Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/123

 able courtesy," threw a war-boomerang with such force that, striking at some distance "the right arm of one of his opponents, it actually rebounded to a distance of not less than seventy or eighty yards, leaving a horrible contusion behind, and exciting universal admiration." The author has known a war-boomerang break a man's arm, and at the same time inflict upon his body a blow from which he died.

The flight and forward bounding of the massive war-boomerang, thrown by a strong and expert arm, was as dangerous as it seemed marvellous. Rotating with a velocity which hurtled in the air, it was made to strike the ground in front of the object, and, unimpeded in rotation by the touch, to bound onwards. Any slight inequality of surface of the ground elevated or deflected it, and thus the enemy could not know beforehand what part of his body to guard; whereas the spear, which held one course, was easily avoided by the keen eye which saw it thrown. Various light instruments made for direct flight in the air by careful shaping and warping, were in use. A few boys stealing towards wild-fowl, and throwing their weapons at the rising birds, seldom failed to secure several, for no flight could elude the rotatory missiles.

Clubs of various shapes, wooden shields, some narrow and angular to ward off club blows, some broad to receive spears, were used in battle. They were ornamented with lines carved skilfully in patterns. The spears were various. Some were of heavy wood throughout; some of light wood, with hard points neatly spliced and gummed to them. Some were of reed, and some (most common where the grass-tree, or xanthorrea, grew) were made of its shaft, with hard, sometimes barbed, points attached. The reed and grass-tree spears were thrown with the wommerah, a tough implement generally less than three feet long, with a small piece of wood fastened to its end at an acute angle. This fitted into a socket (secured by twine and gum) at the end of the spear behind the thrower, who, grasping the other end of the wommerah, and holding the spear over and