I'm afraid we're talking about the latter. Here's a nifty link:
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/dobsonian...xon-8inch.html
However, for my particular scope the tube is not attached to the mount in the same way it is in that photo... instead it looks more like this:
http://home.primus.ca/~gmuller/equip.html
I took off the tube and could see two small blocks of a white, smooth material on both sides of the mount where the tube sits (altitude bearings?) although I don't know whether that would be teflon-like material or the frp-like material? Three pieces of the same material are attached to the base section as well.
Cheers