THE MUSEUM. 



157 



rotating; rapidly and rising in the air. 

 From this point it sometimes returns 

 directly to the thrower's feet or passes 

 over his head to the rear; at others it 

 returns to within a short distance of 

 the thrower, and then, rising again, re- 

 peats its first flight, on a smaller scale, 

 before finally falling to the ground 

 near the starting point. 



It requires much practice to throw 

 the boomerang with skill and accuracy. 

 In the hands of an inexperienced per- 

 son it is quite apt to return and hit 

 him in the head unless he is good at 

 ■dodging! Indeed, none but an expert 

 can tell where it is likely to fall. 



The native performs almost incred- 

 .ble feats with this insignificant-look- 

 ing instrument. From long and con- 

 stant practice, he is enabled to calcu- 

 late with astonishing certainty the 

 course and length of its flight and 

 where it will end. He can even hit 

 one object which is concealed behind 

 another; this is accomplished by throw- 

 ing the boomerang so that it will go 

 over or past the intervening obstruc- 

 tion and return by a back-stroke to 

 the desired mark. The native is also 

 •expert at hitting an object while he is 

 standing with his back toward it, 

 throwing the implement in front with 

 such nice calculation that it returns to 

 his rear with great accuracy and force. 

 While the "returning" kind is com- 

 monly used for pastime, it is also em- 

 ployed to some extent in hunting. 



One cannot form an adequate idea 

 of the wonderful and eccentric flight 

 of the boomerang unless he is an eye- 

 witness to its various performances in 

 the hands of a skillful thrower. Its 

 long continued and erratic movements 

 seem to be independent of the com- 

 mon law of gravitation. We can par- 



tially account for its flight by consider- 

 ing that the air impinges on the con- 

 vex side of the rapidly revolving mis- 

 sile and cause it to gradually ascend, 

 just as a raft with one side straight 

 and the other side bulging will con- 

 stantly veer to the latter side. But it 

 is not so easy to explain the suca-ssi'i'e 

 rises of the boomerang, or its contin- 

 ued flight after the propelling force is 

 spent. 



From the discovery of this curious 

 inplemeut, much interest has been 

 manifested by scientific men in all 

 parts of the world regarding its me- 

 chanical theory. According to some, 

 an agreement has never been arrived 

 at; indeed, more than one scientist has 

 declared it impossible to solve the en- 

 tire problem. When the mysterious 

 soaring and extended flight of the tur- 

 key buzzard {Cathartcs aura), who 

 navigates the heavens without flap of 

 wing, is fully explained, perhaps we 

 shall thereby more clearly understand 

 some of the vagaries of the boom- 

 erang. 



The writer of this article has devot- 

 ed considerable practice to throwing 

 the boomerang and believes that many 

 of his readers would enjoy this rare 

 good sport. After experimenting more 

 or less any person who is handy with 

 tools can make a boomerang from the 

 description given. The principal tools 

 needed will consist of a rip-saw, planes 

 and spoke-shave. The art of throw- 

 ing the implement so that it will re- 

 turn is not so difficult to acquire; to 

 know just where its flight will end, 

 however, requires the nicest calcula- 

 tion, which alone comes from exper- 

 ience. 



The first boomerang I owned was 

 fashioned from the limb of a cherry 



