Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-04

o'iN - iAoiNs &AIIotllCI VI III UldN lId leS
standing by himself some distance ahead
ana racing the foremost of the file, throws
the boomerang over their heads, and as
1T CIRCLES round they all follow it in it's
gyratlons, the game being for any one
or them to escape being hit, each taking
IL IN turn to throw the missile. In some
districts they often arrange to make up
two sides, the object being for a men,
Der of one team to hit an Individual of
the opposite group. In another game
a peg is stuck into the ground, and the
one who can hit or come nearest to it
with the boomerang when it falls to the
ground is declared the victor. Competi-
tive throwing even when no game pecu-
liar to the country is played. is very
common Mr.. Hardy saw some astonish-
ing throwing of the kind on the Rich
mond river. In this case the weapon
kept a perfectly circular course in front
OF the thrower, and then, wheeling
around behind him, completed another
circle, when 1t eventually fell, a yard or
so away from the native. 1t had COM
pleted a figure 8. Thrown again. it trav-
eled 90 yards of its flight parallel
with and about two feet above the
ground. Rising abruptly it returned to
the thrower, who was dexterous enough
to catch it before it reached the ground.
A boomerang of the Carpentaria region
is the horned boomerang, and it is used
mostly for killing wild duck in 1ocks.
The boomerangs are manufactured
from green wood, cut to the desired shape
and angle. The points are hardened by
drying in hot Sane or ashes, after which
the weapon is
BENT TO THE REQUIRED TWIST,
While held firmly on the ground by the
ball of the foot and wrenched with the
hand. But even after this treatment the
boomerang is not finished until repeated
trials of it's flight have been made and
it is Clipped, scraped and twisted until
it's working qualities are considered per-
feet. The weight of a good come back
boomerang varies from four ounces to
ten and One-half ounces, according to the
district in which it is made.
Boomerangs for fighting are much larg-
er and heavier in their construction than
the toy come backs, besides having a
greater cOnveXity on their upper sides,
while it sometimes happens hat both
sides are convex. They are also straight
er in their make and have a perceptible
twist, their mission being to intlict in
jury and death, and not to return to the
thrower. 1t was long a fond delusion
that the native Australian could cause
his boomerang to crack a mans skull
and then return to the hand of the throw
er. This is a falacy. But there is abso-
lutely no accounting for the eXtraordi-
nary evolutions these fighting boomer
angs perform. One was thrown by a
Queensland native when the weapon be-
gan to curve the m it left
his hand, then suddenly Topped and con-
tlnued its peculiar course Topped a sec
ond time, and eventually made a huge
sweep roundt to it's starting point.
The horned boomerang is sometimes
used in fighting. 1t is made to strike on
the shield, and, sliding along it's outer
edge, catch against the hook, swing
round and deliver a blow on the head Of
the enemy. Thus when a horned BOOM
erang is thrown skillfully a shield is no
guard against it. The largest boomerang
in Australia comes from the neighbOr-
hood of Lake Eyrie, and is called by the
natives "marewurra." 1t is six feet in
length.