Page:Moyarra- An Australian Legend in Two Cantos, 1891.djvu/57

 compelled it to go straight forward. Similarly the smaller weapons thrown at birds or game of any kind went straight to their object. These could be thrown quite two hundred yards without touching the ground.

The toy, called "barracun" in the tribe with which the writer was best acquainted, was fashioned with much art. The side which was undermost during the flight of the implement was flatter than the other side. The thickest part of the blade was about one-third of the distance from the edge of the convexity; and there were no less than four warpings of each half of the implement. These were produced, by careful warping. The implement, when shaped by the tomahawk with care, was placed over warm embers. The heat made the wood plastic, and the maker then warped the implement, tested its flight in some open space (it was dangerous to throw the light implement among trees, for its rotation was so rapid and its course so swift that contact with anything hard almost certainly fractured it), and, if necessary, warped it more, until he had brought it to such perfection as the particular wood permitted. Differences of specific gravity in various portions of the wood necessitated differences (in degree, though not in principle) in the warping.

There were several varieties of the weapon thrown at game, and each variety had a different name.

The following ludicrous mis-statement about the boomerang appeared in the United Service Journal in June 1833:

"When used as an offensive weapon it is usually thrown with the convex side outwards, but when intended to return it is held in the reverse position although it will probably act in either direction if properly handled."