Here originally there were five exhibits. Two have weathered away almost
to nothingness, some faint streaks and blotches of red earth, in which
medium all the pictures have been executed, alone remaining. Those
subjects that are readily decipherable are mutilated after the style of
certain much-prized antiques.
Of those which have successfully withstood the ravages of time, two
apparently represent lizards, and the third seems to portray a
monstrosity--a human being with a rudimentary tail. A German philosopher
might possibly build upon this embryonic tail a theory to prove that the
Australian aboriginal is indeed and in fact the missing link, and
thereby excel in ethnological venture those who merely recognise in him
the relic from a prehistoric age of man. Could it not be argued that the
picture reveals an act of unconscious cerebration--an instinctive
knowledge of ancestors with tails?
However that may be, the unconscious artist took further artless
liberties with the human form divine. He had been at pains, too, to
smooth down the face of the rock for the reception of the unshaded daubs
of terra-cotta, using peradventure the flat stone upon which he was wont
to bruise the hot and biting roots of the aroid (COLOCASIA MACRORRHIZA)
which formed part of his diet.
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