BOOMEBANG MARVELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

BOOMEBANG MARVELS.

EVIDENCE OF ANTIQUITY. KNOWN IN ANCIENT EGYPT, ■ * It has always ranked as a marvel of the feats of untutored mankind that the black fellow of Australia should invent the boomerang. Half a century ago astonishment was created by the report of an explorer that ancient Egypt also had the boomerang, and confirmation of this surprising story is forthcoming from the relics of Tutankhamen's tomb which have now reached Cairo. Among them are unmistakable boomerangs which scientists believe were used by Tutankhamen in hunting. It is a very queer example of what is known as parallel development in different parts of the world and possibly in different ages, says an English writer. Who the Australians were originally is not definitely known. They reached Australia after a great sea voyage in boats which must have been as efficient as those in which the daring Maoris made their thrilling journey from Polynesia to New Zealand. They took with them a domesticated dog whose descendants survive in the dingo, and they took with them this most wonderful of native weapons, the boomerang. The boomerang, when thrown by tho native, hits an object and returns to the hand of the thrower. It is so extraordinary a weapon, and so astonishing in its performance, that civilisation was glad to borrow it as a model. Without the boomerang there would probably be no aeroplanes arid probably no airships. Perhaps accident, followed by intelligent observation, gave the first user his idea for this weapon. It seems impossible that an untutored mind could have thought out such a contrivance.

Other types of boomerangs have actually been found in the hands of people far removed from Australia and Egypt. They have astonished observers in India and in parts of America. Tho sickleshaped boomerang which has given tho black fellow his fame seems peculiar to Australia, but the singular thing is that boomerangs, once regarded simply as throwing sticks, are known to havo the power of returning to the thrower.

A blacft fellow can make his boomerang return from a distance of 150 yards, circling as many as five times before reaching him; and the " throwing stick" can be made to return in a straight line to the hand of its native wielder. Probably the boomerang of Tutankhamen acted similarly.