Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
Upon the rock which formed the left hand wall of this cave, and which
partly faced you on entering, was a very singular painting (Number 2)
vividly coloured, representing four heads joined together. From the mild
expression of the countenances I imagined them to represent females, and
they appeared to be drawn in such a manner and in such a position as to
look up at the principal figure which I have before described; each had a
very remarkable head-dress, coloured with a deep bright blue, and one had
a necklace on. Both of the lower figures had a sort of dress painted with
red in the same manner as that of the principal figure, and one of them
had a band round her waist. Each of the four faces was marked by a
totally distinct expression of countenance, and, although none of them
had mouths, two, I thought, were otherwise rather good looking. The whole
painting was executed on a white ground, and its dimensions were:
Total length of painting 3 feet 6 3/4 inches.
Breadth across two upper heads 2 feet 6 inches.
Ditto across the two lower ones 3 feet 1 1/2 inches.
The next most remarkable drawing in the cave (Number 3) was an ellipse,
three feet in length and one foot ten inches in breadth: the outside line
of this painting was of a deep blue colour, the body of the ellipse being
of a bright yellow dotted over with red lines and spots, whilst across it
ran two transverse lines of blue. The portion of the painting above
described formed the ground, or main part of the picture, and upon this
ground was painted a kangaroo in the act of feeding, two stone
spearheads, and two black balls; one of the spearheads was flying to the
kangaroo, and one away from it; so that the whole subject probably
constituted a sort of charm by which the luck of an enquirer in killing
game could be ascertained.
TWO OTHER DRAWINGS.
There was another rather humorous sketch (Number 4) which represented a
native in the act of carrying a kangaroo; the height of the man being
three feet. The number of drawings in the cave could not altogether have
been less than from fifty to sixty, but the majority of them consisted of
men, kangaroos, etc.; the figures being carelessly and badly executed and
having evidently a very different origin to those which I have first
described. Another very striking piece of art was exhibited in the little
gloomy cavities situated at the back of the main cavern. In these
instances some rock at the sides of the cavity had been selected, and the
stamp of a hand and arm by some means transferred to it; this outline of
the hand and arm was then painted black, and the rock about it white, so
that on entering that part of the cave it appeared as if a human hand and
arm were projecting through a crevice admitting light.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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