Having elsewhere given tolerably full descriptions of the bullroarers used by several tribes, I shall not occupy any further space in this article. The Rev. Louis Schulze,† referring to the initiatory rites of the tribes on the Upper Finke river, which rises in the McDonnell Ranges, South Australia, states that the tjurunga, or bullroarer, in use there is sometimes made of slate, as well as of wood. The natives assert that the bullroarers are not made by the hand of man, thus leaving us to infer that they are produced in some supernatural way. Mr. Schulze also states that during the ceremonies, the men paint their bodies with fish-like figures, and other patterns.

DISCUSSION.

The CHAIRMAN.—I am sure we owe a debt to Mr. Mathews for having written this paper, and we are also under a debt to Dr. Walker for having read it.

I suppose the object of a paper of this class is to illustrate two things. First, the nature of aboriginal man and his tendency to art together with his power of illustrating things he has observed. The second object I suppose is to see if we can find out more about the different relationships of mankind. Take, for example, the curious story of these caves, which are almost entirely occupied with pictures of hands. It would seem as if the artist who took these caves as his study went in for a speciality in hands. One would like to know whether, in other parts of the world, anything similar has ever been discovered.

So far as I can see, the different departments of this paper are not much related one to another. The things drawn on trees are of a wholly different character from the things drawn on the walls of the caves, and so with the images inscribed on the ground. There was probably more of imagination than of skill, and that is

"Bullroarers used by the Australian Aborigines," Journ. Anthrop Inst., xxvii, 52-60, Plate VI.

"The Aborigines of the Upper and Middle Finke River," Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia, xiv, 210–246.

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very natural, and it leads us, of course, to the consideration of aboriginal man. He was evidently imaginative, but of an imagination more primitive in its nature, I should suppose, than their skill would be.

The reference to serpent worship towards the end of the paper is very interesting, because we know that there have been in many countries, far distant from one another, tendencies towards serpent worship and so towards the imitation of serpents and reptiles connected with serpents.

Then the "talking sticks" remind us of the North American Indians, who have samples of peculiar language, sometimes on sticks and sometimes on slugs of wood. We would like to know the relative dates of these different classes of objects and works of art.

I was rather surprised to see that Mr. Mathews had had a conversation with the native artist, the very person who apparently had produced some of these objects. We should like to know a little more about the date and the object which led the various persons to make those things-whether it was a mere freak or religious superstition, about which there is such uncommon

reserve.

The Rev. W. S. LACH-SZYRMA.-With regard to the subject of native art I fancy that it is much higher than one would suppose. The illustrations in Mrs. Langham Parker's book on Folklore are reproductions of native art, and I believe with regard to pictorial representations they are of a much higher stage than one would anticipate-indeed there is a realism, in some of the work which is represented, which certainly is striking. It gives one an idea of Australia in a rough way, and the natives; and being black they are fair representations of them, and they throw a light on the early stages of culture which even the people of Britain must have passed through. But the confusion of ideas of animals and men is remarkable. In some of their stories you hardly know whether they are referring to men, women or animals. In some of their sentences the idea seems to be rather confused, and I suppose is taken from the transmigration of souls and of metamorphoses and such expressions of thought as we find in the Arabian Nights and the transmigration into animals there represented. The subject of these Australians throws light on the matter, for they are one of the few people

existing on earth, at the end of the nineteenth century, who are really in that state in which we suppose Europeans were, probably, on this island, say a thousand years before Christ. The Tasmanians were, I believe, still more antique and belonged to the paleolithic stage. They, of course, have passed away; but the Australians are extremely interesting and still linger on in their early stage.

The Rev. F. A. WALKER, D.D.-There are one or two points which I think are of great interest in this paper.

I fancy it is a moot point whether one nation derives its arts and customs from a distant one, or whether, as human nature is much the same in all places, two nations that cannot communicate with each other have arrived at the same state of civilization.

The talking stick, mentioned by the author of the paper, appears to differ in its use from that adopted in other parts of the world, such as the scytale in Greece, where a cipher was used for writing a message lengthwise on paper. When it was rolled it was unintelligible, the man who received it could decipher the message; but the herald who carried it could not. Therefore there is a slight difference between what he carried and that carried by the Australians; because the messenger in the Australian case had to remember the heads of the message; but the Greek messenger on the contrary could not understand it, and I think in some cases the message was to put to death the man who conveyed the message.

