CauPBELL.— 7 he Origin of the Boomerang. 459 
A Genealogy including Maui from the commencement, viz., from Rangi and 
Papa to the present time. 
otu 
Pohaere 
Powhakataka 
‘o-aniwaniwa 
Maheatu 
Maheawa 
Takahuriwhenua 
Murirangawhenua 
aranga 
Maui. Sir, this is our ancestor who fished up this island of 
Aote : haul up with the jawbone of his 
ancestress. The hook caught the house of Hinenui-te- 
po. The name of the house was Rarotonga. 
Maui begat Wharuakura 
Uhenga 
Poutaua 
Whitirangi mamao 
Kupe 
ina 
Houmataumata 
aikuiha 
"u-whaitini 
utaraupoko 
uaruma 
M 
"t. 
u-te-Rangiwetewetea 
u-hakirikona 
fora 
'amatetane 
Ioakakari 
— — 
Art LV.—The Origin of the Boomerang. By W. D. CAMPBELL, F.G.8. 
[Read before the Auckland Institute, 23rd October, 1882.] 
Tux existence of such a peculiar and unique weapon as the boomerang 
among one of the lowest forms of humanity—as the aborigines of Australia 
—has excited a great deal of interest among ethnologists ; but it has never 
been satisfactorily explained. It has been claimed as being derived from 
some hypothetical culture, while on the other hand it is regarded as a 
specialized form of the throwing cudgel and stick, and that intermediate 
forms are to be found in Australia, but it has not been understood how the 
peculiar form and flight of the missile was suggested ; and it is upon this 
point I offer an explanation, which was given me by my friend, W. H. 
