# The Aborigines of Victoria/Volume 1/Chapter 12

Offensive Weapons.
The club or waddy called by the natives of the River Yarra Kud-jee-run or Kud-jer-oong is used mostly in single combat, when both combatants are provided with the strong shield (Mulga). Blows are aimed at the head only with this weapon. To strike at any other part would be deemed unfair. It is a heavy and strong weapon, and is made of the Burgan (mountain tea-tree, Kunzea peduncularis), or box or red-gum (Eucalyptus rostrata).
* FIG. 56.—(Scale 1/10.)
Figs. 56 and 57 are common forms of the club. This club is called by some of the men of the Murray Koom-bah-mallee.
* FIG. 57.—(Scale ⅓.) (Showing different aspects of the same weapon.)
Fig. 58 is not uncommon in Victoria, and is called by the natives of the Yarra Yeamberrn, and by the Lower Murray people Moonoe. Wye-wye-a-nine, a native of the Murray, says that the proper name is Mun-nup (pronounced with a lisp), and that the weapon is used for striking most often, but is some- times thrown so as to cause the sharp point to enter the body of the enemy. He instructed me carefully in its use. Some of these clubs are more sharply pointed than that shown in the drawing.
* FIG. 58.—(Scale 1/10.)
Fig. 59 is that of a club obtained from the River Burdekin by the late Mr. Matthew Hervey. It appears to have been used not only as an offensive weapon, but also for digging roots, thrusting into hollow trees when searching for animals, &c. The lower end is much worn. The native (Burdekin) name of this instrument is not known to the writer. It is exactly like the clubs in use at Rockingham Bay, and at Mackay in Queensland. At Mackay the club is double-pointed, and is named Mattina.
* FIG. 19.—(Scale 1/10.)
​The form of the waddy varies with every tribe, and men of the same tribe have clubs very differently formed and ornamented. The upper part of some is pear-shaped, and in others like two cones placed base to base, and so fashioned as to present a cutting edge. Of this latter form there are various modifications. It is with the Kud-jer-oong that the natives usually chastise their wives.
Fig. 60 shows another and rather remarkable form of the waddy. It is the weapon called Kul-luk by the Aborigines of Gippsland. Its shape approaches that of the wooden sword used by some natives of Australia, but it is thicker and heavier and not so broad as the wooden sword of the Victorian natives. The name of this weapon on the Murray is Pirr-ben. Any tough, hard, and heavy wood is selected for this instrument.
* FIG. 60.
The names Kud-jer-oong, Kul-luk, and Warra-warra are applied to the clubs used in Gippsland; but the Warra-warra is not, properly speaking, a club or waddy.
The Warra-warra—or Worra-worra, as it is named by the Yarra and Western Port tribes, or Nulla-nulla of the Lower Murray—is made from a sapling.
A young tea-tree (Melaleuca ericifolia) is pulled up, cut short, and the root fashioned into a knob forming a weapon of the shape shown in Fig. 61. The root is called Kow-un-o. This instrument is sometimes used in a general fight, but more often in single combat. When fighting with it the men are not allowed to carry the Mulga to protect themselves. They strike and guard with the Worra-worra; and a man who knows how to use it will soon disable a less skilful antagonist.
* FIG. 61.
There is another form of waddy, much resembling in shape the Li-lil, but thicker, heavier, and stronger.
The clubs in my possession vary in weight from ten ounces (a weapon fit only for a boy) to two pounds eight ounces.
​The Leon-ile or Langeel (Fig. 62) is perhaps the most dangerous of all the weapons of this class. It is employed in single combat in the same way as the Kud-jer-oong, but because of the facility with which the point can be suddenly turned at the moment of striking, is difficult to avoid. Both combatants are protected by the Mulga. This is the instrument, I believe, which the natives of Lake Tyers name Darn-de-wan. In choosing wood for making this weapon the native endeavours to select a sapling, and a part of the root forms the head. Any hard tough wood is taken for the purpose.
* FIG. 62–(Scale ⅛.)
A weapon nearly of the same form as the Australian Langeel is found in New Caledonia.
A waddy (Fig. 63), said to have been made by the natives of Cooper's Creek, is different from any I have seen. It is a large and heavy weapon. The sunken parts are painted with a white clay, and the protuberances are colored a bright-red.
* FIG. 63.
The fighting-stick, Konnung (Fig. 64), of the native men, is much shorter than that carried by the women. It is not more than two feet six inches or three feet in length. It is employed in close combat principally, and dreadful wounds are inflicted by it sometimes. The warrior, holding it with the right hand by the middle, makes stabs into the neck, breast, and sides of his opponent, and not seldom forces the sharp point into the eye. This stick is used also as a missile, and with it the hunter can kill birds and small animals with ease and certainty. A weapon of a very similar character was in use amongst the natives of Tasmania.
* FIG. 64.
* FIG. 65.
The weapon Fig. 65 is from Queensland. Mr. Bridgman informs me that it is a double-pointed Nulla-nulla, called by the natives near Mackay Meero. ​Rough instruments similar to this, he says, are used for killing game, but that here figured is employed only when fighting. It is either thrown at the enemy, or used to pierce him in close combat. It is curious to find the word Meero applied to a weapon of this kind. In West Australia the lever for propelling the spear is named Meero. The weight of this missile is twenty-four ounces. It could not be used as a throwing-stick.
The wooden sword (Fig. 66) was sent to me by Mr. George Bridgman, of Mackay, Queensland. It is two feet eleven inches in length, and rather more than two inches and three-quarters in breadth. It is colored with a bright-red pigment, and farther ornamented with rude serpentine streaks of white clay. It somewhat resembles the Kul-luk of the Gippsland natives, but is not so well made. It weighs forty-one ounces. The name of this weapon at Mackay is Bittergan, and I am informed is used with two hands, to strike the back of an opponent's neck and break it.
* FIG. 66.
The natives of Queensland use also a weapon exactly like the Leon-ile or Langeel of the people of Victoria, a figure of which is given in this work.
The sword used at Rockingham Bay (Fig. 67) is a larger and much more formidable weapon than that just described. Mr. John McDonnell has sent me a drawing and a description of one. It is fifty-seven inches in length, three and a half to five inches in width, and three-quarters of an inch in thickness. It is made of hard wood, and the weight varies from eight to ten pounds. It is sharp at both edges and at the point. The handle is bound with twine, and gum is used to attach the twine firmly to the handle, and to assist also in retaining a firm grasp of the weapon. It resembles the large club or sword (described elsewhere) made by the natives of Port Darwin.
* FIG. 67.
Mr. A. J. Scott states that the wood of which the swords are formed is like brigalow. The handle, he adds, is bound as described, and is only large enough for one hand. They are so heavy that few white men can raise them at arm's length; and it is difficult to understand how they can be in any way an efficient weapon in the hands of the Australian savages, unless they are far more powerful men than their more southern brethren, and more so than the generality of white men.
Spears.
War Spears.
* FIG. 68.
The Mongile, a double-barbed spear (Fig. 68), is one with which cruel wounds are inflicted. If it strikes a black fairly, it will enter quite up to the lower barb, and it can be extracted only by cutting open the wound and drawing it through. The Rev. Mr. Bulmer informs me that the natives of Lake Tyers name this spear Wal.
A hard and tough wood is used for making spears of this kind. With a piece of quartz the native cuts a groove on each side of the upper end, and he inserts therein small chips of hard black basalt, or chips of some other suitable stone, and these chips are fastened and fixed in their places by Pid-jer-ong, a gum resembling pitch.
A gum called Jark, obtained from the Acacia mollissima, is occasionally used for fastening the chips; but the blacks of the Goulburn had either a better gum or a better mode of preparing it than other blacks, because at one time they used to exchange their Pid-jer-ong for various articles with the members of neighbouring tribes.
| FIG. 69. | FIG. 70. |
Another form of the Mongile is shown in Fig. 69. This is a double-barbed spear, made wholly of wood; and though difficult to fashion and to keep in good order, because of the barbs, which required care in cutting out, and were always liable to be broken, was much in favor at one time with the men of all tribes. The lower end is sharpened, and it is thrown with the hand alone, not with the Kur-ruk. There is a lighter spear, fitted on both sides with chips, and having a thicker piece of wood at the lower end, and made to be thrown with the Kur-ruk, which is used in hunting.
The woods used for making the Mongile were Dargoin, messmate (Eucalyptus fissilis), Wool-ip, tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum), and other hard and tough timber.
