THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [Vol. IX outline circles, squares, and other figures by means of small stones placed in a single row along the outlines of the figures to be delineated. The stones are sometimes carried to the claypans from long distances, none being obtainable in the immediate vicinity. I will now proceed to give a detailed description, from personal observation, of all the drawings on the ground, which are shown in accompanying figures 18 to 36. Figure 18-This is a huge representation of Baiamai, and was formed entirely of loose earth, heaped to the height of two feet. The length of the figure was 15 feet, the width from hand to hand 12 feet 3 inches, and the body was built in proportion. This raised earthen drawing was on a Bora ground of one of the Kamilaroi tribes and was situated close to the left bank of Gnoura Gnoura creek, about two miles northerly from the town of Kunopia, parish of Boonanga, county of Benarba, New South Wales. Figure 19-This drawing, which represents Gunnanbeely, the wife of Baiamai, was also composed of the earth, heaped so as to resemble a gigantic human being extended on the ground. The length of the body was 10 feet, the width from hand to hand 8 feet, and the height above the surface of the ground 1 foot 6 inches. This figure was close to the image of Baiamai described in the last paragraph. Figure 20-This colossal horizontal representation of Baiamai was formed on a Būrbung ground of one of the Wiradthuri tribes and is situated near the left bank of Bulgeraga creek, an Ana branch of Macquarie river, in the parish of Wullamgambone, county of Gregory, New South Wales. It was composed entirely of raised earth, and was 21 feet 8 inches long, 5 feet 6 inches across the body, and the arms were each 7 feet 3 inches long. The height of the breast above the level of the ground was about 1 foot 6 inches. Figure 21-On the same Burbung ground as figure 20 was a life-sized representation of a woman, outlined by means of a nick or groove cut in the ground about 2 inches deep and from 2 to 3 inches wide, cut out with tomahawks and sharpened sticks. Figure 22-Not far from figure 20 was a drawing which the blacks informed me was intended for one of Baiamai's sons, executed in the same manner as figure 21. The length was 6 feet 6 inches and the width from hand to hand four feet. A grooved line, apparently for ornamentation, was cut along the outside of each arm and along the body down to the foot on each side of this figure, as shown in the figure. Figure 23-About a chain from the feet of Baiamai, figure 20, was the representation of an emu, delineated by means of a groove cut in the soil; its length from the point of the bill to the end of the tail was 6 feet 7 inches, and from the feet to the curve of the back four feet. Figures 24 to 30-These represent some of the devices cut upon the turf on the Kamilaroi Bora ground at Gundabloui, near Moonie river, parish of Gundabloui, county of Finch, New South Wales. There were about 40 of these designs cut in the ground in various places and at irregular intervals along the track connecting the two circles. They consisted chiefly of straight, wavy, and zigzag lines, forming imperfect rectangles, ovals, and different indefinite patterns, no two of which are alike, although there is a general similarity in their construction. Three of these carvings in the soil are shown in figures 6, 7, 8, plate XXI, of my paper on "The Bora or Initiation Ceremonies of the Kamilaroi Tribe."* Figures 31 to 35-These designs were cut in the soil on the Wiradthuri Būrbŭng ground referred to in describing figure 20, and have a general resemblance to figures 24 to 30 just described. There were a considerable number of these devices cut upon the ground in all the clear spaces between the trees and saplings throughout a distance of about 140 yards. Designs such as these, whether cut upon the ground or upon trees, are called yammunyamun by the natives of the Kamilaroi and Wiradthuri tribes. Figure 36-This drawing, which occurs on the Būrbung ground previously mentioned, represents a legendary monster called Wahwee by the natives of the Castlereagh, Macquarie, and Barwan rivers. It is supposed to have its abode in very deep water holes and devours human beings. The figure here shown measures 59 feet in length and a foot across the body at the widest part; it is formed by a nick or groove about three inches wide. and two inches deep cut in the turf along its outline; it has a head and neck like a large snake, and it is here delineated with its tail coiled round the butt of a belar sapling. This is probably the mythical animal Mr Wyndham calls warway and which was * Journ. Anthrop. Inst., XXIV, pp. 411-427. composed of earth and logs in the case mentioned by him. my quotation at page 35 of this paper.) Drawings on Trees (See The specimens of native art found upon trees are executed in various ways. (1) The mode of drawing most generally adopted is to outline the object by a nick cut with the tomahawk into the bark of the tree as in figure 11. (2) In other cases the whole of the bark within the outline of the figure is removed (figures 3, 6, and 16). (3) In some cases a portion of the bark is first removed from the tree and the designs are then cut into the wood as in the case mentioned by Mr Oxley. (4) Some of these native drawings are merely scratched upon the bark of the tree, as in the instances observed by Sir George Grey, quoted in this paper. (5) Others again are painted on the tree with ocher or charcoal. In 1817 Mr John Oxley, surveyor general, found the grave of a native on Lachlan river, New South Wales. It consisted of a semicircular mound of earth with three rows of seats formed of the soil, which was trenched up from between them. Two trees which stood near had the bark removed from the side facing the tomb, and curious characters were cut upon them.* On Macquarie river, below the junction of Taylors creek, New South Wales, Captain Sturt in 1828 noticed a grave which consisted of an oblong mound with three semicircular seats. A walk encompassed the whole, from which three others branched off for a few yards only into the forest. Several trees overhanging the grave were fancifully carved on the inner side, and on one the shape of a heart (or shield?) was deeply engraved.† Lieutenant W. H. Breton describes some marked trees which he saw in the Wollombi district, New South Wales, between the years 1830-33. "At a battle between two native tribes four men and two women of the Comleroy [Kamilaroi] tribe were slain. The men were buried together, and at the burial place the trees for some distance around to the height of 15 to 20 feet were carved over with grotesque figures meant to represent kangaroos, emus, opossums, snakes, etc., with rude representations also of the weapons they use." In another place, in referring to a Bora * Two Expeds. Interior N. S. Wales, pp. 138–141. |