ground of the Port Macquarie tribe, he says "the bark of any trees that are near is carved into rude representations of different animals."*

Mr J. Henderson in 1832, in describing a place where the native ceremonies of initiation had been performed, says: "The devices on the trees represented snakes, the opossum, the emu, the kangaroo, the cockchafer, etc., while others were stated to indicate the forked lightning, warlike implements and falling meteors." Farther on, in describing the burial of a native, he says: "A symbol is afterwards carved upon the nearest tree, which seems to indicate the particular tribe to which the individual may have belonged."†

Mr James Backhouse, a missionary, while staying at the mission station near Wellington, New South Wales, in 1835, says: "We went to see the grave of a native black, over which a mound of earth was raised up. On one side of this mound and extending a third part of the way round it there was a trench formed of two low banks of earth. On the same side some undulating lines and others forming imperfect ovals were inscribed on the trunks of adjacent trees."

Sir George Grey mentions some trees which he saw near Prince Regents river, Western Australia, in 1837, on which were cut "several successive rows of notches." He also "often found rude drawings scratched upon the trees, but none of these sketches indicated anything but a very ordinary degree of talent; some were so imperfect that it was impossible to tell what they were intended to represent." S

Captain Wickham || says: "In the southern parts of New Holland a well cleared and secluded spot is chosen as a burial ground. Frequently a circular mound is raised over the body, around which several narrow circles are described. These places are held sacred and kept exceedingly neat and free from shrubs. Frequently the trunks of the surrounding trees are carved over with various devices."

In the district around the gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland,

*Excursions in N. S. W., W. A., and V. D. L., 1830-1833, 3d ed., pp. 179-180 and 203-205. + Obs. Cols. N. S. W. and V. D. L., 1832, pp. 147-149. Narrative of a visit to the Australian Colonies, p. 322. Two Expeds. N. W. and W. Australia, I, pp. 112, 113. Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1842, XII, p. 83.

Leichhardt saw a gum tree, in 1846, "on which a native had carved a representation of the foot of an emu, and he had performed it with all the exactness of a good observer."

Some marked trees are mentioned by J. M. Stuart as having been seen by him in 1861 at Marchant Springs, on Finke river, South Australia. He says: "The natives had made a drawing on the bark of two trees-two figures in the shape of hearts-intended, I suppose, to represent shields. There was a bar down the center, on either side of which were marks like broad arrows. On the outside were also a number of arrows and other small marks."

Mr E. Giles, in speaking of the natives of the Lower Murrumbidgee river and adjacent country, says: "In their cemeteries they usually fence off elliptical spaces with logs and brush and make marks on the surrounding trees which other natives can read and interpret." He also says he has known natives to leave marks on the ground, so that the other natives could say or know where to go and find them.*

Mr R. Brough Smyth says: "The natives of the Murray and Darling rivers and adjacent country carved on the trees near the tombs of deceased warriors strange figures, having meanings no doubt intelligible to all the tribes in the vast area watered by these rivers."†

Mr E. M. Curr gives an illustration showing a tree on the Diamantina river, Queensland, marked by the Breeaba tribe to commemorate one of their fights, which took place in the locality.

. . To

The same author says in another place, in speaking of the tribe at the mouth of the Leichhardt river, Queensland: "The cere mony of initiation is carried on in camps marked in a peculiar way, and at these Mr Armit has seen painted on a conspicuous tree with red ocher or blood the figure of a hand. mark a clean surface with a dirty, greasy, or painted hand is a common practice of our blacks, and I have seen them do it on several places long distances apart." In another place he says: "I have often myself seen the blacks imprinting their hands, stained with red ocher, on suitable surfaces in this way."S

*Explorations in Central Australia.

† Aborigines of Victoria, 1, p. 286.

The Australian Race, 11, p. 433 and plate.

Loc. cit., II, p. 301; 1, p. 679.

In my paper on The Bora or Initiation Ceremonies of the Kamilaroi Tribe "* I showed (plate XXI, figures 9 to 13) a number of trees which were marked on that occasion. Figure 12 of that plate shows an iguana 3 feet long outlined by a cut in the bark of the tree; figure 11 represents two small human figures cut on a tree in a similar manner; figures 9, 10, and 13 show three trees marked with the ordinary nondescript designs observable on Bora grounds generally. About a dozen trees were marked on that Bora ground, but I selected five of the most representative of them for illustration in plate XXI of the journal quoted.

The drawings cut upon trees, which are shown in figures 1 to 17 herewith, I will now describe in regular order and in detail. The figures which are shaded on the plate denote those which have the whole of the bark cut away within their outlines; the others are in outline only.

