Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-17
BOOMERANG AND SPEAR.
How tine Natives of Australia Use These
 Two Peculiar Weapons.

Two Peculiar Weapons.
 More has been written, and less Is under stood, of the boomerang than of almost any other weapon, writes Springfield (Mass) Republican correspondent from Hobart, Tasmania. It Is generally known to be Hat stick of wood bent into shape which suggests combination of Q "V" and "U," although with the extremities spread apart until they are at right angles with each other. In point of fact, boomerangs are of almost every shape, from semicircular to nearly straight, and seem to depend for their efficiency not so much upon the evident form as upon the curves which are shown upon their fiat sides. If one takes boom erang and looks along the sharp outer edge, it is seen that this edge presents 8 wavy appearances delicately adjusted sinuosity like the line of a long screw. This curve is not elaborately fashioned or smoothed into evenness; the hard wood of which the boomerang is usually made being picked held in the hand almost always shows, in- deed, infinite irregularities.
 What rule of construction the savage artificer follows even he himself would probably be unable to say. Yet he has some definite plan in mind, no doubt, for while he chips and pecks away at the wood he takes frequent squints along its edge to see how his curves are progressing. l have never seen two boomerangs that were just alike, but all are similar in their relations of curves along the fiat side. The boomerang maker knows instinctively just where his boomerang will go when he throws it, al- though he never seems to aim any two in the same way.
 More lies have been told about the boom erang than can be well enumerated, and nearly every Australian traveller comes back with fresh assortment. One hears of men who can so throw boomerang that it kills an enemy behind a tree and then comes cheerfully huttering back to it's owner, who thereupon hurls it on fresh mission of carnage. A flock of frightened cockatoos, speeding in intricate gyrations through the air to escape the attack of natives who want bird for dinner, are pursued at every turn by these cratic weapons, which strike them down a dozen each, and so return to the hand that cast them. Old wives fables, these, at which Australians laugh, knowing in the nature of things their falsity. In the first place the war boomerang is not made for return, and is only slightly bent, so that it may go hopping and bounding along the earth like a hoop, and make capacious holes in the body of the adversary. These are of hard, heavy wood, and ugly things to be hit withal; but the return boomerang is sim ply play thing, or to be used in light hunt ing, and, although it might give 8 man 8 painful rap, could not seriously injure him. As for the cockatoo story, it has this much of truth-that native boomerang hurler, if he saw a flock flying by him in straight course, could SO cast his weapon as to come upon them unawares at given point, and, perhaps, knock one down; but his boom- erang would drop, too, having no power of flight after it has struck any thing.
 The boomerang is sufficiently remarkable without being regarded in the light of a long bow, and drawn by every tourist in the colonies It is held perpendicularly and taken firmly in the hand by one of it's ex- tremities, with the other pointed forward, and is hurled with a full arm and assisted by a run and swing of the whole body. A slight turn of the wrist at the moment of discharge causes it to assume various err ratio courses. Sometimes it will fly straight forward for one hundred or even two hun dred yards, then rise sharply to a great height, lose it's force, and flutter down to the feet of the thrower. Again, it will rise in the air, swoop down with immense rap idity, and skim around in a great semi circle few inches from the ground, rise once more, and return to the spot whence it started. It will also start of in a great swoop to the right, reverse it and turn to the left, skim around the thrower in a series of ever-narrowing circles, and, find ing their center, fall into it like an ex- hausted bird. There Is something uncanny about the thing; it's movements are so un- expected and out of reason that it seems to be alive, and to take savage delight in strange shoots and dashes, which make the thew chum" Australian equivalent for "tenderfoot') dodge every time it turns, lest it should knock him on the head.
 The yarn about the Australian blacks al- ways throwing the boomerang with their backs to the object they desire to hit is a piece oil the same ''whole cloth' as the cockatoo fable, and the lie about the missile returning to it's owner after killing the gentlemen behind the tree. An expert thrower can cause his boomerang to shoot behind him after short preliminar y excursion in front, and come very near a given object, but if he wants to hit any thing, either In hunting or war, he doesn't fool away his time with the return boomerang, but throws a heavy, nearly straight one, which goes direct to the mark without any hourishes Such is the boomerang-a two. formed utensil, with one shape for business
 the other for sport.
 Another ingenious contrivance used by the natives is the handle and thong which they uSc III pTOpcllluS tuc1T SpcdTS-tucSe being generally of tapering, sharp pointed sticks of hard wood, although sometimes tipped with flint or iron. To add to the
 force of their discharge some sable philoso
 pher whose name Is lost took a bit of thick
 stick about foot long, fastened to one end
 of it strip of leather or cord terminat ing in socket, wherein to set the butt oi
 his spear, and was ready for action. When
 the cord or strip ot leather was laid along
 the spear, the handle came in the center
 and was held on the under side of the
 weapon when 1t was cast. When the spear left the hand, the handle and it's appendage l of leather or cord remained, and by de1 terous movement on the part of the throwel
 acted like "a sling to accelerate the flight ot
 the shaft. By this device, the spearmar | gained the same advantage that slingel | enjoys over a person who hurls a stone by | his unaided arm-so that cases are knowr | where spears thus hurled have flown two hundred yards, and gone completely througt | the body of the man who was unluckl | enough to serve as a target.
 | An Electrical Trumpet.
 An electric trumpet has been devised by | . French electrician. It con isists of 8 shor,