Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/121

 described the use of the spear. The grey rock of the mountain was not more moveless than the hunter when, in approaching his game, he paused like a statue, while the innocent kangaroo vainly sought to detect an invader. Then when, reassured, the quarry relapsed into unwatchfulness, the spearman, keenly eyeing it, and never moving muscle when the kangaroo glanced towards him, advanced until near enough to launch his spear, which, hurled from the wommerah, pierced through the body of the victim. Without the wommerah the heavy spear was fatal, but at a less distance.

Birds were snared by similar stealthy advance with a bough held before the body. Placing grass or weeds on his head, and swimming noiselessly towards wild ducks, an expert native, with long wand and noose, would snare and secure more than one before the rest would take alarm.

Of the various forms of boomerang, some were made solely for throwing point-blank at birds or beasts. Others were weapons of war, such as only the strong could use. to the required degree, which was ascertained by experimental throwing. Different curvatures, specific gravities, and widths, made the flight capri- cious. The path of one was not always like that of another which appeared alike in shape; but the Australian could always fashion a sound piece of curved wood so as to make it pursue the course for which its gravity, and the width he allowed, fitted it. Light and broad, it floated slowly to the earth. Narrow and heavy, it hurtled rapidly through its course. "It is to be noticed that Sir W. W. Hunter, in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, and Sir W. P. Andrew, in his "India and Her Neighbours," speak of the boomerang as the weapon of aboriginal tribes in the south of India. But the missile of those tribes was not like the "returning" boomerang of Australia. It was akin to those weapons for forward progress which the Australians hurled point-blank at game. Their rotation was rapid, and though the Australians had a different name for each variety, the term boomerang was applied by the colonists to all. This nomenclature was fitted to mislead, and has misled, writers in other countries. The author consulted friends, long resident in India, while revising the text. One, A. Pooley Onslow, Esq., did not recollect hearing of the practice of using the throwing-stick in India "later than about" 1828. All agreed that the returning boomerang was unknown there. Lt. General W. C. R. Macdonald, C.B., acquainted with all parts of India, confirmed this statement. The Indian missile, as exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, was sometimes exactly like one variety used in Australia for point-blank throwing. It flew with a rotatory motion (as did the steel quoit used by the Sikhs), and great precision of aim was acquired with it. The use of the point-blank missile in India may be cited, perhaps, as a slight corroborative proof that the Australians migrated from Hindostan.