BOOMERANG, a weapon peculiar to the aboriginal natives of Australia, used as a mis sile. It is made from hard wood in the green state and is from two to four feet long, formed to a curve which may vary from an arc of 20 degrees to one of 90 degrees, or there may be a distinct angular bend in the arc. The width of the boomerang is from two and one-half to three inches, and its thickness about three fourths inch or less. The edges are finished sharp; one surface is flat and the other convex, the greatest thickness being at one-third of the width back from the outer edge of the curve. The ends or °wings"' are warped over a bed of hot coals, and upon the degree and twist of this warping depends the figure of flight which the boomerang will describe when thrown. During the perfecting of the instrument many experimental flights are tried. The ends are not warped symmetrically, one end being espe cially adapted to the hand, and the boomerang cannot be thrown by the other end. All efforts by the most skilful mechanics to imitate the boomerang have failed. Boomerangs are of different kinds, some being used in war, others in the chase, others for amusement. One form can be hurled so as to turn while in the air and come back almost to the place whence it was thrown. It is this peculiarity that has made the boomerang so famous, though the returning boomerang is used chiefly for amusement and rarely to bring down birds. In throwing, the weapon is grasped by one end, and, being held in a vertical position, the concave side of the arc forward, is hurled somewhat to the right of the thrower, being given a revolving motion at the same time. For a distance of perhaps 50 yards it travels a straight course; then, in clining with the top over toward the left, it takes a horizontal position and moves obliquely upward into the air. After a time it curves
round, and if he so intends, comes back close to the thrower. It may move for a considerable distance at only a few feet above the ground and then suddenly rise verti cally upward with great velocity. The pecu liarly irregular character of its path through the air and the rapid change in its direction of movement render it a very efficient weapon for killing birds. There is also a special boom erang for killing birds capable of being thrown in a straight course of 200 yards. The Australian natives often throw the boomerang in such a way as to cause it to strike the ground about 30 feet off ; this is said to impart in creased velocity, and the weapon may even hit the ground a second time and rebound into the air. The war boomerang is larger and heavier than that used in hunting and requires a strong man to throw it effectively. It is warped dif ferently from the sport boomerang, travels a perfectly straight course at great speed and at 500 feet can break a man's arm or even inflict a fatal body wound. Weapons similar to the boomerang, or kiley, as the Australians also call it, but lacking the property of returning, have been and still are used by other races, notably the ancient Egyptians and the modern Abyssmians, and also in southern India. The Hopi tribe in Arizona have a similar weapon. Sir Samuel Baker describes the latter as about two feet long and made of a piece of flat hard wood, whose end turns at an angle of 30 de grees. Various derivations of the word have been suggested, one connecting it with a root meaning strike or kill and another with the native word for wind.