wonders which he
unfolded in this revelation were exactly proportioned to the quantity of
food which I promised to give him. I once or twice charged them with
attempting to impose upon my credulity and, far from denying the charge,
they only laughed and said, "that was a very good thing which they told
me, and that the Djanga (white men) liked it very much."

COLOURS USED IN PAINTING.

In the painted caves on the north-western coasts five colours were used:
red, several shades; yellow; blue; black, and white. With the exception
of blue these colours are all known to the natives of the whole
continent. The red they either dig up from the earth, fit for use, in the
form of red earthy pebbles, or they find it in the form of a brilliant
yellow clay, which they beat, clean, and dry, leaving it exposed to the
air for several days, when they bake it in a bark basket, and then, if
the clay is good and it has been well prepared and burnt, it is nearly as
bright as vermilion. In some parts of the continent however no good clay
can be found; and in this case, at their annual fair, where they meet to
exchange certain commodities only locally produced, this brilliant red
ochre is considered a very valuable article of traffic.

Yellow they obtain from several sources: the most common is the yellow
clay from which the red is afterwards produced, but they also procure it
from a stone which is traversed by veins of yellow earth; from the
interior of the nest of a species of ant which collects a yellow dust;
and from a sort of fungus from which a similar dust is also obtained.

The black is nothing but finely pounded charcoal.

The white is a very fine greasy species of pipe-clay, common all over
Australia, and which they use either wet or dry.

How the blue colour used in the caves on the north-west was obtained I do
not know; it is very dark and brilliant, and closely resembles the colour
obtained from the seed-vessel of a plant very common there, and which, on
being broken, yields a few drops of a brilliant blue liquid. I therefore
imagined that it was procured from this source.

AGE AND MOTIVE OF DRAWINGS.

With regard to the age of these paintings we had no clue whatever to
guide us. It is certain that they may have been very ancient, for,
although the colours were composed of such perishable materials, they
were all mixed with a resinous gum, insoluble in water, and, no doubt,
when thus prepared, they would be capable of re