Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1906-07-12
WILD MEMS WEAPONS
THE PUZZLE OF THE ORIGIN OF
THE BOOMERANG.
It's CIeverness of Design Is One of
the Wonders of This Queer Weapon.
The Mexicans' Use of the LasSo-The
Best E'Noose" story.

Best "Noose" 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 cleverness in de-
sign is perhaps the boomerang. The
| perfection of balance, curve and weight
| in all its parts IS so exact that modern
dynamlcs have been quite unable to
| find formula according to which a
| workable boomerang can be turned out
by carpenter, and the skill needed
| for the use of even the most perfect
| weapon is sucll-that the untutored ef-
forts OF the most stalwart thrower of
cricket ball are ridlculously futile
when he begins 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 told that there IS in Australia
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 a curve
| analogous to that of the boomerang
we see faint suggestion of q similar
movement in the gyrations of the seed
| pods of our own ashland it has been
conjectured that the observant "black
| fellow" may have received from this
the first hint of the weapon which he
eventually fashioned into the wonder
| ful boomerang. 1t is conjecture
which will ever remain conjectural
Others of mans early weapons-the
club, the spear, the hatchet Originally,
we may suppose, stone cleft by acci-
dent to cutting edge)-are easy to
understand. Nature gave them almost
ready made into his hand. The almost
universal use of the bow, q weapon of
much more elaboration, does not sug-
gest puzzle nearly so battling as the
boomerang The force of elasticity in
the saplng would be apt almost liter
ally to Jump to the eyes" of the saw
age as he made his way through the
bush and his friend In front released
q bough from its tension to fly back
and whip. him across the face.
To cut such a sapling. to rasten 10
either end of 1t q sinew or stretch of
a tough creeping plant, to fit an arrow
on the string and discharge it by the
relaxed tension of the released string
are no doubt series of operations de-
manding much ingenuity and probab,-
much time for their development, but
we can imagine the steps. We are not
left wondering. Even the throwing
stick-that very effective application of
| the principle of the lever by which the
Wild man added SO very greatly to the
| force and distance Of his throw Of his
missile spear-may be supposed to
| have been discovered by accidental
means which we can reconstruct. The
boomerang still remains the biggest
| puzzle.
There is another adaptation Of
very simple instrument which We do
not know to have such antiquity as
some of these, yet must always seem
very uldINelOu5 Wutu We uESt hlLlCcI
the variety of uses and the perfection
to which it has been brought-that use
of 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 hts more
or less natural state. Its efficacy in
arresting his progress through forest
thiokly hung with lianas must soon
have struck him as one OF the incon-
venienees OF his existence, but we do
not seem TO find record at very early
stage of any practical use to which he
might have put the hint so given him.
The greatest wonder In the history of
the moose second 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 &c FOR granted
that the Anseriean red Indian did not
begin 10 use it until after the Spaniards
had made their way TO America The
origin of the word is Latin, 'laqueus."
There is Portuguese 'laea" We ''las-
81 VI ldtt 0uA DOOlS tNcIA
presuming that we do not spend the |
day in slippers. But apart from tnat II |
Is not easy to see that the lasso could J
have had value without the horse. 1t
is the instrument bf riders On horse
BACK Hlere were no horses in Amer
lea, according to all who claim 10
speak with authority, until the Span
ha rfft
their cavalry was so strange as to
strike terror into the hearts Of the ma
tives. who deemed horse and man
some fearful composite animal
The most sklllful artist IN the world
with the lasso is that compound-who
shall say what is the exact mixture of
the ingredients?- Spaniard and In
dian that is known as Mexican, espe-
cially the Mexican of the southwest
ern states of the Union. But we read
of various tribes of the red Indians,
probably quite free from any infu-
sion of European blood, to whom the
lasso had become so familiar weap-
on, so trusted in cases of emergency,
that they not only used 1t on the gal
looping bison and overthrow him on the
prairie, but actually lassoed the fun
nels of the steam engines when the
trains began to invade their land. IL
Is possible that the result may have
been to give little shake to their con-
fidence. but their skill IN the use of the
moose has abundant witness.
-s--i---'- S--A--tA- - - l."
seen to be believed. At full gallop he
will send the loop to encircle at his
will the neck, the horn, the leg of the
steer laundering along beside him. His
little horse knows the game as per-
fectly as he does, throwing himself
back on his launches into the best
possible position to stand the shock
and the strain which he knows VIII
arrive when the rope is drawn tight, of
which one end is about the steer and
the other is fastened to the horn of
the big Spanish saddle. The horse |
stands firm and the steer tumbles.
Sometimes the Mexicans VIII ride /
down and lasso the coyote or the Wild |
turkey, for the turkey likes his legs |
better than his wings as means of loco |
motion, and will seldom fly again after |
he has been flushed and marked down. |
The actual evolution of the lasso may |
be imagined easily-at first a big loop |
Il n q