These spears vary in length from eight to eleven feet.
The spear Fig. 70 is, I believe, not common. It is pointed at the lower end, and cannot therefore be thrown with the Kur-ruk.
​Figs. 71, 72, 73, and 74 show various forms of the Nandum. This spear is used in war. As in making and keeping the wooden Mongile, great skill, patience, and care are necessary so as to fashion the barbs of the Nandum neatly and to keep them whole. The same kinds of wood are used for this spear as for the Mongile, and it is generally of the same length.
| FIGS. 71, | 72, | 73, | 74. | FIGS. 75, | 76. |
| | | | | (Scale 1/10.) | (Scale 1/10.) |
Some men, instead of carving barbs, which is a difficult and tedious business, cut a groove on one side, and insert chips of quartzite, quartz, or black basalt, fastening them in their places with Pid-jer-ong, if they can get it, in the same manner as in making the Mongile.
The Nandum is sharpened at the lower end, and is not thrown with the Kur-ruk. Spears similar to the Nandum are used by the natives of Central Australia, but they are propelled with the throwing-stick.
The natives of the Murray and other parts have a spear of hard wood, barbed on one side, and fitted into a reed, which is thrown with the Kur-ruk. This resembles the Tir-rer. The jagged war-spear of the natives of the Lower Murray, made wholly of wood, is called Tilloo-koanie.
Figs. 75 and 76 show the usual form of the reed-spear—Tir-rer, Da-aar, Djer-rer, or Jer-aor. It consists of a tough heavy piece of wood, rounded and brought to a fine point, and hardened and polished, which is fitted into a reed (Phragmites communis) which grows abundantly on the banks of the River Goulburn and other rivers. The wood is fastened to the reed by the sinews of the tail of the kangaroo, and ​the union is commonly made perfect with Pid-jer-ong. Sometimes a bone is substituted for the piece of hard wood.
| FIGS. 77, | 78. |
This instrument is commonly used for spearing eels; but it is employed in battle also, and it is then thrown with the Kur-ruk. It is known and used in all parts of Victoria. The reed-spears of the Lower Murray, Dr. Gummow says, vary in length from six to seven feet, but they are seen of all lengths.
The name of the reed-spear amongst the natives of the Lower Murray is Ulawa; the reed of which it is made is called Tar-gie, and the hard-wood head Tarronnie. The sinews of the tail of the kangaroo with which the head is fastened to the shaft are named Werrannee, and the resin of the pine (Callitris verrucosa), which is used to make firm the union, is named Bij-jin-ne. The name given to this spear by the natives of Lake Tyers is, according to Mr. Bulmer, Kam-ma. Another kind of reed-spear, which is thrown with the Merri-wan or Kur-ruk, is called by them Kowat.
| FIGS. 79, | 80. |
Two forms of spear are shown in Figs. 77 and 78. In Fig. 77 the head and barb are formed wholly of bone, which is firmly attached to the shaft of wood by sinews and gum. In Fig. 78 the head and shaft are of wood, and the barb is a piece of bone, which is fixed by sinews and gum to the side. These are used principally for spearing fish.
Dr. Gummow, of Swan Hill, who is well acquainted with all the weapons and implements of the natives, states that these are used also in war. The name of the spear is Koanie; the spike of bone is called Kulkie, the barb Tilloo, and the shaft of the spear Marrongie.
Figs. 79 and 80 are common forms of fishing-spears. They are made wholly of hard tough wood. Dr. Gummow states that No. 79 is called Gowdalie, and No. 80 Wormegoram. They are from ten to fifteen feet in length. They are used, says Dr. Gummow, during the spawning season, when the fish are on flooded ground, in about eighteen inches or two feet of water. The blacks in their canoes quietly traverse the extensive flooded ground, where the aquatic grasses are just appearing through and above the surface of the water. The fish are then spawning, and as the canoe proceeds, the fish gently glide or steal away, conveying to the grass a wavy motion perhaps within a few feet of the canoe, when the black with unerring aim strikes with ​No. 79 or No. 80, pressing the fish against the ground until he can secure it with No. 81.
* FIG. 81.
| FIG. 82. Scale 1/10. | FIG. 83. |
Fig. 81 is a fishing-spear of wood (Ujie-koanie), used both in securing fish and for striking them when the native dives. It is commonly employed for taking fish in deep clear water-holes. A number of blacks at a given signal go down feet foremost, and as the cod, &c., pass them they spear them. They often spear them under logs also. The spear is from five to six feet in length. One end is brought to a fine point, and is smoothed and hardened and well polished, and the other is pointed but not sharpened. It is a handy weapon.
Fig. 82 shows the form of Tir-rer used in spearing and catching eels. It is never or very rarely employed for any other purpose. The upper end is made of a piece of hard wood well rounded, and carved at the point into two short prongs. The wood is attached in the usual manner to a long reed, or, if a reed cannot be found long enough for the purpose, two or more are joined together with Pid-jer-ong. The lower portion of these spears is sometimes made of Bag-gup, the peduncle of the grass-tree (Xanthorrhœa Australis).
Koy-yun (Fig. 83) is made of any hard and tough wood. It is fashioned with great care; one end is brought to a fine point by scraping with quartz chips, rough pieces of sandstone, or the like. It is neatly rounded and well polished, and is from nine to eleven feet in length. It is a spear very commonly used; and a native prides himself in having the weapon thin, smooth, and well balanced. The lower end is thinner than the middle of the weapon, but not brought to a sharp point, and it is not thrown with the Kur-ruk.
A spear resembling the Koy-yun is made of two pieces of wood; the upper piece is highly polished and brought to a fine hard point, and is fitted into a thicker and coarser piece, and well fastened with gum. It is thrown with the Kur-ruk, and used generally as a hunting-spear.
| FIG. 84. | |
| FIG. 85. | FIG. 86. |
A war-spear of a peculiar form (Fig. 84) is used by the natives of Central Australia. It is a long weapon, made of a hard tough wood, and is sharpened at the lower end. It is not thrown with the Kur-ruk. I have never seen a spear of this kind amongst the weapons of the natives of Victoria.
I have received a collection of weapons from the northern parts of Australia, amongst which are several stone-pointed spears, generally resembling that shown in Fig. 85. The head of one is a piece of nearly black basalt, and the others are formed of fragments of yellowish-grey granular quartzite. They are not ground or polished. They are made by striking off chips, and the form of many of them is perfect. Indeed it is scarcely to be believed that skill could be so directed as to produce from pieces of stone, by percussion only, such beautiful weapons. The length of the stone-heads is usually about eight inches. The spears are from nine to nine feet six inches in length, and the shafts are composed of a kind of reed or bamboo. They are securely fastened to the stone-heads by twine and gum. They are hollowed at the end, and tied with sinews or twine to strengthen them, so as to be thrown with the long throwing-stick which is used in the north. They are ornamented with longitudinal grooves in bands alternating with plain spaces, and the colors used are red, yellow, and white, the white often appearing in dots on the other colors. The weight of these spears varies from ten ounces to eleven and three-quarter ounces.
With these stone spears were also other specimens of the skill of the natives of the north. Notably, a three-pronged spear, each prong being barbed (the barbs, twelve in number on each prong, pointing outwards); a wooden spear with twelve barbs on one side, and another with twenty barbs, all neatly cut, and certainly most useful implements in fishing and most dangerous weapons in warfare. With these were a long throwing-stick (Womerah), and a kind of club, almost paddle-shaped, which could be used for several purposes. It is shaped thus—(Fig. 86). It is colored a bright-red, and ornamented with white lines in the manner shown in the engraving. It weighs seventy-two ounces. Whether the latter is an Australian weapon or one brought from the islands ​
* FIG. 87.
* FIG. 88. (Scale ¼.)
of the Port Essington natives, described by Macgillivray as being four feet in length, and made of the tough hard wood called Wallaru—a kind of gum-tree—the ironbark of New South Wales. The natives fight with them only at close quarters.
Mr. Suetonius H. Officer informs me that the natives of the Murray, according to their own account, were accustomed to use stone-headed spears. Mr. Officer, however, has seen none. It is not at all improbable that the natives of the Murray procured stone-headed spears from the northern tribes, and they may have made imitations of them.
* FIGS. 89, 90, 91, 92, 93. (Scale 1/10.)
