A few fragmentary references are to be found among the writings of explorers, early Australian historians, missionaries, and others at different times in regard to figures drawn upon trees and upon the ground by the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent, but so far as I am aware no attempt has yet been made to classify these drawings or to give a detailed description of them. As I have been recording and describing with some measure of success the rock pictures of the Australian aborigines, it seems fitting that I should supplement my researches by a short paper on pictures cut or painted upon trees or delineated upon the ground in various ways by these people. In treating of this subject it will be necessary to divide it into two parts-one dealing with the earthen figures of different kinds, the other describing the devices drawn upon trees. Before proceeding to describe the drawings seen by myself under these two divisions it will be interesting to make a few selections from the books of early Australian writers and others in regard to these works of native art observed in different parts of the continent, both for purposes of comparison and to show their wide geographic range. *“Aboriginal Rock Paintings and Carvings in New South Wales," published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vII, N. 8., pp. 143-156: "The Aboriginal Rock Pictures of Australia," in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Queensland Branch, x, pp. 46-70, and “Australian Rock Pictures," in The American Anthropologist, vin, pp. 268-278. 5 (33) Drawings on the Ground These drawings consist of several kinds. (1) Some are outlined by laying down logs, bark, or bushes to a certain height and then covering them with earth. This was no doubt done because the natives had very primitive tools for digging; in large figures raising a considerable quantity of earth would require much time and labor, especially if the ground were hard or clayey. (2) Others are formed entirely of loose earth heaped up into the required shape. A modification of this form of drawing was observable on the Bora ground at Gundabloui, described by me, where there were two human figures, a man and a woman, roughly modeled in raised earth; then a sheet of bark was cut into human outline, showing the arms, legs, etc., and this was laid on top of the raised earth.* (3) Another kind of drawing consists of figures of men, animals, and devices in various patterns cut into the surface of the ground, a nick or groove from two to three inches wide and about two inches deep being cut in the turf along the outline of each. These grooves were cut with tomahawks or with flat pieces of wood on which an edge had been formed. (4) Others again are merely drawn upon the sand with a stick. The earliest authentic account of native drawings on the turf with which I am acquainted is that contained in Mr J. Henderson's work. In describing a Bora ground near Wellington, New South Wales, he says: "A long straight avenue of trees extended for about a mile. On one extremity of this, the earth had been heaped up, so as to resemble the gigantic figure of a human being extended on his breast, while through the whole length of this sylvan temple a variety of other characters were observed rudely imprinted on the turf." Mr Henderson states also that "the devices on the turf bore a strong similitude to the lingen of the Hindoos, and that he "recognized several hieroglyphics which seemed also to represent under different forms the same symbol which the Hindoos have selected in order * Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxiv, p. 416. These drawings on the turf are sometimes very numerous and cover a considerable area At Gundabloui a space 320 yards long by 40 feet wide was covered with a great variety of such drawings. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxiv, pp. 414-418; Journ. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxvIII, pp. 109–114. "Observations on the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemans Land," 1832, pp. 145, 146. to indicate the creative attributes of the divinity." In a plate at the end of his work he gives copies of a few of these characters. The Rev. William Ridley* describes a Bora ground on which "there was the horizontal figure of a man roughly modeled by laying down sticks and covering them with earth, so as to raise it from four to seven inches above the level of the ground. It was 22 feet long, 12 feet from hand to hand, and the width of the body four feet." He gives an illustration of this figure on the same page. While exploring in Cape York peninsula, Queensland, Mr Norman Taylor found on the hardened earth flats at the back of a beach some regularly drawn turtles cut out in outline.† At a corroboree witnessed by Mr W. T. Wyndham near either Barwan or Condamine river, Queensland, he saw an image made of earth and logs on the surface of the ground, which the blacks told him represented the bunyip, warway, or polgun, a water monster. Mr E. M. Curr thus refers to a raised earthen figured formed by the aborigines in the county of Karkarooc, Victoria: "The work was described to me as a mound about 100 feet or yards long, I forget which, made to resemble a huge snake. Its locality was close to the Murray river, some twenty miles below Euston, but on the other side. It was said by the blacks to have been made to charm away the smallpox which raged in those parts probably about 1820 or 1830.