The ochre (or pipe-clay), having been finely ground, it is collected upon a piece of bark, or in a bark food-carrier, and mixed with sufficient water to make a thick paste; and it is ready for application. The Bathurst Islanders use the large, concave shells of Cyrena in much the same way as European artists formerly used the valves of fresh-water mussels (Unio pictorum) for mixing their pigments in.
Fig. 20. Pipe-clay cave-drawings of dancing figures, Humbert River, Northern Territory (× 1/12).
The native spreads the paint with his fingers, where larger surfaces are concerned, and with a short stick where finer lines or details are to be added. The Bathurst Islanders cut short pieces off the green shoots of the lawyer-cane (Calamus) and chew one or both ends of the sticks until all the fibres have been separated; these then fulfil the same purpose as the paint brushes of a modern artist.
PLATE XL
1. Rock-carving of human form, Port Hedland.
2. Rock-carvings of lizard, pubic-tassel, and owl, Flinders Ranges.