A model of a spear (Fig. 87), said to be from the Far North, has been sent to me by a gentleman well acquainted with native weapons. The head is made of greenstone, and is polished and brought to a fine point. The stone is attached to a long well-shaped spear of hard wood by sinews and gum. The lower end is not hollowed, and it could not therefore be thrown with the Kur-ruk or Womerah. I cannot believe that this spear is in common use. It differs altogether from the spears used by the natives of Port Darwin. All the stone spearheads I have seen have been made by striking off chips. Not one is ground or polished.
The stick by which spears are thrown—Kur-ruk, or Gur-reek (Yarra tribe), Murri-wun (Goulburn tribe), Meera, or Womerah—is shown in several forms in Figs. 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, and 93. Three aspects of Fig. 88 are shown. It is a beautiful implement, and apparently an old one. The details of the ​ornamentation are drawn with all the accuracy and care that could be employed, and the engraving faithfully represents the original. Figs. 89, 90, 91, and 92 are common forms of the instrument; and Fig. 93 is a mere stick, with a projection at the upper end for insertion into the hollow of the spear-end. Great leverage is obtained by this instrument. It is held in the manner shown in Fig. 94. In throwing the spear, the right hand is drawn backwards over the shoulder. It enables a man to throw a spear with much force and great accuracy. Its simplicity, and its perfect adaptation to the uses for which it is designed, strengthen one's belief in the natural genius of this people.
* FIG. 94.
The woods most commonly used for this instrument are Ballee (cherry-tree, Exocarpus cupressiformis), and Moeyang (blackwood).
When a Kur-ruk is broken, either by accident in the chase or in battle, the body is kept, and a new hook fitted to it. Sinews of the tail of the kangaroo and Pid-jer-ong enable the black to effect the repairs with ease.
It will be seen that in some of the weapons (Figs. 91 and 92) a tooth is fitted into the wood at the upper end. These have either been repaired in the manner above described, or, for greater convenience, originally so fashioned.
Dr. Gummow states that the natives of the Lower Murray call this instrument Moor-oona. At Lake Tyers it has nearly the same name as that given to it by the natives of the River Goulburn—Merri-wan.
Throw-sticks.
The natives of Australia have invented a number of leaf-shaped weapons, which are used as missiles, or for striking and cutting the enemy when at close quarters. Some of these appear to be modifications of the club, and others again bear a resemblance to the Wonguim or boomerang which, when thrown, returns to the thrower. The wooden swords are thrown sometimes in the excitement of battle; in some districts they are rarely used as swords, but most often as missiles; and, accordingly as they are most commonly employed by the different tribes, they are regarded either as swords or missiles.
Each kind of weapon is described in turn; and the reader will observe that there is an attempt made to establish a connection between the several classes of weapons, and to suggest in what manner such a missile as the boomerang may have been discovered by the natives of Australia.
Wonguim.
The Wonguim, or boomerang (Fig. 95), is known, it is believed, nearly throughout the whole extent of the island-continent. The weapon here figured is one used by the natives of Victoria. It measures twenty inches and a half from point to point; its greatest breadth is two inches and a half, and the greatest thickness about half an inch. It is a flat curved blade, with peculiarities of form which will be described hereafter.
* FIG. 95.
The weight of these weapons varies from four ounces to ten and a half ounces. Those as light as four ounces are rarely used in Victoria, but such light weapons seem to be much in favor in Western Australia.
The woods commonly used for making boomerangs are the limbs of the ironbark and she-oak, but the roots of the various kinds of eucalypti are in some places highly esteemed.
Very good boomerangs, of the class to which the Wonguim belongs, are sometimes made of the bark of the gum-trees. The bark is cut into the right shape, and heated in ashes and twisted slightly. Weapons made of bark may have a good flight, but they are not so valuable as those made of hard wood. Even those made of wood are not seldom heated, softened, and twisted; but the best Wonguims are cut with a tool into the right shape. The eye of the maker guides every stroke, and when the instrument is finished it is not necessary to heat it and bend it.
The Wonguim returns to the feet of the thrower when skilfully thrown. Generally it is so fashioned as to describe a curve from right to left; but one in my possession, which I have seen thrown with precision, so as to return every time to within a short distance of the thrower, is a left-hand boomerang. It describes a curve from left to right.
The boomerang here described is usually regarded as a plaything: it is not a war-boomerang; and though it is occasionally used in battle, and sometimes for killing birds and small animals, it is not so handy as the short stick named Konnung.
At the present time the natives of Western Australia appear to use the Wonguim very often in their battles; but in serious engagements it would not be deemed a sufficient weapon.
In form, in length, and in weight, the boomerangs which return vary a good deal. The men who are most skilful in shaping these instruments rarely make two of the same pattern. They are chipped and smoothed as experiments made from time to time suggest alterations, and the weapon is not finally completed until it has been thrown successfully, and has come back in the manner desired by the maker.
​When a skilled thrower takes hold of a boomerang with the intention of throwing it, he examines it carefully (even if it be his own weapon, and if it be a strange weapon still more carefully), and, holding it in his hand, almost as a reaper would hold a sickle, he moves about slowly, examining all objects in the distance, heedfully noticing the direction of the wind as indicated by the moving of the leaves of trees and the waving of the grass, and not until he has got into the right position does he shake the weapon loosely, so as to feel that the muscles of his wrist are under command. More than once as he lightly grasps the weapon he makes the effort to throw it. At the last moment, when he feels that he can strike the wind at the right angle, all his force is thrown into the effort: the missile leaves his hand in a direction nearly perpendicular to the surface; but the right impulse has been given, and it quickly turns its flat surface towards the earth, gyrates on its axis, makes a wide sweep, and returns with a fluttering motion to his feet. This he repeats time after time, and with ease and certainty. When well thrown, the furthest point of the curve described is usually distant one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards from the thrower.
It can be thrown so as to hit an object behind the thrower, but this cannot be done with certainty.
The slightest change in the direction of the wind affects the flight of the missile to some extent; but the native is quick in observing any possible causes of interference.
It can be thrown so as to run along the ground for some distance, hoop-fashion, then ascend, describe a great curve, and return to the thrower. There is another method of throwing it. Lieut. Breton says:—"I have seen a native throw one so as to make it go forty or fifty yards horizontally, and not more than three or four feet from the ground; it would then suddenly dart into the air to the height of fifty or sixty yards, describe a very considerable curve, and finally fall at his feet."
I have seen the natives at Coranderrk throwing the Wonguim on many occasions; and the skilful thrower seemed to be able to do exactly what he liked with the weapon. He would throw a thin blade in such a way as to make it almost disappear in the distance—indeed, when the edge was presented, it was for a moment or two impossible to follow the flight with the eye—it would then return, gyrate above the thrower in an absurd manner, descend and describe a curve as if it were about to strike him, go off in another direction, still descending, so as to alarm a group of blacks at a distance, and fall finally some yards behind him; the thrower, the while, regarding the weapon with an intelligent and amused expression, as if he knew exactly where it was going and where it would fall.
On one occasion I showed a Daylesford native a boomerang made by the blacks of Western Australia. The form of the weapon, the wood of which it was made, and the use for which it was intended, whether for play or war, were all unknown to him. I asked him if it would come back when thrown, ​and he said he did not know. All the time I was speaking to him he was examining the weapon attentively. He asked me many questions respecting it—as to the native who made it, where it came from, &c.—and after having satisfied him on these points as well as I was able, he requested permission to make trial of it. I gave permission, and in a short time he had discovered its peculiarities, and threw it in such a manner as to surprise all who beheld his efforts. The weapon made many astonishing flights, and came back as obediently as the larger and heavier weapons which he had been accustomed to use.
In the hands of a native, the Wonguim always comes back, and there is no such thing as failure when it is thrown by a skilled warrior.
It is dangerous to stand near the thrower, if the observer have not self-possession. When the instrument returns, it is necessary to look at it attentively, and not to move unless it comes too nigh; any hurried movement, due to alarm, for the purpose of avoiding it, might result in its striking the affrighted person and inflicting a serious wound. The plan is to stand quite still, and to wait patiently until the force is expended. The thrower, if skilful, will take care that, if the observers keep their places, none of them are injured.
The natives o fa part of the River Murray (near Kulkyne) name the "come-back" boomerang Wittoo-ah-wil.
Barn-geet.