§ Mr A. W. Howitt in speaking of the initiation ceremonies of the blacks about Bega, New South Wales, says: "The old men having carefully cleared a piece of ground proceed to mold in earth in high relief the life-sized figure of a naked man in the attitude of the dance This is Daramulun." || Mr J. K. McKay informs me that upward of 30 years ago he saw a figure made by the aborigines on the right bank of Moonie river, near a large water hole in that stream, about 30 miles above Nindigully. It was apparently intended to represent a swan of enormous proportions. The body was about 15 feet long, about 6 feet wide, and 4 feet high; it was formed of bushes and leaves * Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vu, p. 255. + R. B. Smyth's Aborigines of Victoria, 1, p. 292. The Australian Race, 111, p. 681. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., XII, p. 452. THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [Vol. IX pressed closely together and covered with a thick coating of mud; the head and neck consisted of a bent log of the required shape about 10 feet long, one extremity of which was fixed into the ground at one end of the heap of bushes, the other extremity being cut to represent the head, which was elevated several feet above the surface; the whole figure was then ornamented with daubs of white and red, the head being painted red. This figure was at a deserted camp of the natives, and before going away they had taken all the sheets of bark which they had been using for their own shelters or gunyahs and laid them over the monster to protect it from rain. There was a cleared space about 20 or 30 feet wide all round this animal, where the natives had apparently been dancing corroborees while remaining in the camp adjacent. In my paper on "The Bora or Initiation Ceremonies of the Kamilaroi Tribe "* I gave a full and detailed description of a variety of figures drawn upon the soil in various ways. In plate XXI of that paper, figure 3 represents a horizontal image of Baiamai 15 feet long and formed of logs covered with earth and raised 2 feet 6 inches above the ground. Figures 2, 4, and 16 represent two snakes, a woman, and an emu respectively, all composed of raised earth. Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 were formed by cutting grooves into the surface of the soil along the outlines of the objects to be drawn. Figure 5 of the plate referred to is especially interesting, representing a group of twelve persons life size, their hands and feet joining the hands and feet of others. Beside the figures just referred to, other objects were formed on the ground in a similar manner. Some of the drawings displayed the inventive, humorous, and imitative faculties of the natives. As an example, I may refer to the group representing a stump, a broken cart, a horse, and the driver, illustrating the adventures of an old king dressed in his regalia, on his way to the Bora. The raised earthen figure of a bullock, on one end of which was fixed the skeleton of a bullock's head, a crooked stick stuck in the other end for a tail, is also deserving of attention.‡ In my paper on an "Aboriginal Bora held at Gundabloui in 1894" is described a gigantic figure of an iguana, about 20 feet *Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xXIV, pp. 411-427. Loc. cit., p. 416. Journ. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxvIII, p. 127. long, composed of pieces of bark covered with earth. The pieces of bark were about 2 feet 6 inches long, chopped in the middle sufficiently to admit of their being bent at an acute angle. The two ends were then placed on the ground about 18 inches apart and about a foot high, forming a figure like the gable end of a house. A sufficient number of these were used in continuation to make up the required length of the body, and the whole was then covered over with earth. The head, tail, and legs were made of earth alone. A gentleman who has been engaged on stations in northern Queensland informs me that on the Lower Gilbert river, which flows into the gulf of Carpentaria, he saw the representation of an alligator formed by heaping up the loose earth into the required shape. It was about 25 feet long, 2 feet wide across the body, and 1 foot high. He also told me that he had occasionally seen similar figures formed on the ground on other rivers in that part of the country. Mr J. W. Fawcett informs me that at Townsville, Queensland, between 1870 and 1875, he saw the figure of a man formed on the ground by means of raised earth, the head pointing toward the north. There were other figures contiguous, but their outline was broken and partially leveled by stock. The same correspondent also mentions having seen other earth-molded figures about a mile northerly from Charters Towers, Queensland. Some of these figures appeared to have been intended for emus and kangaroos, but were much trodden down by cattle and sheep. The same correspondent, writing from Dungeness, near the mouth of Herbert river, Queensland, states that the aborigines of that place and also those of Hinchinbrook island adjacent, sometimes amused themselves by drawing figures on the beach with sticks. Some of the figures mentioned represented men, birds, lizards, turtles, canoes, etc. Mr S. Gason, of Beltana, South Australia, states that he has seen the aborigines, old and young, amuse themselves by portraying various objects on the sand by means of a piece of stick. These drawings consisted chiefly of kangaroos, dogs, snakes, fish, and emus and other birds. Mr C. Winnecke informs me that it is a frequent pastime of the natives in several places in South Australia, as well as in the northern territory, to select a clay-pan and on its flat surface to |