Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia, During the Years 1837, 38, and 39, Under the Authority of Her Majesty's Government: Describing Many Newly Discovered, Important, and Fertile Districts, with Observations on the Moral and Physical Condition of the Aboriginal Inhabitants, &c., &c, Volume 1

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T. and W. Boone, 1841 - Aboriginal Australians

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Page 214 - ... horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way. And she increased her whoredoms; for she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look upon, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity.
Page 213 - These were coloured red, yellow, and white ; and the eyes were the only features represented on the face. Upon the highest bandage or roller, a series of lines were painted in red, but although so regularly done as to indicate that they have some meaning, it was impossible to tell whether they were intended to depict written characters, or some ornament for the head.
Page 148 - ... neighbouring rocks, which formed a kind of protecting parapet along our front and right flank, whilst I took post on the left. Both my barrels were now exhausted ; and I desired the other two to fire separately whilst I was reloading ; but to my horror, Coles, who was armed with my rifle, reported hurriedly that the cloth case with which he had covered it for protection against rain had become entangled. His services were thus lost at a most critical moment, whilst trying to tear off the lock...
Page 258 - ... soft a consistence that the weather had excavated several tiers of galleries, upon the roof and sides of which some curious drawings were observed, which deserve to be particularly described. They were executed upon a ground of red ochre, rubbed on the black schistus, and were delineated by dots of a white argillaceous earth, which had been worked up into a paste.
Page 202 - ... of this came a broad stripe of very brilliant red, which was coped by lines of white, but both inside and outside of this red space were narrow stripes of a still deeper red, intended probably to mark its boundaries. The face was painted vividly white and the eyes black ; being, however, surrounded by red and yellow lines, the body, hands and arms were outlined in red, the body being curiously painted with red stripes and bars.
Page 154 - In momentary expectation of being attacked, my finger was on the trigger, my gun ready to he raised, my eyes and ears busily engaged in detecting the slightest sounds, that I might defend a life which I at that moment believed was ebbing with my blood away; the loveliness of nature was around me, the sun rejoicing in his cloudless career, the birds were filling the woods with their songs, and my friends far away and unapprehensive of my condition, — whilst I felt that I was dying there.
Page 109 - a complete hill of broken shells, which it must have taken some centuries to form, for it covered nearly, if not quite, half an acre of ground, and in some places was ten feet high. It was situated...
Page 202 - The next most remarkable drawing in the cave 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...
Page 214 - ... its head and face looked directly down on any one who stood in the entrance of the cave, but it was totally invisible from the outside. The painting was more injured by the damp and atmosphere, and had the appearance of being much more defaced, and ancient, than any of the others which we had seen. There were two other paintings, one on each of the rocks which stood on either side of the natural seat: they were carefully executed, and yet had no apparent design in them; unless they were intended...
Page 201 - I was certainly rather surprised at the moment that I first saw this gigantic head and upper part of a body bending over and staring grimly down at me. " It would be impossible to convey in words an adequate idea of this uncouth and savage figure.

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