196 HIGHLY ORNATE BOOMERANGS, 



tribal or individual, but Mr. E. Palmer* states that amongst the 

 North Queensland Blacks, who use this weapon, incised undulating 

 lines were used to denote ownership. Nor, so far as I am aware, 

 is anything known of the area over which a boomerang with 

 a given pattern ranges ; or again, are fighting or come-back boom- 

 erangs differently carved. Many of our more experienced bushmen 

 could doubtless answer these queries, and it would be very advan- 

 tageous to possess the information in a published form. Mr. 

 Palmer's statement is borne out by the much earlier expressed 

 opinion of Collins, who says f that each tribe employed a par- 

 ticular form of carving on their weapons to indicate the part of 

 the countiy to which they belonged. 



I now purpose giving a few short notes on some of the various 

 devices used in carved boomerangs, in each case citing the 

 authority for the information. 



(a) Single line of rJiomhs. — This was one of the earliest patterns 

 observed, for when giving a general description of the weapon. 

 Sir T. L. Mitchell % figures an example in which the entire surface 

 is so covered. The same pattern was in use about Port Macquarie, 

 but the ends of this boomerang were incised Avith V-shaped 

 markings, concave inwards. Breton figures § one of these, but 

 the influence of the whites even at this early date (1833) was 

 manifest, for the centre of the weapon bears the profile of a head, 

 clearly intended, from the hat surmounting it, for that of a white 

 man. Wood also, in his "Natural History of Man," depicts 1| 

 one of the large " sword boomerangs " with a series of joined 

 elongated rhombs in a single line. Again, a third example of 

 this style of sculpture is represented 51 by Mr. G-. F. Angas in a 

 short account of the Aborigines. It is said to be a recoiling 

 boomerang, but no locality is mentioned. 



* Journ. Anthrop. Inst. Gt. Brit, and Ireland, 1884, xiii. p. 288. 



t Ace. of the English Colony in N. S. Wales, 1804, p. 377. 



X Two Exped. Int. E. Australia, 1838, ii. p. 342. 



§ Excursions in N. S. Wales, 1833, p. 255, pi. fig. 1-4. 



!l Vol. Australia, 1870, p. 50, f. 1 (lower series). 

 H Waugh's Australian Almanac for 1858, p. 56, f. 10. 



