A BOOMERANG.
"The performer was a half-wild aboriginal who had been promised a reward for displaying his skill. Our friend explained that there were several kinds of boomerangs. The differences are in shape and weight; the variations in shape are hardly perceptible to the eye of a novice, though readily distinguished by those accustomed to them. The weight varies from four ounces to ten and a half ounces; the blacks of Western Australia used lighter ones than those of the eastern regions.
A WAR-DANCE OF AUSTRALIAN BLACKS.
"Some of the boomerangs are intended for playthings, while others are for war or hunting purposes. The playthings can be made to return to the feet of the thrower, but the war boomerangs are not expected to return; you can readily understand that a boomerang would be deviated from its course or stopped altogether by hitting an object, and if it did not hit anything it would not be of much use as a warlike weapon.
"We examined the boomerang that the man was to perform with. It was about nineteen inches long from point to point, two and a half inches wide in its broadest part, half an inch thick, and weighed eight ounces and a half. Its shape was somewhat like that of a slightly bent sickle, the curve being about a quarter of a circle.
"When we had done looking at it the fellow took it and examined it carefully, and then he looked at the trees and the grass to note the direction of the wind. Our friend cautioned us to stand perfectly still, especially after the weapon had been launched; the performer selects beforehand the spot where he wishes the boomerang to fall on its return, and sometimes a spectator in his excitement moves to that very spot and is injured. We promised to obey, and we did.