Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BOOMERANG

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 236 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BOOMERANG , a missile weapon of the Australian See also:

aborigines and other peoples. The word is taken from the native name used by a single tribe in New See also:South See also:Wales, and was mentioned in 1827 by See also:Captain See also:King as " the See also:Port See also:Jackson See also:term " (See also:Nay. Surv. Coasts Austral. i. 355). It has been erroneously connected with the womera or See also:spear-thrower, and equally erroneously regarded as onomatopoeic—for it does not " See also:boom " but whistles in the See also:air. Two See also:main types may be distinguished: (a) the return boomerang; (b) the non-return or See also:war boomerang. Both types are found in most parts of See also:Australia; the return See also:form was, according to See also:General See also:Pitt-See also:Rivers, used in See also:ancient See also:Egypt; and a weapon which has a See also:close resemblance to the boomerang survives to the See also:present See also:day in See also:North-See also:East See also:Africa, whence it has spread in allied forms made of See also:metal (throwing knives). Among the Dravidians of South See also:India is found a boomerang-shaped See also:instrument which can be made to return. It is, however, still uncertain whether the so-called boomerangs of Egypt and India have any real resemblance to the Australian return boomerang. The Hopis (Moquis) of See also:Arizona use a non-return form. The general form of both weapons is the same.

They are sickle-shaped, and made of See also:

wood (in India of See also:ivory or See also:steel), so modelled that the thickness is about *-th of the breadth, which again is nth of the length, the last varying from 6 in. to 3 or 4 ft. The return boomerang, which may have two straight arms at an See also:angle of from 70° to 1200, but in Australia is always curved at an angle of 90° or more, is usually 2 to 3 ft. in length and weighs some 8 oz.;the arms have a skew, being See also:twisted 20 or 30 from the See also:plane See also:running through the centre of the weapon, so that B and D (fig. 1) are above it, A and E below it; the ends AB and DE are also to some extent raised above the plane of the weapon at C; the See also:cross See also:section is asymmetrical, the upper See also:side in the figure being See also:convex, the See also:lower See also:flat or nearly so; C this must be thrown with the right See also:hand. The non-return boomerang has a skew in the opposite direction A but is otherwise similar. B The peculiarity of the boomerang's See also:flight depends mainly on its skew. The return boomerang is held vertically, the See also:concave side forward, and thrown in a plane parallel to the See also:surface of the ground, as much rotation as possible being imparted to it. It travels straight for 30 yds. or more, with nearly See also:vertical rotation; then it inclines to the See also:left, lying over on the flat side and rising in the air; after describing a circle of 50 or more yards in See also:diameter it returns to the thrower. Some observers See also:state that it returns after striking the See also:object; it is certainly possible to strike the ground without affecting the return. Throws of See also:loo yds. or more, before the leftward See also:curve begins, can be accomplished by Australian natives, the weapon rising as much as 150 ft. in the air and circling five times before returning. The non-return type H Plane. Plane. may also be made to return in a nearly straight See also:line by throwing it at an angle of 450, but normally it is thrown like the return type, and will then travel an immense distance.

No accurate measurements of Australian throws are available, but an See also:

English throw of 18o yds. has been recorded, compared with the same thrower's 70 yds. with the See also:cricket See also:ball. The war boomerang in an See also:expert's hand is a deadly weapon, and the lighter See also:hunting boomerang is also effective. The return boomerang is chiefly used as a plaything or for killing birds, and is often as dangerous to the thrower as to the object at which it is aimed. See Pitt-Rivers (See also:Lane See also:Fox) in Anthropological and Archaeological Fragments, "See also:Primitive Warfare"; also in Journ. Royal See also:United Service Inst. xii. No. 51; See also:British See also:Ass. See also:Report (1872) ; See also:Catalogue of Bethnal See also:Green Collection, p. 28; See also:Buchner in Globus, lxxxviii. 39, 63; G. T. See also:Walker in Phil.

Trans. exc. 23; Wide See also:

World Mag. ii. 626; Nature, xiv. 248, ixiv. 338; See also:Brough See also:Smyth, Aborigines of See also:Victoria, i. 310-329; See also:Roth, Ethnological Studies. (N. W.

End of Article: BOOMERANG

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BOOM 		[next]
BOONE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries