13G V. Ball— On Indian Boomerangs. [July, 



abounds in the limestone of Rohri, and precisely resembles in form and mode 

 of occurrence the flint of the English chalk. 



On the hills around Rohri and Sakhar, cores and the flakes chipped 

 from them abound in places, but all which I have seen are much more 

 rudely formed than those obtained from the channel of the river Indus. A 

 number are exhibited. Mr. Fedden noticed a peculiarity in many of the cores, 

 which I do not recollect having seen before ; this is that several of them, 

 at the base, present the appearance of a flat surface ground by artificial 

 means. The material is in all cases the nummulitic flint. 



I am much disposed to believe that the cores found in the Indus were 

 made by a different people from those who chipped their flakes on the hills 

 around. This may be due to the more civilized flake-makers having established 

 themselves on the river bank, whilst their less expert contemporaries roamed 

 amongst the neighbouring hills or visited them for the purpose of obtaining 

 a stock of cutting implements ; or the former may have lived later, when 

 the art of flint-chipping had been brought to greater perfection. There is 

 a possibility that the best flints were selected and carried home to the 

 dwellings on the bank of the river, in order that cutting flakes might be 

 obtained from them by pressure, whilst less perfect materials were utilized 

 and thrown away at once. However it may have happened, it is certain 

 that all the specimens I have yet seen from the river bed are singularly well 

 formed, shewing as a rule no trace of a flaw, and Mr. Tate informs me that, 

 of a considerable number which he had seen, all were equally well fash ion ed s 

 and although an occasional well shaped core may be found on the hills, the 

 majority are broken or imperfect. 



The President remarked that two or three of the specimens exhibited 

 were the best samples of flint instruments he had ever seen. 



Mr. Ball exhibited two specimens of Indian Boomerangs or throwing 

 sticks, and made the following remarks regarding them : — 



The objects exhibited and which, for want of another name, I call 

 Boomerangs were received by me from Mr. H. P. LeMesurier of Bombay. 

 On examination it appeared to me that they were different from my recollec- 

 tion of the Australian Boomerang, and I failed to make them shew any sign 

 when thrown of its peculiar and well known property ; though in throwing 

 them I followed the instructions of a friend who had seen the true Boomerang 

 used by Australians. 



On writing to Mr. LeMesurier for further information he replied that 

 they came from Kattyawar and added — " They are used about Patri and 

 Wudwan, B. B., and CI. I. R. I can't make them come back. Possibly 

 the original makers of all Boomerangs found out as the Kattyawar folks 



