It is safe to deny the affinity of the Dravidian or Egyptian boomerang with that of the Australian native, because the first under no circumstances whatever could be made to behave as the Wonguim does. The flat leaf-like weapon of the Australian differs essentially from the Egyptian crooked stick.
Lieut.-Col. Mundy, who was in Australia for some time, had frequent opportunities of seeing the natives throwing the boomerang, and he writes thus:—"There are two kinds of boomerang—that which is thrown to a distance straight ahead, and that which returns on its own axis to the thrower. I saw, on a subsequent occasion, a native of slight frame throw one of the former two hundred and ten yards, and much further when a ricochet was permitted. With the latter he made casts truly surprising to witness. The weapon, after skimming breast-high nearly out of sight, suddenly rose high into the air, and returning with amazing velocity towards its owner, buried itself six inches deep in the turf, within a few yards of his feet. It is a dangerous game for an inattentive spectator. An enemy or a quarry ensconced behind a tree or bank, safe from spear or even bullet, may be taken in the rear and severely hurt or killed by the recoil of the boomerang. The emu and kangaroo are stunned and disabled, not knowing how to avoid its eccentric gyrations; amongst a flight of wild-ducks just rising from the water, or a flock of pigeons on the ground, this weapon commits great havoc."[1]
Sir John Lubbock was informed by Mr. Merry that on one occasion, in order to test the skill with which the boomerang could be thrown, he offered a reward of sixpence for every time the boomerang was made to return to the spot from which it was thrown. He drew a circle of five or six feet on the sand, and although the boomerang was thrown with much force, the native succeeded in making it fall within the circle five times out of twelve.[2]
These statements stand curiously in contrast with those made by Col. Lane Fox, and with the facts as known to all those who have seen an expert practising with a good Wonguim. It would surely be thought ridiculous if a person who for the first time took a billiard-cue in his hand and repeatedly missed the ball were to affirm that the properties of the cue were altogether misunderstood, and that the "breaks" reported as having been made by some players were "nursery tales." It is exceedingly difficult to acquire the knack of throwing the boomerang with ease and certainty. I have practised for years, and can throw some boomerangs not unsuccessfully; others which I have in my possession, and which experienced natives can throw with admirable precision, I cannot manage at all. In my hands they behave in the same way as a crooked stick, and this is solely owing to my want of skill.
Sir Gardner Wilkinson gives figures from the Egyptian monuments representing sportsmen using throw-sticks for the purpose of killing birds.[3] The figures in his work no doubt correctly represent the weapon; and it appears in one drawing like the Warra-warra, or knobbed stick of the Australians, and in another like the Quirriang-an-wun. It is certainly not a boomerang; and it
- ↑ Our Antipodes, p. 47.
- ↑ Pre-Historic Times, p. 352.
- ↑ The Ancient Egyptians, by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, vol. I., pp. 236-7.
