Apparently the rock surface
was slightly smoothed where inequalities existed--in one case the design
follows the ridges and hollows--the subjects being worked in, in dry
earth of a chalky nature, dull red in colour. Animated nature and still
life have been studied and reproduced. The turtle is true, and the most
conspicuous and sharply-defined study the least convincing. It resembles
those fantastic interwoven shapes that some men in fits of abstraction
or idleness sketch on their own blotting-pads, and which signify
nothing.
Comparing the works of the two studios, there is little doubt that there
were at least two artists native of Dunk Island in times past, and in
that respect the island was infinitely superior to its present state.
Each appears to have effected a different kind of work--one devoting
himself to realistic reptiles and the human form debased, and the other
almost solely to the creation of conventional designs, and the
representation of the animals and of weapons of his age. One illustrated
man, and even gave to one of his reptiles a semi-human shape; the other
exercised an exuberant fancy for ornamentation. Each bequeathed to the
present day and generation works that are at least free from the
subtleties of art.
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