82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Jan. 30 
But when this rounded model (made from two pieces of a cigar 
box, glued together flatwise, but with a sheet of paper between 
them) is split apart, thus, we have two boomerangs, each flat on 
one side and round on the other, and in this simple change of 
configuration they possess the quality of returning flight toa 
surprising degree. In this shape they are fit for use only in 
sport. 
In the course of time discoverers reached Australia, and it is 
not to be wondered at that the earlier descriptions do not dis-. 
criminate between these two distinct shapes and uses of the 
boomerang. In an old engraving published by J. Stockdale, 
London, 1798, itis named a ‘‘ wooden sword.’’ Also a drawing - 
by Lesseur in Peron’s Atlas calls it “Sabre a’ ricochet ’’ ; while 
Dawson calls it the “ boomerang or stick with which they throw. 
their spears.” Another early explorer, Mr. Ogle, enlightens us. 
by stating that “in every part of this great continent of Aus- 
tralia they have the koilee or boomerang (which the ancient 
Egyptians possessed). . . . Itis used by them in skinning - 
animals they have killed.” 
Did the cunning savage purposely mislead enquirers? At all. 
events it turns out that there is a wonderful diversity of opinion 
as to what are its really requisite points of construction, as well 
as to what is uses were. For instance, we read from the. 
‘‘Natural History of Man.’ by J. G. Wood, M.A.,F.1.5., etc., 
that ‘‘the various points which constitute the excellence of the 
missile are so slight, that there is scarcely an European that can 
seethem .. ..’’ And he speaks at length of the wonderful: 
care and whole days of patience required to make a good one, . 
and of the powerful effect produced by a single chip in the 
making. 
It is surprising to note how mere irregularities, inseparable . 
from the crude work of the savage, have, under the miscroscopic 
gaze of investigators, been magnified into all-important, essen- 
tials. 
For instance, no less an authority than Lieut.-Col. Sir Thomas 
Livingstone Mitchell, Surveyor-General of Australia, who 
studied the boomerang minutely, was the first to discover (1846). 
in the uneven splitting of the bent limb, of which it was usually 
made, its hitherto deeply hidden secret, as he thought at least, 
viz.: That this uneven splitting was in reality a carefully wrought 
screw-shape warp or twist, whence its wonderful powers. 
Sir Thomas (like some of the rest of us) had an eye to bene- 
fiting mankind, and he applied what he called the ‘‘ Boomerang 
Principle’? to a new form of propeller for steam vessels, and 
actually patented the same in England and America in 1848. 
