boulder of Hawkesbury sandstone about 60 feet in diameter, and 35 feet high. The cavity measures 37 feet in length, 13 feet in height, and 12 feet in depth from the entrance to the back wall, and faces N. 35° E. The floor is composed of sandy soil near the front, but farther in the rock comes to the surface, and the cave bears evidence of having been occupied as a place of residence. Permanent water is obtainable in Gulf Creek which runs close by.

If the observer faces the cave, a number of hands and two feet may be seen on the left-the latter being apparently those of a child, six or eight years old-all done in red stencil. Looking towards the right we see seven hands, one of them being shut, stencilled in white, and above them four more hands done in red stencil. Owing to the disintegration of the face of the rock on which the figures appear, a considerable number of hands have become too indistinct to be copied. The lowest of the figures are about 8 feet from the floor, and the highest about 12, there being a ledge of rock running along the back wall of the cave, about 6 feet from the ground, upon which the operators probably stood when doing the work.

This cave is chiefly remarkable for the two stencilled feet, which are about 12 feet from the surface of the ground. In order to stencil them at that height, it is likely that forked saplings were placed against the rock to support the weight of the child, who held its feet in position whilst the artist blew the colouring pigment around them. A theory propounded by some of the white residents in that district is

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