Mr. Ferguson on the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. 33 



It may, then, be concluded, with a strong degree of confidence, as well from 

 the testimonies of ancient writers, as from the necessary signification of the names 

 by which these weapons were known, that the Cateis, Aclides, Ancyls, and 

 Teutones, of the classic authors, were true varieties of the Boomerang. The 

 consideration of the name Caia, which also occurs in Isidore, but with marks of 

 a corrupt reading, is reserved for another place. 



v.— OF THE JAVELIN OF CEPHALUS AND AQUIFOLIA OF PUNY. 



So far of the name or names by which weapons of this species were, or may 

 have been, known to the ancients. That their peculiar flight was known, and 

 has been markedly alluded to without the specification of any name, appears also 

 from the classic writers, Ovid, in the fable of Cephalus and Aurora, has attri- 

 buted the distinguishing property of the Boomerang to the weapon of Cephalus. 

 " It pursues whatever it is aimed at : chance does not govern its flight ; but it 

 flies back of its own accord bloody from the wound it has inflicted." 



" Consequitur quodcunque petit ; fortunaque missum 

 Non regit, et revolat, niullo referente, cruentum." 



Ovid. Metamor. 1. vii. v. 684. 



From the context, however, it appears that Ovid does not ascribe any of the 

 other characteristics of the Australian weapon to the one in question ; on the 

 contrary, he represents it as a straight and pointed dart. 



"jaculum cujus fuit aurea cuspis." (v. 675.) 



" Qua tamen e sylva teneas hastile recisum 

 Jamdudum dubito." (v. 677.) 



Which would argue rather a hearsay acquaintance with the properties of the 

 weapon, than any accurate knowledge of its shape or structure. 



A passage, also, in the works of the elder Pliny, gives evidence of some 

 acquaintance with the distinguishing properties of such missiles ; though his 

 attributing the peculiarity in question to an innate virtue of the wood will 

 probably excite a smile. Speaking of the Aquifolia or Agrifolia, a species of 



VOL. XIX. E 



