The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-11-16
WILD MEMS WEAPONS
THE PUZZLE OF THE ORIGIN OF
THE BOOMERANG.

Its CIeVerEeSs or Design Is Ohe OF
the Wonders of This Queer Weapon.
The Mexicans' Use of the Lasso-The
Best choose" Story.
Among the weapons which the wit of
primitive man devised to aid him in
the struggle for existence with AMI
mails far more formidably endowed
by nature than himself, the way in
which some were suggested to him by
the objects which he saw around him
Is obvious enough, but of others we
are amazed by his ingenuity in their
design and his skill in their use.
The most striking instance of both
this skill in use and clcvcrnesS in de-
sign is perhaps the boomerang. The
perfection of balance, curve and weight
in all its parts il so exact that modern
dynamics have been quite unable to
find Il formula accordin" to which
workable boomerang can be turned out
by a carpenter, and the skill needed
for the use of even the most perfect
weapon is such that the untutored eff
forts of the most stalWart thrower of
Il cricket bail are ridculously futile
when he he~ins to make trial of it. 1t
is scarcely too much to say that in
spite Of years of practice no white
man has ever succeeded in becoming
effective with it,
We are tol that there is in Australia
Il tree whose seed pod is so formed
that when detached by the process of
natural growth from the branch it
whirls through the air with curve
analogous to that of the boomerang
we see Il fa.nt suggestion of Il similar
movement i'll the gyratons of the seed
pods of our own ashland it has been
conjecturcd that the oOScrvant black
fellow may have received from this
the first hiat of the weapon which he
eventually fashioned into the wonder
full boomerang. 1t is Il conjecture
which will ever remain conjectural.
Others of mans early WeaponS-the
club, the spear, the hatchet Originally,
we may suppose. stone cle1t by acct
dent to Il cutting edge)-arc easy to
understand. Nature gave them almost
ready mace into his hand. The almost
universal Use of the bow. Il weapon of
much more elaboration, does not suS-
gest puzzle nearly so battling as the
boomerang Tie force of elasticity in
the sapine Woull be apt almost liter
ally to Jump to the eyes" Of the say
age as he Eiadc his way through the
bush and bis f,end in front released
a bough from its tension to fly back
and whip b,;n access the face.
To cut sIch Il sapling, to fasten to
either end Of it Il sncw or Il stretch of
a tough creeping plant, TO fit an arrow
on the stria.; and discharge it by the
relaxed tension of the released string
are no doubt Il SricS of operations de-
handing mach ingenuity and probably
much time Tor their development, but
we can lie the steps. We are not
left wondering. Even the throwing
stick-that ,cYy effective application OF
the princip. OF the lever by which IL,
wild man aided SO very greatly to tn
force and distance OF his throw of his
missile sprar-llay be supposed to
have been discovered by accidental
boomerang still remains the biggest
puzzle.
There is another adaptation of
very simple instrument which we do
not know 10 have such antiquity as
some of these. yet must always seem
very marvellous when we first witness
the variety of uses and the perfection
4i,,t
of a bit of rope which we call lassoing.
The value of the moose we can easily
imagine to have been brought very
early to the notice of man in his more
or less natural state. Its efficacy In
arresting bis pro sress through forest
thicklv hun,s with lianaS must soon
have struck llm as one of the incOn-
ycnicnces Of his existence, but we do
not seem to lind record at a very early
stage of any pra ctical use to which he
might have put the hint so given him.
The greatest wonder in the history of
the moose (sccon1 only to the marvel
GUS skill exhibited by the experts in
its use) Is that certain nations should
have acquired the skill that they did
acquire in it with so few generations
Of practice
We may probably take it for granted
that the American red Indian did not
begin to use it until after the Spauiards
had made their way to America. The
origin of the word is Latin, "laqueus."
There is I'ortu cuese "laco." We "las
80" or "lace" our boots every morning,
presuming that We DO not spend the