The Barn-geet, Ban-geek, or Barn-geek of the natives of the Yarra, the war-boomerang, is shown in Fig. 96. It is most commonly used in battle. Many of the specimens in my possession are at first sight undistinguishable from the Wonguim, but when the characters of the several weapons are understood, it is not difficult to separate the come-back boomerangs from those which do not return when thrown.
* FIG. 96.
Usually, the Barn-geet is not so much curved as the Wonguim, and the best weapons are nearly as straight as the blade of a sword; there is seldom any twist as in the Wonguim; but some are twisted, though not in the same manner as the weapon that returns.
They are made of the hardest woods, are very neatly fashioned, and have a sharp cutting edge. In battle they are dangerous weapons.
The length of the weapon shown in the figure is thirty inches, the breadth is an inch and three-quarters, and the greatest thickness of the blade is half an inch. The weight is ten ounces, which appears to be the ordinary weight of a good weapon, but some are as light as eight ounces.
​This instrument is always thrown straight forwards, and if it hit the object at which it is aimed, the blow is very severe. Wye-wye-a-nine says that it will pass through the body of a man, if the point strikes the softer parts. It can be thrown a distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Sometimes the thrower will cause it to strike the ground, rebound, and hit the person at whom it is aimed.
The name of this weapon amongst the natives of the Murray is Praah-ba-wittoo-ak.
Li-lil.
The Li-lil (Fig. 97) is used in battle. It is thrown very much in the same manner as the Wonguim, but skill, only acquired by much practice, is necessary to give due effect to the weapon. It is believed by many to be even a more dangerous instrument in the hands of a brave and experienced warrior than the Barn-geet. The Barn-geet may wound severely, may cause a contusion, or even break the arm if it strikes that limb; but the Li-lil, forcibly and skilfully directed, will break a leg, fracture the ribs, or penetrate the skull.
* FIG. 97.—(Scale 1/10.)
* (a.) Curve as seen on holding the weapon with the blade from the body. (b.) Side view. It is ornamented in the same manner on the other side. (The meaning intended to be conveyed by the lines is referred to elsewhere.)
The weapon here figured is a very old one, and is that used by the natives of the River Ovens and the Broken River, in Victoria. One of the men of the Yarra tribe who examined it informed me that the men of the Mitta Mitta tribe named the instrument Bunj-jul.
Wye-wye-a-nine (of Kulkyne) says that the weapon is not usually thrown, but is employed in battle to strike at and cut the enemy, who defends himself with the heavy wooden shield (Mulga). His people call it Bol-lair.
The fine sharp edge would suggest this as the ordinary method of using the instrument; but in the excitement of battle, or under circumstances when it was impossible to close with their opponents, the natives would doubtless use this, as well as clubs and fighting-sticks, as a missile.
The woods used for making the Li-lil are Moe-yang (blackwood, Acacia melanoxylon), or ironbark (Eucalyptus leucoxylon).
The weight of the Li-lil is fourteen ounces. The length from point to point is twenty-seven inches, the greatest breadth of the blade is five and a half inches, the breadth of the lower part is two inches, and the thickest part (the centre of the blade) measures half an inch. It is smoothed to a fine edge; and the maker has left the ornamental lines in relief at one part where it was not practicable to show the pattern by incisions. The part to be grasped by the hand is not sharper than the same part in a Wonguim or Barn-geet.
​I believe it would be impossible to procure many examples of this weapon in Victoria: it seems to have been used only amongst certain tribes, now, as tribes, extinct.
Quirriang-an-wun.
The instrument called by the natives of the River Murray Quirriang-an-wun (Fig. 98) is not generally used as a missile, but most often in close combat, just as a sword would be used by a soldier.
* FIG. 98.
The length of this weapon is thirty-six inches, the greatest breadth is three inches and a half, the breadth of the lower part is nearly two inches and a half, and the greatest thickness of the blade is four-tenths of an inch. It weighs from nine to ten ounces.
It is made of very hard wood; the edges are sharp, and whether used as a sword or a missile, it is undoubtedly a formidable weapon.
It is much curved, as shown in the engraving, and both in striking at the enemy and in hurling it this form would not be without advantage to the native who used it. It is now very difficult indeed to obtain weapons of this kind in Victoria. I have been able to find only two specimens amongst the tribes of the southern part of the continent.
* FIG. 99.
The group of weapons shown in Fig. 99 represent the Quirriang-an-wun, a; the Barn-geet or Praah-ba-wittoo-ah, b, c, d, and e; and the Wonguim, f.
​I purposely omit from this group the Konnung, or short stick sharpened at both ends, which seems to have been used at various times by uncivilized peoples in all parts of the earth for the purpose of killing birds and small animals. The Konnung is round; it is not a blade; and none of the figures in the group are round: they are blades.
In seeking for the origin of the Wonguim—the boomerang which returns when thrown—in endeavouring to ascertain the first steps which led to the invention of it, it is necessary to consider the character of the weapons, simple in themselves, which might, by some slight modification of structure, induce the natives to entertain the idea that an instrument of a certain form would return to the thrower when projected.
The reader will perceive, on carefully examining the figures in this work, that there is a gradual passage from the Kul-luk, which is not quite round nor yet quite a blade, to the Li-lil, which is thin and leaf-like in form. The Quirriang-an-wun is but a modification of the Li-lil, and from the Quirriang-an-wun to the Praah-ba-wittoo-ah there is but a step. If the Praah-ba-witto-ah were curved a little more, and if one amongst ten thousand of such had, by some accident, the twist which distinguishes the boomerang, the discovery would be made. It would be difficult to make many war-boomerangs without some twist or departure from the straight line; and if but one answered to the form of the Wonguim, the acute intelligence of the native would be awakened.
One cannot say whether or not the boomerang—the most remarkable of all weapons used by savages—was the result of trials of weapons of this class, but it is reasonable to imagine that the invention originated in some such way.
Mr. Hubert de Castella has suggested that the Aborigines derived the invention of the Wonguim from observation of the shape and the peculiar turn of the leaf of the white gum-tree. As the leaves of this tree fall to the ground, they gyrate very much in the same manner as the Wonguim does; and if one of the leaves is thrown straight forwards, it makes a curve and comes back. Such an origin for a weapon so remarkable is not to be put aside as unreasonable. It is very probable that if children played with such leaves, some old man would make of wood, to please them, a large model of the leaf, and its peculiar motions would soon give rise to curiosity and lead to fresh experiments.
In what manner the instrument was invented is perhaps, at this time, of small importance: that it is used over nearly the whole extent of the Australian continent, and that it has never been used anywhere else—as far as history enables one to judge—is a fact of surpassing interest.
It is said that the natives of California use a boomerang; but, according to the information I have been able to obtain, their weapon is a stick—somewhat like the Warra-warra or Konnung of the natives of Victoria—which is thrown at animals in the chase, and does not return to the thrower.
That many have recognised in the weapons of tribes in various parts of the world what they have conceived to be boomerangs or instruments having the property of returning to the thrower when projected, and that it has been attempted to prove that the boomerang was known to the ancients, arises principally from the circumstance that the form and character of the ​Wonguim of the Australian is not generally understood. Travellers have carried to Europe numerous instruments called boomerangs—such as the Wonguim proper, the Barn-geet, the Kul-luk, the Li-lil, and the Quirriang-an-wun—and many, desirous of experimenting, having examined these, and viewing them all as weapons of the same kind, and such as should possess the same properties, have arrived at conclusions that are erroneous. Before, however, touching further on this subject, it is proper to describe the Wonguim, the weapon which has a return flight.
The most obvious difference of form between the boomerang which returns and that which does not return is in the curve, looking at the flat side of the weapon. Five specimens of the boomerangs which return show the following measurements:—
* Length, twenty-four inches. Drawing a straight line from point to point, and measuring from nearly the centre of that line to the inner curve, four inches and three quarters.
* Length, twenty-four inches. To inner curve, measured in the same way as described above, four inches and a half.
* Length, twenty-four inches. To inner curve, four inches and one-third.
* Length, twenty-two inches. To inner curve, three and three-quarter inches.
* Length, nineteen and a half inches. To inner curve, eight and a quarter inches. (This is a left-hand boomerang.)
Of those which do not return the measurements are as follow:—
* Length, thirty inches. To inner curve, four inches.
* Length, thirty-four inches. To inner curve, four inches and one-third.
* Length, twenty-seven inches. To inner curve, three inches and one-third.
* FIG. 100.
* FIG. 101.
* FIG. 102.