I quite agree with what the Chairman has said that serpent worship is a relic or observance found not only in many lands but in every land of which we have knowledge, and I do not, therefore, think that the serpent worship of India need only be quoted, for I have seen so many instances of ancient effigies of the serpent in my travels in Italy. Evidently the idea of every race was to propitiate the principle of evil, which idea ultimately gave way to those who possessed the greater and vital power of the Gospel.

Mr. MARTIN ROUSE.-I should like to add, as the trend of the discussion is towards serpent worship, that the kings of Egypt decorated their heads with a serpent, as shown on the monuments. John Paton the missionary, when living in the New Hebrides, was called out one day by a man who said, "I have killed the Tebil!" "What do you mean?" Paton asked. "Matshiktahiki,"

he answered, giving the native name, the one who does all the mischief in the world, and causes all the wars." He took him round to his hut and showed him a huge sea-snake which he had slain. "That is not the devil," said Paton; but the man maintained that it was the creature which had brought all evil into the world.*

I do not agree with the speaker (if indeed it is his opinion) who said that these men had risen from a much ruder state. A very remarkable fact was brought to light at the British Association meeting at Oxford in 1894. Mr. Basil H. Thomson, who, while surveying the Fijian island Levuka, had studied its traditions, told the natives' story that their ancestors had come from the west in eight canoes, and that seven out of the eight were lost. The chief of the whole party was however saved; but seeing what had happened in the terrible storm, he exclaimed, Oh, my writings, my writings! I have lost my writings through that storm; and I am not able to transmit to my children the history of our people." So that nation had once possessed a means of exactly recording events which they had utterly lost when the missionaries reached the island.

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In 1893 or '94 Mr. George O'Brien wrote a pamphlet for the Civil Engineers Institution, on the conditions of climate in the desert of Atacama, in the course of which he stated that at a point on the Inca road near to the desert there is a large inscription in Quichra, the language of the ancient people of Peru; whereas the Spanish historians tell us that at the conquest they had no writing; but there stands that great slab with writing upon it.

But just as nations and tribes through degrading superstitions lost the intelligent knowledge of their Creator, so through constant wars did they lose many industrial and refining arts; and the more they moved away from one another into remote islands and peninsulas, while continuing their idolatries and giving free rein to jealousy and revenge, the more completely did they forget true religion and noble handicraft. It used to be said that the Australians had no religion, I daresay that is within the memory of everyone here. That false accusation was utterly dispelled by John Paton of the New Hebrides. When crossing

* John J. Paton, ii, 156.

over to Australia he took with him a bag of charms which were worshipped as gods by his islanders. He showed them to the black natives of Australia upon several occasions, and they admitted that they had "gods" like them used by their "doctors." He then twice in the presence of European witnesses bought for a handsome price several gods from an Australian doctor and caused terror to other blacks by showing them.

Numerous witnesses themselves formally narrate these events, one deposition being signed by a Victorian magistrate, Mr. Robert Hood of Hexham. Upon the latter's asking why he had never seen or heard of these things before, the answer came, "Long ago white men laughed at black fellows praying to their idols. Black fellows said, white men never see them again. No white men alive now have seen what have seen."

you

Professor LOGAN LOBLEY.-In the Jermyn Street Museum there are some remarkable illustrations of aboriginal art. Along with a portion of the floor of a cave in the south of France there are exhibited bones with the representation of a reindeer, which were therefore contemporaneous with man in that part of Europe, and that reminds us of the Neolithic Period of that part of Europe long years ago.

It is also noteworthy in connection with the paper that all the indigenous animals of Australia are of a very early type, and also the vegetation. We also see now that these have remained practically unchanged for a long period.

The Rev. G. F. WHIDBORNE, M.A.-I should like to say a word upon what has fallen from the last speaker.

We have not any distinct indication as to whether the writer of the paper regards these as recent drawings or old drawings.

It strikes me they must represent a very high state of intellectual advance, and one would like to know whether the present natives can achieve such things, or whether there is any reason to suppose that they are remains of lost civilization. We know that sometimes, even those very old drawings referred to as of the stone age, are really very clever and, perhaps, show us much greater advance in human culture than one is apt to suppose they do. I remember once hearing a lecture, long ago, by a gentleman on the rude drawings of ancient days on bone. The lecturer was a man of high culture, and he not only gave us facsimiles of those rude drawings, but he wanted to illustrate some points in regard to