Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/417

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July 21. lying on the ground, from which it would appear that the place had recently been visited by Europeans.

22.I landed, the next morning, with a theodolite, in order to obtain some bearings from the summit of the hill over the beach, but my intention was frustrated by a visit from the natives, five of whom made their appearance upon the hills as the boat arrived at the shore. The party consisted of three men and two boys: one of the men carried a spear, another had a boomerang^[1], of a smaller size, but otherwise similar to that which the Port Jackson natives use; and the

1. The boomerang, is a very formidable weapon; it is a short, carved piece of heavy wood, and is propelled through the air by the hand in so skillful a manner, that the thrower alone knows where it will fall. It is generally thrown against the wind, and takes a rapid rotary motion. It is used by the natives with success in killing the kangaroo, and is, I believe, more a hunting than a warlike weapon. The size varies from eighteen to thirty inches in length, and from two to three inches broad. The shape is that of an obtuse angle rather than a crescent: one in my possession is twenty-six inches long, its greatest breadth two inches and a half, thickness half an inch, and the angle formed from the centre is 140°. Boomerang is the Port Jackson term for this weapon, and may be retained for want of a more descriptive name. There is a drawing of it by M. Lesueur in Plate xxii. (Fig. 6,) of Peron's Atlas; it is there described by the name of sabre à ricocheet. This plate may, by the way, be referred to for drawings of the great number of the weapons used by the Port Jackson natives, all of which, excepting the identlcal boomerang, are very well delineated. M. Lesueur has, however, failed in his sabre à ricochet.