248 



NATURE 



\7uly 20, 1876 



about its Axis," and " On Hamilton's Characteristic Func- 

 tion for a Narrow Beam of Light," Prof. Clerk- Maxwell ; 

 " On the Vibrations of a Stretched Uniform Chain of 

 Symmetrical Gyrostats," Sir W. Thomson. The Presi- 

 dent (Prof. H. J. Smith) contributes papers " On the 

 Higher Singularities of Plane-curves" and " On the Inte- 

 gration of Discontinuous Functions;" Major J, R. Camp- 

 bell gives an account of " The Diagonal Scale Principle 

 applied to Angular Measurement in the Circular Slide 

 Rule." Shorter papers are " On the Method of Reversion 

 applied to the Transformation of Angles," Rev. C. Taylor 

 (the basis of the communication of which an abstract 

 only is given in the " Proceedings," the full paper being 

 printed in the Quarterly Journal of Mathe7natics, No. 53, 

 is a work on Conic Sections, by G. Walker, 1794) ; "On 

 some Proposed Forms of Slide Rule," and " On the Me- 

 chanical Description of Equipotential Lines," Mr. G. H. 

 Darwin ; and " On the Mechanical Description of a 

 Spheroconic " and " a Parallel Motion," by Mr. Hart. 



From this enumeration of the contents of the volume 

 before us, it will be seen that its contents range over 

 nearly the whole domain of pure and applied mathe- 

 matics. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspottd with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.'\ 



The Government "Vivisection" Bill 



Allow me supply an omission in the paragraph in last week's 

 Nature which states that Mr. Cross *' pointed out " to the 

 deputation on this subject, "that the Bill was framed practically 

 in accordance with the views of the Royal Commission. " This 

 astonishing assertion was of course contradicted at once, but the 

 fact does not appear in the paragraph in question ; and, though 

 the discrepancy between the Royal Coma:ission Report and the 

 Government Bill is notorious and acknowledged on all sides, so 

 few people read either the one or the other, that a statement to 

 the contrary may be believed, if allowed to pass. Those who 

 have given attention to the Blue-book in question know that 

 while the evidence on which Legislation was recommended went 

 beyond the facts, the Report beyond the evidence, and the 

 recommendations beyond the Report, the Bill actually introduced 

 by Lord Carnarvon did not so much exceed as contradict the re- 

 commendations of the Royal Commissioners. If a reasonable 

 registration Bill in accordance with the Report of their own 

 nominees had been framed by the Government, they would 

 have spared themselves and others a good deal of trouble. 



P. H. P. S. 



The Boomerang 



I OBSERVE a letter in Nature (vol. xiii., p. 168) asking for 

 information about the "boomerang." I have now taken the 

 occasion of a number of the aboriginal natives of this district 

 being here with me for a time, to make inquiries on the subject 

 which might confirm or correct my own previous observations. 

 The information I have gained as to the ' ' boomerang " I now 

 condense, preserving, however, as much as possible the language 

 made use of by my informant. I have also seen the boomerang 

 thrown by one of their best performers, a short account of which 

 I will add in conclusion to this letter. 



Two kinds of boomerang are made, one called "marndwullun 

 wunkun/' that is the "boomerang," as I may translate the term 

 "wunkun," which turns round; "marndwullun" is equally 

 applied to the returning flight of a bird as to a boomerang. The 

 second kind of boomerang is called "tootgundy wunkun," that 

 is the boomerang which goes straight on, " toot " meaning some- 

 thing "straight" or " erect." 



The two boomerangs differ in their construction. The second 

 (straight) kind being thicker, longer, and less curved than the 

 first, I shall call, as a matter of convenience, the "marnd- 

 wullun" No. I, and the "tootgundy" No. 2. 



With No. I there is no certainty of hitting the mark. It may 

 come back too quickly, and may hit your own friends standing I 



near you. In choosing a boomerang like No. 2, in preference, 

 it will be more sure to hit the object, and vaW generally pene- 

 trate the mark with the point which has been held in the hand. 

 A black fellow will prefer one of the kind No. 2, if required for 

 fighting. That is, he can make more sure of hitting his enemy. 