The Wonguim exhibits almost invariably a much sharper curve than the Barn-geet; and this of itself would almost be sufficient to guide the observer in discriminating them, if he had a number of apparently similar weapons placed before him. Considering the Wonguim by itself, there are three characteristics on which it appears to me depends its property of returning to the thrower when projected into the air.
    1st. The curve of the blade, looking at the flat side, which varies from that shown in Fig. 100 to that of Fig. 101.
    2nd. The twist, which, much exaggerated, is shown in Fig. 102.
Tins twist is most clearly seen in the heavy weapons, and is that which is observed when the instrument is held in the hand exactly as it would be when ​about to be thrown. In many even very good weapons the twist is scarcely perceptible, particularly if the blade be very thin. When the blade is exceedingly thin, the very slightest difference of form at the ends is sufficient to cause a reciprocating motion when the instrument is projected into the air. The twist in the ordinary right-hand boomerang is of the kind shown in Fig. 103. It is to be noted, however, that when the weapon is much bent in the middle, thus (Fig. 104), it is not necessary to give this twist to the ends of the blade. If a boomerang showing such a line as that in Fig. 104 were much twisted, the balance would be destroyed, and it would not return to the thrower.
| FIG. 103. | FIG. 104. |
    3rd. The section through the middle; two examples of which, full size, are shown in Figs. 105 and 106.
| FIG. 105. | FIG. 106. |
As regards the length of the weapon and the curve, looking at the flat side of the blade, it is apparent, judging from the variations in the length and form, that the artist has a free choice within certain limits; but if he make a heavy weapon, the twist must be considerable, and the section through the middle must exhibit a bulge on one side, and a very flat surface, if not actually a depression, on the other.
The twist is clearly observable in all the weapons made by the natives of Victoria. It is exactly that which would be seen if one held each end of a thin strip of cardboard between the finger and thumb of each hand. If the upper end were held by the finger and thumb of the left hand and drawn slightly towards the left, and if the lower end held by the finger and thumb of the other were drawn slightly towards the right, the twist of the right-hand Wonguim would be accurately represented. This twist is the twist of the screw, and the property the boomerang has of ascending is due to its having this form.
The form of the weapon in section is apparently essential to its flight and return. It is observable in all the specimens I have examined, and in all, whether right-hand or left-hand, the flat side in gyration is towards the earth.
One can easily imagine the perplexity of an enquirer who should have a number of these instruments presented to him, some left-hand, some right-hand, and some apparently of the like form, but not made to return. His experiments with them would but embarrass him the more; and if he succeeded in throwing one weapon successfully again and again, he might conclude that his want of success with the others was due solely to their imperfections. With such help and instruction as the natives have given me, I would not myself venture to decide at once as regards some weapons ​I have seen whether they were left-hand or right-hand. When the blade is very thin, the twist scarcely perceptible, and the section only known by modelling it, and the end to be grasped not marked, it is almost impossible to determine what kind of motion it will have in the air.
If the Wonguim is suspended by a string attached to one end, and if a plumb-line be held over the point of suspension, it will be seen that the line cuts a point at some little distance from the inner curve. This indicates that the centre of gravity is not in the weapon itself. But a centre may be found. By attaching a thin slip of wood to the inner part of a boomerang, and using the point of a needle for a support, the weapon may be balanced and made to rotate freely. It cannot be balanced in any other way.
This discovery, however, is not mine. It was made many years ago by the late Sir Thos. L. Mitchell, and in his "Lecture on the Bomareng-Propeller," which was read before the Australian Society on the 30th December 1850, this and many other interesting facts connected with the Wonguim are mentioned. He says:—
"Of all the novelties presented by New Holland or New South Wales to the European, the original human inhabitant has always appeared to me by far the most interesting. Could he but tell us his history! What may be gathered from his language? Is there anything occult amongst his coradjes (or priests) handed down by tradition? Or can we learn anything from his arts, seeing how simple and yet efficient his means and appliances are? Nature alone, or his Maker, must have taught him these when the Australian man first began to exist. How ancient, then, may not these weapons be? So few in number, yet so efficient! The spear and bomareng are available either in war or the chase, although the club seems chiefly intended for warlike purposes. The missiles are nicely adapted to the resistance of fluids and the laws of gravitation; even in the form of clubs the centre of gravity seems to have been most fully considered.
But it is in the use of such missiles and clubs that these children of Nature show how well they know her laws. By means of the Wammerah, or throwing-stick, the spear is thrown with much greater momentum, and of course increased velocity. The angular club, the rotary shield, the elastic handle of the stone-hatchet, all appear very original, but yet strictly consistent with whatever science teaches, and not susceptible of improvement by anything to be learnt at colleges. The bomareng is one of the most remarkable of these missiles.
Its flight through the air, from the hand of an Australian native, seems in strict obedience to his will. In its return, after a very varied course, to the foot of the thrower, this weapon seems so extraordinary that a Vice-President of the Royal Society, about twelve years ago, observed to me 'that its path through the air was enough to puzzle a mathematician.'
​Such a remark by one of the ablest mathematiciaus of his time was not forgotten. On the contrary, it was remembered on the next occasion when I had opportunities of studying the flight of bomerengs thrown by the hands of Australian Aborigines, and then I perceived that in its rotary motion through the air, a hollow centre of greater or less diameter, but usually of about one-third of the disc, was described by the whirl of the bomereng, and it occurred to me that the centre of the whirling motion might be found in a line of equilibrium which should divide the surface acting on the air into three portions, in such manner as that the eccentric portions should equal the central one.
The discovery of this centre, insignificant as it may appear, was still something new, for on attaching a centre to a bomereng, it was possible to show that this centre was not only during its rotary motion the centre of that motion, but also the centre of gravity when in a state of rest, while it was apart from and quite clear of every part of it.
The natives when bent on exhibiting the more curious flights, twist the bomereng, by placing it at the fire, evidently for the purpose of giving it the property of spiral movement, thus showing how well they understand the screw-action upon the air. On making a small wooden model with a spiral turn like a screw, and giving it by means of an attached centre, and the fork and cord of a humming-top, rapid rotary motion, the model ascended to the roof of the room with such force as to be broken in pieces against it. . . . .
The inner edge of the bomereng is found to form a cycloid. . . . The outer edge consists of two parabolic curves whose foci appear to overlap, so as to be both in the axis of motion. These curves are presented by a section of the half-bomereng, when at an angle of 45° with the axis."
​Col. A. Lane Fox, at a meeting of the British Association, in August 1872, in his capacity as President, in the Anthropological Section, made some observations on the boomerang (not the Barn-geet but the Wonguim) which it appears to me are founded on the examination of a number of weapons called by Europeans boomerangs, instruments, as I have elsewhere stated, altogether different from the missile which returns to the thrower. He said:—"The earliest inhabitants of the globe, as they spread themselves over the earth, would carry with them the rudiments of culture which they possessed, and we should naturally expect to find that the most primitive arts were, in the first instance, the most widely disseminated. Amongst the primeval weapons of the Australians I have traced the boomerang, and the rudimentary parrying shield—which latter is especially a primitive implement—to the Dravidian races of the Indian peninsula and to the ancient Egyptians, and although this is not a circumstance to be relied on by itself, it is worthy of careful attention in connection with the circumstance that these races have all been traced by Professor Huxley to the Australoid stock, and that a connection between the Australian and Dravidian languages has been stated to exist by Mr. Morris, the Rev. R. Caldwell, Dr. Bleek, and others. And here I must ask for one moment to repeat the reply which I have elsewhere given to the objection which has been made to my including these weapons under the same class, 'that the Dravidian boomerang does not return like the Australian weapon.' The return flight is not a matter of such primary importance as to constitute a generic difference, if I may use the expression; the utility of the return flight has been greatly exaggerated; it is owing simply to the comparative thinness and lightness of the Australian weapon. All who have witnessed its employment by the natives concur in saying that it has a random range in its return flight. Any one who will take the trouble to practise with the different forms of this weapon will perceive that the essential principle of the boomerang, call it by whatever name you please, consists in its bent and flat form, by means of which it can be thrown with a rotatory movement, thereby increasing the range and flatness of the trajectory. I have practised with the boomerangs of different nations. I made a fac-simile of the Egyptian boomerang in the British Museum, and practised with it for some time upon Wormwood Scrubs, and I found that in time I could increase the range from fifty to one hundred paces, which is much further than I could throw an ordinary stick of the same size with accuracy. I also succeeded in at last obtaining a slight return of flight; in fact, it flies better than many Australian boomerangs, for they vary considerably in size, weight, and form, and many will not return when thrown. The efficacy of the boomerang consists entirely in the rotation, by means of which it sails up to a bird upon the wing and knocks it down with its rotating arms; very few of them have any twist in their construction. The stories about hitting an object with accuracy behind the thrower are nursery tales; but a boomerang when thrown over a river or swamp will return and be saved. . . . . To deny the affinity of the Australian and Dravidian or Egyptian boomerang on account of the absence of a return flight, would be the same as denying the affinity of ​two languages whose grammatical construction was the same, because of their differing materially in their vocabularies."
