The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-01
CURIOUS WEAPONS.
The Boomerang and Its Origin-Wa L
Quoits and Knobkerrie s-Ihe Blow
pipes of the Dyaks.

more or less effective. These peculiar in :
str,,ments of offence and defence may be
divided, says the London Standard, into
two classes-those which are merely curl
Gus forms of ordinary weapons, represent
ing the eccentricities of the savage mind,
and those which are curious from the fact
that they are constructed upon compli-
Gated scientific rinciples-principles of
which the savages who use them cannot
be expected to know anything, and which
indeed, have on'y been discovered by Eur
opean scientists within the last couple of
centuries. Perhaps the most curious of
these is the boomerang. We all of us
know about this weapon; in fact, we
mostly know more about its powers than
the aborigines of Australia, who are the
only people who use it. Among other
things which we know about it is that it
may be thrown at an object, will hit it,
and after having laid it low, return to
its owner, like retriever. The aborigi-
nal Australian is not so advanced as this.
The poor fellow does not know that it
ought to return to him after he has killed
an emu or kangaroo with the weapon;
he goes and fetches it. In fact, it is only
when the savage has missed the object
aimed at that the boomerang will return
to him-were it to touch leaf even, it
would be sufficient to turn the course Of
the weapon. But how came those savages
by the weapon Did the earth-eating
aDorigines of Australasia race whose idea
of numbers does not extend beyond three,
for they count Zone, two, three, many
invent it, Or is the boomerang but the
remains of an old, long forgotten civiliza-
tion-a civilization as old as that Of the
Chinese. Nobody but the aboriginal Aus
tralian can Use this weapon nowadays,
but that it has been known before, and
| that by race which was not only civil
| LIKED, but had attained to considerable
degree of scientific knowledge, there is no
room to doubt, for in Egyptian sculpture
| there are many unmistakable represen-
tations of it in hunting scenes. 1t is the
same weapon exactly, curved to the same
angle, curved on one side and fiat on the
other, and was used in the same way.
Still it requires very imaginative mind
to connect Australia and Egypt, so that
the problem of how the boomerang came
to be used by the Australian savage is
one the solution of which must probably
remain a secret for all time.
| A weapon which is constructed on the
principle Of centrifugal force has been in
use among the Indian tribes of South
America from time immemorial. Denuded
of superfiuous aspirates, the name of this
weapon sounds something like "bolero, :"
and it consists merely of a strip of raw
hide, about ten feet long, to each end of
which is attached a heavy leaden or
! stone ball. When the thrower wishes to
use it, he grasps the thong in the middle
with his finger and thumb, whirls the
weights round his head two or three
times, and then, with peculiar twist,
filings it at its mark in such a manner
that the two balls travel parallel to each
other, with the thong stretched out be-
tween them. In this way the ''bolero"
makes it's journey through the air until it
reaches the object at which it is thrown.
Then the centre of the strip of hide
strikes the object aimed at, and the balls,
continuing to move forward but being
stopped by the thong, coil around the legs
or neck of the victim, in the same way as
a whip lash will coil round a stick, on
a blow being made at it-and SO hobbies
or strangles the animal until its pursuer
comes TO release IL.
This form of ''bolero' is mostly used
for catching semi-wild animals on the
Pampas; but there is another variety of
/ the weapon which is used for hunting
and in warfare, and which is far more
| formidable. 1t is the same as that de-
scribed above, only it has an addition in
the shape of a third ball, which is at
tached to the middle of the thong by
another shorter string, about foot in
| Ipr1oth Whar this ic thrown tha short
string ball travels in advance Of the others
and strikes the animal at which the
missile is aimed on the head with great
force, after which the other balls wind
round its neck or legs, and "make as
surance doubly sure" On a somewhat
similar principle is the knobkerrie which
the Zulus and Kaffirs use. 1t consists of
a short stick of light wood, at the end of
which is very heavy ball of wood OF
metal. Still, simple as this weapon may
appear, it is not one to be despised by
any means, for in the hands of a skillful
thrower it becomes almost as formidable
as the "bolero.'' A Zulu is able to throw
It with wonderful accuracy up to dis
lance of seventy-five yards, and then woe
betide the head with which it happens to
come in contact. Should it belong to a
human being he will certainly make an
abrupt exit from this world and appear
in the next without precisely knowing
what 1t was that sent him there.
In India, until quite recently, the Sinks
used weapon which was fearfully effec-
tive at close quarters-the war QUOT. II
was the national weapon of that tribe,
and is almost as old as the sword and
spear Even to the present day one of the
crack Sikh regiments wears the QUOT in
the turban as part of the uniform. In
size and shape these weapons We're pre-
cisely similar to those with which the
English game is played, only they were
somewhat lighter, seldom weighing above
twelve or fourteen ounces. Made of the
finest steel the East could produce, the
war quoits had their peripheries
sharpened up to an edge as keen as that
of a razor, and were occasionally beauti-
fed by being inlaid with gold, ivory and
even with precious stones. When he went
into battle the Sikh used to carry eight
or ten of these missiles upon his left arm
their sharp outer edges being protected by
a kind of casing made of plated grass
To throw it he first took off the protect
ing sheath, and, whirling the QUOT round
his forefnger for a little while, threw it
Legends Of the Sikh war say that mer
were decapitated by these flying quoits