22 



II. On the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. By Samuel Ferguson, 



Esq., M. R. I. A. 



" Forte tamen aliquis erit qui de Aclide certius aliqnid in medium ferat." — Pierii in ^neid, 1. vi. 



V. 730, Comment. 



Read January 22, and February 12, 1838. 



I.— OF THE CATEIA. 



1 HE Kiliee or Boomerang, at present the peculiar weapon of certain Australian 

 islanders, several varieties of which are represented in Plate I., appears to have 

 been known to European and other Continental nations from a very remote 

 period. 



The name by which the Boomerang is most readily recognized in the works 

 of Roman writers is Cateia. Of this, the earliest notice is found in the MnexA 

 of Virgil, where, among various tribes who joined themselves with Tumus, 

 mention is made of a people accustomed to whirl the Cateia after the Teutonic 

 manner, 



" £t quos maliferse despectant m^enia Abeli% 

 Teutonico ritu soliti torquere Cateias." 



Virg. Mneid. 1. vii. v. 740. 



The next mention of the Cateia occurs in the Funics of Silius Italicus, where 

 the poet describes an individual of one of the Lybian tribes, who accompanied 

 Hannibal to Italy, as being armed with the bent or crooked Cateia : 



" Tunc primum castris Phcenicum tendere ritu 

 Cinyphii didicere Macae : squalentia barba 

 Ora viris : humerosque tegunt velamina capri 

 Setigeri : panda manus est armata Cateia." 



Sil. Ital. Punic. 1. iii. v. 274. 