There are four statements in his address which call for remark.
* The utility of the return flight has been much exaggerated. By whom has it been exaggerated? A well-made boomerang thrown by a skilful native will as certainly return to him as a bullet from a rifle will strike a fair mark. A weapon of this kind thrown at a bird on the wing will kill the bird if it strikes it, and if it does not strike it, it will return to the thrower. The native can easily convince Europeans of the utility of the return flight of his weapon, under all circumstances, whether it be used in the chase or in war. That it is made principally for the purpose of affording amusement is true enough; but it has beneficial uses besides, and if these are not often exhibited, it is because he has other weapons better suited to his purpose.
* It has a random range in its return flight. This is the remark of one who cannot have seen the Wonguim thrown by an expert. A well-made Wonguim, in the hands of one who can use it, returns always to the place, or very nearly to the place, to which the thrower intended it to return. Many of the natives are not capable of using this weapon skilfully. In order to secure success, there must be some talent, much practice, and, whenever an experiment is made with the intention of displaying the peculiar properties of this missile, a patient observance of the circumstances of place and position. A hill in front which might cause an eddy in the air, a hollow where the wind might be fainter than at the point where the thrower was standing, the slightest thing which might influence the flight of the Wonguim, would be carefully noted by a skilful native if he were required to show with what success he could make the instrument perform.
* Many will not return when thrown. The Wonguim always returns to the thrower if properly thrown. A skilful thrower never fails in making it return.
* Very few of them have any twist in their construction. I never saw a Wonguim made by the natives of Victoria which was not twisted. The thin leaf-like weapons of the West Australians are twisted. In some the twist is so slight as to be scarcely perceptible, but it is there, and can always be discovered.
It is quite possible, as Col. Lane Fox states, to get some sort of return flight, if a crooked stick be thrown into the air; but the Wonguim of the Australian is something more than a crooked stick which sometimes comes back. On many occasions I have had the opportunity of seeing the most skilful amongst the natives exerting themselves to the utmost in throwing this weapon—one seeking to rival the other—and it is when they are thus bent on exhibiting their dexterity that it is possible to judge of the power they possess over the weapon. The feeling of the observer on the conclusion of such an exhibition is that the native can do what he likes with it.
​It is safe to deny the affinity of the Dravidian or Egyptian boomerang with that of the Australian native, because the first under no circumstances whatever could be made to behave as the Wonguim does. The flat leaf-like weapon of the Australian differs essentially from the Egyptian crooked stick.
Lieut.-Col. Mundy, who was in Australia for some time, had frequent opportunities of seeing the natives throwing the boomerang, and he writes thus:—"There are two kinds of boomerang—that which is thrown to a distance straight ahead, and that which returns on its own axis to the thrower. I saw, on a subsequent occasion, a native of slight frame throw one of the former two hundred and ten yards, and much further when a ricochet was permitted. With the latter he made casts truly surprising to witness. The weapon, after skimming breast-high nearly out of sight, suddenly rose high into the air, and returning with amazing velocity towards its owner, buried itself six inches deep in the turf, within a few yards of his feet. It is a dangerous game for an inattentive spectator. An enemy or a quarry ensconced behind a tree or bank, safe from spear or even bullet, may be taken in the rear and severely hurt or killed by the recoil of the boomerang. The emu and kangaroo are stunned and disabled, not knowing how to avoid its eccentric gyrations; amongst a flight of wild-ducks just rising from the water, or a flock of pigeons on the ground, this weapon commits great havoc."
Sir John Lubbock was informed by Mr. Merry that on one occasion, in order to test the skill with which the boomerang could be thrown, he offered a reward of sixpence for every time the boomerang was made to return to the spot from which it was thrown. He drew a circle of five or six feet on the sand, and although the boomerang was thrown with much force, the native succeeded in making it fall within the circle five times out of twelve.
These statements stand curiously in contrast with those made by Col. Lane Fox, and with the facts as known to all those who have seen an expert practising with a good Wonguim. It would surely be thought ridiculous if a person who for the first time took a billiard-cue in his hand and repeatedly missed the ball were to affirm that the properties of the cue were altogether misunderstood, and that the "breaks" reported as having been made by some players were "nursery tales." It is exceedingly difficult to acquire the knack of throwing the boomerang with ease and certainty. I have practised for years, and can throw some boomerangs not unsuccessfully; others which I have in my possession, and which experienced natives can throw with admirable precision, I cannot manage at all. In my hands they behave in the same way as a crooked stick, and this is solely owing to my want of skill.
Sir Gardner Wilkinson gives figures from the Egyptian monuments representing sportsmen using throw-sticks for the purpose of killing birds. The figures in his work no doubt correctly represent the weapon; and it appears in one drawing like the Warra-warra, or knobbed stick of the Australians, and in another like the Quirriang-an-wun. It is certainly not a boomerang; and it ​is but reasonable to suppose that, if the Egyptians had had any knowledge of a weapon having the peculiarities of the Wonguim, it would have been represented in use by sportsmen in such a manner as to leave no room for doubt as to its character. Its mode of return to the sportsman would have been accurately depicted by the ingenious artists who have told us by figures on their monuments the most minute circumstances attending the uses of weapons and tools amongst that ancient people.
Wilkinson says that "the throw-stick was made of heavy wood, and flat, so as to offer little resistance to the air in its flight; and the distance to which an expert arm could throw it was considerable, though they always endeavoured to approach the birds as near as possible under cover of the bushes and reeds. It was from one foot and a quarter to two feet in length, and about one and a half inch in breadth, slightly curved at the upper end; but in no instance had it the round shape and flight of the Australian Boomerang."
Nearly all the writers in Europe who have treated of the Australian boomerang, as I have stated already, appear to have been misinformed as to the character of the weapon; but the most extraordinary error is that made by Bonomi. He gives drawings of the Egyptian bommereng and that held in the hand of Nimrod, and proceeds to say—"The most curiously carved is that from Southern Africa, the Hunga Munga (Fig. 107); it is made of iron, and used to throw at a retreating enemy. The Trombash (Fig. 108) is from Central Africa, from the neighbourhood of Dar Foor; it is like the former, of iron, and chiefly used in war. The two following are made of wood. Fig. 109, called Es-sellem, is that used by the pastoral tribes of the Desert, between the Nile and the Red Sea; and Fig. 110 is the Australian bommereng. We have given the sections of these missiles, as we conceive that peculiar property of returning towards the thrower may be in some measure dependent on its flatness, although an ancient Egyptian one in the collection of Dr. Abbott, of Cairo, is round, like the Sellem of the Bishareen, and like it also made of the sunt-tree, the Mimosa Nilotica, an excessively hard wood. . . . . . The Australian bommereng is much more curved than either of the specimens we have given, and possesses in a higher degree the singular property of returning to within a few yards of the thrower."
| FIG. 107. | FIG. 108. | FIG. 109. | FIG. 110. |
I know not what may be the behaviour of the weapons here figured when thrown, but they differ essentially in form from the Wonguim of the Australians. ​The weapon figured by Bonomi, as an Australian bommereng, is not known to me, and I doubt if the like has ever been seen by an Australian native. The figure somewhat resembles a bad drawing of the Leonile.
