A further movement is effected in the flight of the boomerang by giving the arms a slight lateral twist, by means of which it is caused to rise by virtue of its rotation, screwing itself up in the air precisely in the same manner that a boy’s flying top rises to the ceiling. By means of this addition, the weapon is sometimes made to strike an object in its fall to the ground, behind the thrower, but the twist is not by any means invariable, as any one may see by examining a collection of these weapons. Nor is it essential to ensure a return fall, which I have frequently ascertained by practising with a boomerang that was perfectly flat.
Plate XV.
Diagram 4
AUSTRALIA.
TRANSITION FROM THE MALGA TO THE BOOMERANG.
Diagram 6
INDIAN BOOMERANGS
Diagram 5
AUSTRALIA.