the thrower, and it is reasonable to believe that in making the Barngeet the right curves had accidentally been given to one of them. But even with a model in his hands it is almost impossible to guess how the Australian black was able to detect the slight peculiarities of form on which its flight depends, and to imitate them. There must have been many failures. It is not easy to throw a good weapon; and the first imperfect boomerangs must have caused as much trouble to the natives and raised in their minds the same doubts as the wonguims and the barngeets that have been the subjects of experiment by some of the savans in England.
The boomerang is not known in all parts of Australia. It is so stated by more than one. Mr. John Jardine, the police magistrate at Somerset, says that the boomerang is not known at Cape York. A correspondent at Cooktown (lat. 15° S.) makes the same statement; and another correspondent says, "I have doubts as to the boomerang being known, except by report, to the Narrinyeri (tribes of the lakes at the mouth of the Murray) as early as 1847. They certainly did not use it commonly at that time." And the wonguim, I believe, is not known by some tribes of the north who use the ornamented barngeet.
The facts indeed, as far as they are known, lead to the inference that the wonguim was first made by the people of the eastern coast; but the thinnest and finest of these leaf-like missiles are found in Western Australia. How did they get there? And why are they not used in York Peninsula? Is the boomerang of the West Australians, unlike in form that of the eastern and southern parts of the continent, an invention of that people? It is almost certain that the wonguim was not brought with them by the natives that first crossed the straits; and it had not become known to all the tribes when the first white settlers came to occupy the country. It is not a weapon that, its uses once discovered, would be discarded by any natives. This is a subject of the highest interest; and though perhaps it is now too late for any investigations to lead to such results as would have accrued if the matter had been taken in hand when the country was first colonized, it is possible yet to procure information from the natives of the north and the interior, and to ascertain, perhaps, how the knowledge of the wonguim was spread, and whether or not it had its origin amongst the tribes of the east coast. The wonguim has not been found in New Guinea, and the Tasmanians knew nothing of it.
Though the native would use anything that he might hold in his hand or that was within his grasp to ward off blows, or to protect himself against the boomerang or the spear, he had also very excellent defensive weapons. The shields of the natives of the east, south-east, and south are of two kinds. The Mulga—the wooden shield—is a defence when attack is made by the Kud-jee-run or Leon-ile, and though the general character of the weapon in all parts of Victoria is maintained, there are differences of form which show that the shield was being very gradually improved. The rather rude shields with a flat surface commonly in use, and designed only for warding off blows aimed by an enemy who was armed with the club, began to give place to shields with an angular face, which could be employed as well against the club as the spear. Numerous figures are given showing the forms of these weapons and the manner in which