Some years ago I saw an instrument in Melbourne, made by Mr. J. C. Benyo, which behaved in the air like the Wonguim. Two pieces of wood of equal length, flat on one side and rounded on the other, are fastened together at right-angles, in the form of a cross, and this constitutes the missile. It is thrown exactly in the same way as the boomerang is thrown, and when projected either vertically or horizontally it will describe a circle, and return to the thrower. I had two of these missiles made, and I have practised with them frequently. They are more easily managed than the Wonguim; and any one, after a few trials, can become expert in the use of them. Shortly after I had procured these toys, I had a model made, consisting of two limbs only, and placed at right-angles to each other, the limbs being flat on one side and curved on the other; but it was useless, and behaved as any piece of stick would when thrown. This puzzled me, and I set to work to find out the cause of the failure. I discovered it at length: it needed to have given to it the twist like that shown in Fig. 103. I cut away a portion of the wood at each end, so as to effect this, and it is now an excellent boomerang. It is made of light wood, and can be thrown effectively only when the wind is faint; but after a few trials, when one has ascertained exactly the direction in which it should be thrown, it will make a beautiful flight, flutter over the head for some time, and at last drop at the feet of the thrower, or very near his feet. Any one can make this toy; and both amusement and instruction are derived from watching its motions, whether it be thrown vertically or horizontally. It was in making this instrument that I discovered what points are essential in the Wonguim.
The Rev. Mr. Kane has directed my attention to an essay on the boomerang in the transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.
The writer, in a scholarly paper, suggests that the boomerang was in use in ancient times amongst the peoples of Europe, that there is in Australia a race of men of Indo-European origin, and that the boomerang was one of the weapons introduced by this race into Australia.
The paper is divided into ten parts: the first treats of the Cateia; the second of the Aclys; the third of the Ancyle; the fourth of the radical meanings of the names Cateia, Aclys, Ancyle, and Teuton; the fifth of the javelin of Cephalus and Aquifolia of Pliny; the sixth of the clava of Hercules and hammer of Thor; the seventh of the remaining names of the Cateia, Caia, and Kaile, and of its origin; the eighth of the comparative antiquity of the boomerang and spear; the ninth, on the transit of the names of the curved missile to the straight weapon; and the tenth, of the modes of throwing the Cateia, &c., among the ancients.
The ingenious arguments of the author are supported by a great number of references to the writings of the ancients.
​Of the Cateia he says:—
"The kiliee or boomerang, at present the peculiar weapon of certain Australian islanders, several varieties of which are represented in Plate I. [reference will be made to the figures in the plate], appears to have been known to European and other continental nations from a very remote period.
The name by which the boomerang is most readily recognised in the works of Roman writers is Cateia. Of this, the earliest notice is found in the Æneid of Virgil, where, among various tribes who joined themselves with Turnus, mention is made of a people accustomed to whirl the Cateia after the Teutonic manner:—
'Et quos maliferæ despectant mænia Abellæ Teutonico ritu soliti torquere Cateias.'
—Virg. Æneid, 1. VII., v. 740.
The next mention of the Cateia occurs in the Punics of Silius Italicus, where the poet describes au individual of one of the Lybian tribes, who accompanied Hannibal to Italy, as being armed with the bent or crooked Cateia:—
'Tunc primum castris Phœnicum tendere ritu Cinyphii didicēre Macae: squaleutia barbâ Ora viris: humerosque tegunt velamina capri Setigeri: pandâ manus est armata Cateiâ.'
—Sil. Ital. Punic., 1. III., v. 274.
A third notice of the Cateia is found in the Argonautics of Valerius Flaccus, where, in an enumeration of the Maeotic nations which rose in arms against Jason, a people are described whose tents of raw hides were carried on waggons, from the extremities of the poles of which their young men whirled Cateias:—
'Quin et ab Hyrcanis Titanius expulit antris Cyris in arma viros: plaustrisque ad prælia cunctas, Coraletæ traxēre manus: ibi sutilis illis Et domus, et crudâ residens sub vellere conjunx Et puer è primo torquens temone cateias.'
—Val. Flac. Argonaut., 1. VI., v. 83.
From those notices it may be collected:— 1st. That the Cateia was an instrument of a curved shape, for this is the constant meaning of the adjective pandus. 'Carinæ pandæ' (Virg. Georg., 1. II., v. 89).—'Delphines pandi' (Ovid. Trist., 1. III., v. 9).—'Fauces pandæ' (Stat. Sylv., 1.III., v. 15).—'Rostrum pandum' (Ovid. Metamor., 1. IV., v. 57).—'Rami pandi' (Ovid. Metamor., 1. XIV., v. 37).—'Juga panda boûm' (Ovid. Amor., 1. I., and Eleg. 1. XIII., v. 4). 2nd. That it was a projectile—'e temone torquens.' 3rd. That it was dismissed with a rotatory motion—'torquens'— 'soliti torquere.' For, although the verb torqueo is frequently applied to the projection of the straight missile, it is always with reference to the rotatory motion either of the amentum, by which several sorts of straight missile were thrown, or of the weapon itself round its own axis.
These marked characteristics of the boomerang would, perhaps, furnish sufficient grounds for inferring an identity between it and the weapon under consideration; for, from recent experience, it might safely be asserted that no instrument having the peculiar shape ascribed to the Cateia could be projected ​with a rotatory motion, without also exhibiting the great distinguishing property of the boomerang by a reciprocating flight. But the description of the Cateia, given by Isidore, Bishop of Seville, a writer of the end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh century, renders this line of argument unnecessary. He describes the Cateia as a species of bat, of half a cubit in length, which, on being thrown, flies not far, on account of its weight, but where it strikes it breaks through with excessive impetus. And if it be thrown by one skilful in its use, it returns back again to him who dismissed it. The passage occurs in the 'Origines' under the head Clava, viz.:—
'Clava est qualis fuit Herculis, dicta quod sit clavis ferreis invicem religata, et est cubito semis facta in longitudine. Hæc et Cateia, quam Horatius Caiam dicit. Est genus Gallici teli ex materia quam maxime lenta; quæ, jactu quidem, non longe, propter gravitatem, evolat, sed ubi pervenit vi nimiâ perfringit. Quod si ab artifice mittatur, rursum redit ad eum qui misit. Hujus meminit Virgilius dicens. Teutonico ritu soliti torquere Cateias. Unde et eas Hispani Teutones vocant.'—Isidor. Origin., 1. xviii., c. vii.
Thus all the characteristics of the boomerang, its use, its shape, its mode of projection, its extraordinary impetus, and its peculiar reciprocating flight, belong to the Cateia, from which it cannot but be concluded that these were the same weapon."
The statements made and the authorities quoted in the other parts of Mr. Ferguson's paper are scarcely less interesting than those given in the above extract. He thus concludes:—
"Many of the foregoing inferences will, doubtless, appear in a high degree speculative; and the writer is conscious that, in pushing the enquiry in some directions to the length it has gone, the bounds of strict induction have been very closely approached; still it is submitted that if the first step of the argument, namely the identification of the Cateia with the Australian weapon, have been taken on sure ground, it will not be possible to stay the subsequent progress of the enquiry. And that this step has been taken with great, indeed with extraordinary, certainty, appears as well from the minuteness with which all the peculiarities of the weapon in question are described in the passages already quoted as from the fact that unquestionable representations of the boomerang are found on ancient monuments. The representations in Pl. II., Figs. 1 and 2, taken from Sig. Rosellini's 'Egyptian Monuments' cannot be mistaken; and the reader who will take the trouble of referring to Mr. Wilkinson's work on the same subject will there find still further confirmation of the acquaintance of this most ancient people with the very implement in question. In the latter instance, parties are represented throwing missiles of a form which, from experiment, it is now certain, must have produced a reciprocating flight, at birds, reminding us strongly of that passage of Strabo (1. iv., pp. 196-7, Ed. Causab.) where be describes the Belgæ of his time as using 'a wooden weapon of the shape of a grosphus, which they throw out of the hand, and not by means of an ancyle, and which flies faster than an arrow, and is chiefly used in the pursuit of game.' So, also, it is difficult to assign any other use to the instrument appearing in the hand of the Belgic Briton represented in Pl. II., Fig. 6.
​If any certainty could be had that the notices so far collected were all that antiquity could furnish on the subject, a new and very wide field of speculation, of perhaps a still more interesting character, would be opened, in the endeavour to trace the international resemblances between those people known to have used such weapons in the old world, and the tribes who still retain the use of them in the new. Even on the scanty materials here brought together, there is, however, sufficient to excite serious attention in the fact that amongst the ancient nations using the Cateia and its cognate weapons certain peculiar characteristics are distinctly traceable, such as the prevalence among them, from the earliest periods, of Amazonian habits, and there being in almost every instance of the white variety of mankind, and of the Xanthous family of that variety, characteristics which point in a very marked manner to an Indo-European origin.