Figure 1-These marks cut upon a belar tree on the Burbung ground, previously mentioned as being situated on Bulgeraga creek, are intended to represent the marks left by lightning. The longitudinal strips indicate the course of the electric fluid down. the tree, while the zigzag lines represent the forked lightning itself.

Figure 2-These drawings, which also are on a belar tree, represent two fish and some irregular lines cut through the bark on either side of them. One of the fish is two feet ten inches long and a foot wide and is represented with its head upward; the other fish is 1 foot 8 inches long and 9 inches wide and has its head pointing downward. The whole of the bark within the outline of both fish has been removed and the surface of the wood painted blue. My aboriginal guide told me the blue color here used was obtained from white people, and is that used in washing clothes.

In

Figure 3-The upper object evidently represents the new moon, but whether the other figure is intended for a full moon or for the sun I was unable to definitely determine. In both figures the whole of the bark within their outline had been removed. this tree, which is a belar, there is a very good representation of an eagle-hawk's nest built in a fork of the tree about 22 feet from the ground.

* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxiv, pp. 411-427.

Figure 4-This piece of yammunyamun is formed by means of lines cut with a tomahawk out of the bark of a belar tree. In the small space between the two oval designs the whole of the bark has been removed.

Figure 5-The figure here depicted is intended for a mud-turtle and is cut upon a belar tree. The body is 16 inches long by 11 inches wide and its legs are about 4 inches long; the head and neck are 19 inches long, from which the whole of the bark has been removed, while the remainder of the figure is outlined by a nick in the bark.

Figure 6-This drawing represents an iguana 6 feet long and 9 inches across the body, climbing a belar tree. On the hind legs claws are depicted, but these are omitted on the front legs. The whole of the bark within the outline of this animal has been removed. Figures 1 to 6 here described are all situated on the same Burbung ground and are scattered at intervals along a space of about a hundred yards. I counted 59 marked trees at this spot, but the six here reproduced are some of the most interesting.

Figure 7-These marks are cut upon a box tree at the Bora ground, on Gnoura Gnoura creek. The lower object resembles the head of a fish and is a foot long by 8 inches wide. There are three V-shaped devices formed by double nicks of the tomahawk. There is an imitation of an eagle-hawk's nest in this tree, with steps leading up to it, two of which are visible in the plate.

Figure 8-The design here depicted is cut upon a large box tree and consists of pairs of parallel lines cut into the bark in this way. The design covers a space about 4 feet long by about 3 feet wide.

Figure 9-This drawing is evidently intended to represent the moon, which is 12 inches across the horns and 5 inches at the widest part. It is cut upon a box tree, and the whole of the bark within the outline has been removed.

Figure 10-The spiral lines cut with a tomahawk around this tree is intended to represent the track left by lightning. There are two representations of fish close together, each about 18 inches in length and 8 inches in breadth. One of these fish has its head upward, the other downward, being in a somewhat similar position to the two fish shown in figure 2. Near the butt

of the tree is the figure of what appears to be a mud-turtle, 18 inches long and 12 inches across the body, formed by a nick cut through the bark along its outline. All the bark within the outline of both the fishes has been cut away.

Figure 11 This is another representation of an iguana chopped out in outline on a box tree. It is 6 feet long and 1 foot wide across the body. No claws are shown upon the feet.

Figure 12-On this tree, which is a forked box, there is the figure of a man 2 feet 6 inches long and a foot across the body, outlined by a nick cut with the tomahawk. Within the outline of the body of the man is a small figure executed in the same way, which may have been intended for a shield, or was perhaps drawn there merely for the sake of ornament. A little way below the man is a circular figure, perhaps intended for the sun, with cross-markings within its outline. Below and around this design are a large number of notches chopped with a tomahawk.

Figure 13-These markings are cut with a tomahawk on a box tree. There are two fish, each about 14 inches long and 4 inches wide, with their heads in the same direction, both pointing upward. All the bark within their outline has been removed. Below the fish is a design in the form of a parallelogram, about 18 inches each way, formed by double lines cut into the bark of the tree. The remainder of the lines appearing on this tree are cut with a tomahawk in a similar manner.

Figure 14-This is a sandalwood tree having three branches, two of which are ornamented by yammunyamun nicked through the bark in the usual way. The crosses may have been intended to represent stars.

Figure 15—The drawing upon this tree represents the moon when about four days old. It is 15 inches across the horns and four inches wide in the middle. It is cut upon a box tree, and all the bark within its outline has been removed.

Figure 16-This fairly good representation of a snake is cut with a tomahawk upon a box tree by removing the bark within its outline. Its length is 4 feet 6 inches and its greatest width about 3 inches.

The figures above described between numbers 7 and 16, inclusive, are made upon trees on a Bora ground of the Kamilaroi tribes on Gnoura Gnoura creek, parish of Boonanga, county of Benarba. There are a number of other marked trees on this