Some were mere playthings. The one which travellers delighted to me circling in the air and returning in waving circles to the thrower was made only for amusement, but the traveUer often supposed that the implement was made to return to its owner in ease ol" missing its object in battle ; and thus an absurd error was received in England as truth. The rapidity of rotation of all boomerangs made their blow sharp, and the w^eight and velocity of war-boomerangs made them dangerous. The boomerang made to return to the thrower was thrown with the hollow of the arc forward, and with great force, at an angle varying from 45 degs. n2:>wardsj from the shoulder of the thrower, according to its special construction and gravity; and the pressure of the ah' against its outer or flattest side insured its correct flight. No less than six lateral warps, and two shapings w4th the tomahawk at the ends, were comprised in the plaj^hing. The thrower could cause it to strike the ground about fifteen yards from hiua, and then rise and pursue its returning course, though not so fast or far as when thrown in the normal manner. If it struck a tree the toy- boomerang was almost always shattered, and the Aus- tralians abstained from throwmg it where trees were near. It was in open spaces thrown at wild ducks if it happened to be the only missile at hand ; Init as it would only travel in its circuit, it had only one possible point of intersection with the flight of the birds; whereas the weapons made for the purpose pmsued them. The boomerang of war was massive compared to the toy, and carefully constructed with warps peculiar to itself so as to insure its forward progress, ricoclietting as it went at every contact with the ground until the great force com- municated to it by the thrower was spent. Some were so heavj^ that only a powerful man could throw them well. The war-boomerang required less skill in construction than the toy, but when only stone hatchets were used, much labour was requh^ed in fashioning it. Its lateral warpings, which a careless observer might fail to detect, differed alto- gether from those of the toy-boomerang. The Sjjdnaj Oazt'tte of 1804 records that, at a battle among the uatives, Bungaree, ** distinguished by his remark- 4 I
