The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
HE THROWs BoONERANGS.
The Australian Wespoh Mastered by o Ma
IN washington.

ANA0 ANANNA NAh9AA
IN Warrington.
WASHINGTON, May 2S.-George Clarvoe
Of Washington has become expert In the
use Of the Australian boomerang, can nun
1t indeed with a dexterisy that would MAKE
him chief from Booloomooloo TO Botany
Bay.
He Is an expert instrument maker In the
Coast and Geodetio Survey. When some
years ago an Engllshman who had been
around the bush with the wild Australians
a spell came to Washington and gave an
exhibition Of boomerang throwing Mr..
Clarvoe's interest in the construction and
casting OF this weapon was aroused.
He looked at the things flying and soar
ing through the air like birds-wooden
birds az they were. Then he looked at the
half dozen hanging on the arm OF the
Englishman-and that was enough for Mr..
Clarvoe. He went home and fashioned
him q near boomerang.
It didn't fly, but it futtered some and
! made a noise like q real boomerang. That
was encouraging; he tried and tried again,
varying slants, curves and dimensions
and az Last reached the point where o Jaw
less boomerang was built. Then Mr.. Clar-
voc addressed himself 70 casting Il,
at was much like learning 70 ride .
bicycle said he. 1T would always 20
just where l didn't aim It,"
But by degrees he attained that expert
ness which has enabled him to rival and
even surpass the black inventors OF the
warlike wood.
The weapon IL about twenty inches long
over all. having a sharp bond in the middle
like the crook Of an elbow. In shape 1t
much resembles the arm Of @ maj Just at
that stage OF the c~onvivial proceedings
when he says: Here's at you
1t is about two inches Wjdeand about three
eighths Of an inch thick in the middle, the
bottom side fat, the top bevelled down TO
the edges. The two arms or branches are
not in the same plane, but ara slanted away
at an angle OF 2 degrees. 1t weighs about q
pound.
In casting the boomerang the thrower
grasps IL firmly by one end, the other end
projecting up and out in front OF him much
like the warning arm Of q railway soma
phore. The hand Is then flung back over the
shoulder and brought forward ~perpendicu-
larry, the boomerang being hurled at full
arms length. =.
snapped back with q jerk. as Q boy snaps
back O hoop to make II return. This imparts
a rotary motion to the thing, and right there
is the milk in the ooooanut, the secret Of the
b~oomsrang's bewildering flight.
Away 1t goes whirling through the air,
tumbling heels over head, for a distance
OF one or two hundred feet, never varying
in its height from the ground. Then,
just as one thinks 1t falling TO the ground.
as by. all the statutes OF civilized things
as though considering what TO do next.
turn on It's side, and with q few preliminary
whirls (Which have now become horizontally
60 gently sailing away to the left, sailing
affair, instead OF continuing forward or fall
ing, defes all the lave Of gravitation and
acts altogether by oontraries.
In a wide semicircle it sweeps. soaring
into the air and reaching its greatest eleva-
ton when half way home. Thence 1t comes
| whirring and whiriing back to the thrower.
its rotary motion apparently increasing
as it nears the ground at his feet-eome-
times at his feet. oftentimes at the head
Of the innocent bystander.
something else" said &r. Carvoe, sonce
nursed a gooseegg on the back Of his head
for a week. II is the rotary motion that
makes the boomerang dangerous.
"~Theswiftly whirling arm strikes a power
full blow. and with its soaring, backward
sweep 1t can fish a mar. out from behind
a rock or tree without difficulty. That is,
for the thrower. II ID the realization Of hat
| mythical rife with the curve in the barrel
that could hit a deer around t~hemountain-
side.
sThe cant. or variation OF the arm from
the same plane. is, 1 think. the cause Of the
continued rotary motion and the key to
the boomerang's strange fight. 1t was in
getting this exact that / had the most
trouble.
when the boomerang at the end Of it's
forward fight hats and turns on its side,
the rotary or spinning motion acts like a
screw on the air, causing it to worm its way
upward and backward. Do you see it?'
The hystander didn't zee 1t. All he saw
was a bewildering flight Of boomerangs that
dipped and scared n swerved and darted
and hurtled and Ehirred like things pos
sessea, moving without the slightest regard
for the laws Of nature or the integrity Of his
own headpiece.
Boomerangs appear to have q great
natural affinity for heads and windows.
Hence Mr.. Clarvoe. when INDUCING In his
f~avorite sport. s@sEs the green fields lar
from folks and buildings.