News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-04-04
BooMERANds AND SPEARS.
Mistaken Impressions Corrected
The Native Use of.WeaYuns.


More lies have been % about tie
boomerang than can we zoe enumerated,
and nearly every Australian traveller
comes back with q flesh assortment
One hears of men who can 50 throw u
boomerang that it Kills an enemy
behind tree and then comes cheerfully
futtering back to its owner, who there
upon hurls it on fresh mission of
carnage. A flock enlightened cuckatoos,
speeding i'll intricate gyratlons through
the air to escape the attack of natives
who want bird for dinner. are pursued
at every turn by these erTatic weapons,
which strike them down dozen each,
and so return to the hand which 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 hoop, and make capacious holes
i'll the body of the adversary. These
are of hard, heavy wood, and ugly things
to be hit withal but the return boom
erang is simply a plaything, or to he
used in light hunting, and although it
might give man a painful rap, could
not seriously injure him. As for the
cuckatoo story, it has this much of
truth-thGt a native boomerang hurler,
If he saw a flock flying by him in q
straight course, could so cast his weapon
as to come upon them unawares at a
given point, and perhaps knock one
down; but his boomerang would drop,
too, having no power of flight after it
has struck anything.
The boomerang is sufficiently remark
able without being regarded in the light
OF long bow, and drawn by every tour
lst III the colonies. 1t is held perpen-
dicularly and taken firmly in the hand
by one of its eXtremities, with the other
pointed forward, and is hurled with a
full arm and assisted by run and swing
OF the whole body. A slight turn of the
wrist at the moment of discharge causes
1T to assume various elTistic courses.
Sometimes it will fly straight forward
for 100 or even 200 yards, then rise
sharply to great height, lose its force,
and t1utter down to the feet of the throw
er. Again it will rise in the air, swoop
down with immense rapidity, and skim
around III great semicircle few inches
from the ground, rise once more and re-
turn to the spot whence it started. 1t
will also start off in great swoop to the
right, reverse it and turn to the left,
skim around the thrower in o series of
circles, and, finding their
centre, fall into it like an exhausted
bird. There is something uncanny about
the thing; its movements are SO unex-
pected and ont of reason that it seems
to be alive, and to take a savage delight
in strange shoots and dashes, which
make the "new chum australian
for ''tender- foot dodge every
time it turns, lest it should knock him
on the head.
The yarn about the Australian blacks
always throwing the boomerang with
their backs to the object they desire to
hit is piece off the same "whole cloth"
as the cockatoo fable, and the lie about
the missile returning to its owner
after killing the gentlemen behind the
tree. An expert tlIrower can cause
his boomerang to shoot behind him after
D short preliminary excursion in front,
and come very near given object, hut
if he wants to hit anything, either i'll
hunting OF war, he doesn't fool away his
time with the return boomerang, but
throws the heavy, nearly straight one,
which goes direct to the mark without
any fourishes. Such is the boomerang
"a wo-formed utensil, with one shape
for business, the other for sport.
Another ingenious contrivance used by
ihe natives is the handle and thong
which they use in propelling their spears
these being generally of tapering,
sticks of hard wood,
sometimes tipped with flint or
ron. To add to the force of their dis
charge some sable philosopher whose
name is lost took bit of thick stick
lbout foot long, fastened to one end q
strip of leather or cord terminating in u
socket, wherein to set the butt of his
spear, and was ready for action. When
the cord or strip of leather was laid along
the spear, the handle came in the centre
rNno was held ON the under side of the
weapon when 1t was cnst. When the
spear left the hand, the handle and its
of leather or cord remained,
and by a dexterous movement ON the
part of the thrOwer acted like sling to
accelerate the fight of the shaft. BY
this device the sportsman gained the
same advantage that 81 singer enjoys
over n person who hurls n stone by his
unaided arm-so that cases are known
where spears thus hurled have
flown 200 yards, and gone com
pletely through the body of man who
1nlucky enough to serve as a target
Springfield RcpuJIjcan.