 With No. I he will probably miss or even injure his friends, as 

 it is difficult to tell where it will come back to. If No. i strikes an 

 object it will never return ; besides, it is generally too light to do 

 much execution. These statements, which I have recorded as nearly 

 as possible as given to me to-day, quite confirm my own observations 

 made during the last twenty years in Victoria, South Australia, 

 New South Wales, the Queensland Back country, and Central 

 Australia. In Cooper's Creek I have seen boomerangs No. i 

 used by the natives to kill ducks and birds in general which fly 

 in flocks. They seemed unable to calculate where its course 

 would be among them, and some were hit ; the boomerang and 

 the bird both fell. I have often seen these weapons thrown but 

 never saw one return after striking an object. If slightly touch- 

 ing an object in its course, such as the small limb of a tree, it 

 might continue a curve to the ground, but no longer in the same 

 plane as before, and the impetus would be destroyed. A third 

 kind of boomerang is usrd in Central Australia, as far at least 

 as near to the tropics about the 141st meridian (north of Sturts 

 Desert), which I think is only used for fighting at close quarters. 

 Speaking from memory this variety is probably about 4 or 5 feet 

 in length and of very heavy wood. I have rarely seen them 

 carried, but have found them concealed near to or lying in the 

 huts of camps from which the natives had fled at my approach. 

 Finally, I have great doubt whether any of the natives can tell 

 beforehand whether a boomerang No. i will, when finished, be 

 a good " marndwullun wunkun " or not ; and it is not uncommon 

 for an aborigine, if he finds his boomerang to return instead of 

 going straight to its mark, to heat it,in the ashes and straighten it, 

 so that the blade lies in one plane. 



It naay perhaps be not uninteresting to your correspondent if 

 I record an instance or two in which the boomerang has been 

 used in the settlement of quarrels in this district. 



I write as follows, using the first person, and as much in the 

 words of my informant as is possible : — 



" Once I had a quarrel with one of our Kuml (black fellows). 

 I was angry and called him ' barrat-dun.' ^ He was very cross. 

 I had word from a friend that Daly was going to fight me. I 

 was obliged to go, or be called ' jeeragan ' (coward). A number 

 of Kurni who had quarrelled had to fight each other at the same 

 time. 



" Our friends decided we were to fight with boomerangs. Both 

 of us had ' tootgundy wunkun.' ' MarndwuUan wunkun ' would 

 be no use, it is too light, and you can't take sure aim. Our 

 friends stood round to see which was best man, just as I have 

 seen the * lowan ' (white men) do. Daly threw the first boome- 

 rang because I had called him 'barrat-dun.' We threw turn 

 and turn about. You can see the boomerangs coming. I 

 dodged them as well as I could or turned them oft with the 

 shield. They passed me likg a wind. I had a shield. If you 

 turn the boomerangs they slide off. If you stop them they either 

 break your shield or carry it away. One ' wunkun ' passed me 

 and stuck three or four inches into a dargan tree (Box = one of the 

 Eucalypts). When the ' wunkuns ' were all thrown we went 

 towards each other with the ' culluck ; ' he put down the * bama- 

 rook ' (shield against the boomerangs or spears) and took up the 

 ' turnmung' (shield against culluck = club). We had each a ' cul- 

 luck' and a ' turnmung.' We both hit and warded off as I have 

 seen white men do with their big knives (sword). At last Billy 

 the Bull, one of our friends, ran in and cried out, * moondanna ' 

 (that will do, or enough). Then we stopped. We were then 

 friends. Daly said to me, * Why did you call me that name ? ' 

 I said, ' I am sorry.' There was no more. 



" A few years ago ' Bamy ' woke up in his camp in the night 

 and saw ' Lamby ' standing by his fire. He was frightened, and 

 said, 'What do you want?' Lamby said, 'Only some fire.' 

 But Bamy thought he had been ' ngarrat bun ' (made sick). Per- 

 haps it was with the ' yertung,' the little leg-bone of the kan- 

 garoo. If you point that at a sleeping man and sing a song he 

 will be sick. I don't know the song, I never heard it ; it might 

 be, perhaps, beginning, ' Yertung, yertung, goombaft, goom- 

 bart.' ^ If he could do this without being seen the Kurni believe 



I Barrat = sickness or disease. The whole term implies having acquired 

 a loathsome form of disease, for which the aborigines have to thank the 

 whites. 



^ Goomtart is the large leg-bone, and is ground down with a sharp point 

 at each end and worn in a hole through the septum of the nose. It is believed 

 to have magical powers. 



