Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-01-18
THE BOOMERANG.
What IL Is and Is NOt-Liyely
Sport In View.

What II Is and Is NOt-LiveIJ
Sport In View.
Several weeks ago DR.. Martin made
present to Luther Clark of several formi
dable and curious things, which are sale
to be Australian weapons, used in war anG
in the chase. There are three of them,
two Of which may be called clubs. One Of
them certainly is a club. 1t looks as
though it might be the great ancestor OF
all the terrible clubs in the civilized and
unciviliZed world. 1t is about two feet
and a half in length, nearly round, and
about an inch and a half thick, terminal
ing at one end in an irregular, rough
Knob about the size of q mans fist. 1t is
of Il native wood, and has not much less
gravity than iron. 1t would certainly
weigh more than any other equal volume
of any other known wood in the world.
This is doubtless the weapon used in hand
to-hand encounters, and direful skull
crackers they must be in the hands of the
lusty wild men Of the Australian isles.
They are said, also, to be brought into
requisition to dispatch wounded wild
game. There is another club-like weapon,
somewhat less in diameter than the first,
of the same wood, about the same length,
and differing from it otherwise only in the
end, which is curved and pointed, having
the outline of an elongated acorn. This,
they say, is hurled with mar
velous accuracy and tremendous force
to great distances. A native Of
Australia, as the story goes, who is expert
in singing it can drive it through the
vitals of a feeting deer $50 yards off. The
third weapon, two specimens of which were
rrpalnfp6 tn Mr. Etn,ly Inv Nv Martin 10
very different from the others, except in
being made, also, of a very heavy sort of
wood. 1t is almost in the shape of a semi
circle, the ends of which will measure
about Ia inches apart. 1t is fat, followed
out somewhat on one side, about an inch
and a quarter in width and less than a
quarter of an inch thick. This is the one
that Fred. German, an Australian, though
not a native, prides himself on his famil-
iarity with. With a little practice he can
perform the most startling feats with it.
As soon as the weather moderates he will
be urged to give an exhibition. 1t is
claimed for him that he can get behind
Jack Perry's and hurl this, the boomerang,
around Lautenschlager's corner into the
back door of Pramenko d Ballich's res
taurant, and that, with a little more prac-
tice he can sling it entirely around the
! kuudE6 dDu klOCh u mau Oh tle bOp OF
the Jackson House, or recall it gently into
his own right hand. All this may be true
in regard to Mr.. Germans experiences in
using the boomerang, but as q truthful
chronicler Of events, social, sportive and
historical, we feel bound to say that the
weapon discussed is not by any means a
boomerang. The Simon pure boomerang
is a 'heavy wooden club about 80 inches
long, 8 inches wide and 1 inch thick; fiat
on one side and convex IN the other; bent
without moving the fiat side out of its own
plane, either into an arc or into IN obtuse
angle" This little discrepancy, giving
rise to the suspicion that all these South
Sea weapons may have been manufactured
in San Francisco, or in some nutmeg town
of New England, need not mai the spot of
the proposed exhibition. We are pleased to
state, also, that as soon as the present snow
storm is over Luther Clark, Frank Rob-
bins and Fred. German are going out with
Mr.. Clark's three deer hounds rabbit hunt
ing. They propose to start all the jack
rabbits they, or rather the dogs, can get
scent Of, and brain them with the terrible
weapons osteusibly grown and nodded in
that land which is "ten thousand miles
away" Our reporter will use his best en-
deavors to attend and give the facts with
reference TO tine proposed street exhibition
with the supposed boomerang, and the de.
tails also Of the grand jack-rabbit knock
down which will doubtless take place to.
morrow, if not to-day,