Now there are in Australia two distinct races of men, one of which is clearly of the white variety, as appears from the colored drawings which accompany M. Péron's Voyage to Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales in 1824. What, then, shall we say? Has the European or Indo-European weapon, with its characteristic name, been introduced into Australia by these lighter-complexioned islanders; and are these far-separated savages members of the same great Japhetic stock, of whom we have this testimony from the oldest and most authentic of human records, 'By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided' —(Gen. c. x. v. 5.)?"
The drawings which accompany Mr. Ferguson's paper are very interesting. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, in Plate I., are Australian weapons, and represent the boomerang which returns when thrown; and Figs. 5 and 6 represent accurately enough the Li-lil or Bol-lair. The figures from Rosellini and others are those of weapons not in the least like the "come-back" boomerang, but one is not very different from the Leonile or Langeel of the Victorian natives. The weapons figured on the coins might be such as would return when thrown; but neither the form of them nor the manner in which they are held would suggest that they had that property.
The figure entitled "Sabre à ricochet," from Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, par M. Péron, atlas, tab. xxx., as given by Mr. Ferguson, is nearly that of the Kul-luk of the Gippsland natives. It is neither a Wonguim nor a Barn-geet. Probably a mistake was made by the artist.
The weapon in the hand of the Belgic Briton (Pl. II., Fig. 6) is shown thus—
* FIG. 111.
If the weapon had had the property of the boomerang, it is not probable that the artist would have represented the warrior as holding it by the middle.
​The boomerangs of the people of Rockingham Bay and the districts adjacent are ornamented with incised lines, differing in this respect from those in use in the southern and western parts of the continent. Those from the north-east coast in my collection are not "come-back" or "play" boomerangs; they are such as are used in warfare, and it is doubtful whether "come-back" boomerangs are in general use on the north-east coast.
The boomerangs which I have received from Mr. Bridgman are thus ornamented (Fig. 112):—
* FIG. 112.
The name of the boomerang at Mackay is Wongala. Others from the districts north of Mackay, the native names of which I have not been able to obtain, have waved lines cut on them, and perhaps exhibit figures indicating the country occupied by the owners.
These boomerangs vary in weight from eight and three-quarter ounces to nine ounces.
They are not very neatly made; but as weapons of war, or as instruments for killing game, they are no doubt effective, and possessed of properties that are understood and highly prized by the natives of North-East Australia.
The most of the weapons now found in this area have been made since the introduction of European tools, and, for the purposes of the ethnographer, are valueless.
The specimens of the art of the old natives of the north-east coast that are figured in this work could not have been described but for the singular activity of my friends in Queensland.
* ↑ The figures on the Egyptian monuments would lead one to suppose that the weapons used by the allies of the Egyptians were not very different from those made by the Australians, as shown in this work. In an engraving in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, one of the allies is represented as carrying a club somewhat similar to the Kud-jer-oong. And speaking of the Egyptians, Wilkinson says:—"A club has also been found and is now in the British Museum, armed with wooden teeth, similar to those in the South Sea Islands; but it was probably of some rude, foreign people, and is not represented on the monuments. "In ancient times, when the fate of a battle was frequently decided by personal valour, the dexterous management of such arms was of great importance; and a band of resolute veterans, headed by a gallant chief, spread dismay among the ranks of an enemy. They had another kind of mace, sometimes of uniform thickness through its whole length, sometimes broader at the upper end, without either the ball or guard; and many of their allies carried a rude, heavy club; but no body of native troops was armed with this last, and it cannot be considered an Egyptian weapon. "The curved stick or club (now called lissán 'tongue') was used by heavy and light armed troops as well as by archers; and if it does not appear a formidable arm, yet the experience of modern times bears ample testimony to its efficacy in close combat. To the Bisharieen it supplies the place of a sword; and the Ababdeh, content with this, their spear and shield, fear not to encounter other tribes armed with the matchlock and the yatagán. In length it is about two feet and a half, and is made of a hard acacia wood."—Pp. 364-5, vol. I. The curved sticks or clubs above referred to are thus figured:— Curved stick or club.—Thebes.
* ↑ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865, vol. XXXV., p. 204.
* ↑ Pid-jer-ong oozes from a tree called Mi-mee-rong by the natives of the Goulburn.
* ↑ Wilkinson gives the following interesting account of the use of the bident by the ancient Egyptians:—"To spear with the bident was thought the most sportsmanlike way of killing fish. In throwing it they sometimes stood on the bank, but generally used the papyrus punt, gliding smoothly over the water of a lake in their grounds, without disturbing the fish as they lay beneath the broad leaves of the lotus. . . . . . The bident was a spear with two barbed poiuts, which was either thrust at the fish with one or both hands as they passed by, or was darted to a short distance; a long line fastened to it preventing its being lost, and serving to recover it with the fish when struck. It was occasionally furnished with feathers, like an arrow, and sometimes a common spear was used for the purpose; but in most cases it was provided with a line, the end of which was immediately north of the continent is uncertain. It is perhaps one of those held by the left hand, or wound upon a reel. This mode of fishing is still adopted in many countries; and the fish-spears of the South Sea Islanders have two, three, and four points, and are thrown nearly in the same manner as the bident of the ancient Egyptians. Their attendants, or their children, assisted in securing the fish, which, when taken off the barbed point of the spear, were tied together by the stalk of a rush passed through the gills."—The Ancient Egyptians, p. 239, vol. II.
* ↑ Excursions in New South Wales, &c., by Lieut. Breton, p. 237.
* ↑ See report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 11th January 1851.
* ↑ The following notice of another lecture on the same subject, delivered by Sir Thomas Mitchell, appeared in the Athenæum of 10th December 1853, p. 1482:— "Origin, History, and Description of the Boomerang-Propeller: A lecture, delivered at the United Service Institution, by Lieut.-Col. Sir Thomas L. Mitchell. 'Some sixteen years ago, on his return from an expedition into the interior of Australia, Sir Thomas Mitchell exhibited some of the native weapons in this country, among others was the boomerang. The flight of this singular weapon through the air, to use the words of Mr. Bailey, then Vice-President of the Royal Society, "was enough to puzzle a mathematician." One curious point about it was its resemblance to a weapon used by the ancient Egyptians for killing wild-ducks, as this pastime is found represented on the walls of a tomb at Thebes. Interest in the weapon thus excited, Sir Thomas tried a number of experiments with it, the ultimate result of which is the invention of the boomerang-propeller. Into the question of relative merits as between the screw, the boomerang, and the paddle-wheel, we shall not enter. The friends of each are, of course, confident of the superior virtues of their power, and intolerant of any other. Sir Thomas Mitchell's discourse is in part controversial, being a reply to certain strictures by Capt. R. Fitzroy.'"
* ↑ When these facts and Sir Thomas Mitchell's theory were promulgated, it was pointed out that the principle had been applied long before by Mr. R. Hodgson, who claimed to be the discoverer of the parabolic-propeller, and whose experiments, it was affirmed at the time, were successful. Mr. Hodgson's blades were each sections of a parabola, and attached to the shaft in positions coincident with the plane of a right cone placed longitudinally with the apex foremost. Mr. Hodgson's theory was that blades of a parabolic form, fixed at the angle chosen, would take a better grasp of the water, and have, therefore, a greater propulsive force than any other; and that, from the property peculiar to the parabola, that all rays of light coming parallel to its axis are reflected into its focus, so also all water thrown off from a blade of parabolic form must diverge from it in the direction of the focal point, and that consequently a propeller with parabolic blades must allow the water to escape from it much more readily than any other. The discussions which arose in consequence of Sir Thomas Mitchell's application of the principle involved in the flight of the Wonguim is not without interest, and the reader may refer with profit to the Mechanics' Magazine, from which I have extracted the above notes.—See vol. XLI., pp. 238, 256, 268; vol. XLII., p. 234; vol. XLIX., p. 130; and vol. XLIX., p. 547; years 1844-5 and 1848.
* ↑ British Association, Section D., opening address by the President, Col. A. Lane Fox.—Nature, No. 146, vol. VI., p. 323.
* ↑ Our Antipodes, p. 47.
* ↑ Pre-Historic Times, p. 352.
* ↑ The Ancient Egyptians, by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, vol. I., pp. 236-7.
* ↑ Nineveh and its Palaces, by Joseph Bonomi, F.R.S.L., pp. 135-6.
* ↑ On the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang, by Samuel Ferguson, Esq., M.R.I.A., read 22nd January and 12th February 1838.