14
15. Boomerangs are either manufactured from the flange of a tree (a natural form) or else cut out en bloc. North of the Palmer R[iver] they may be said to be absent in the [Peninsula] employed for both fighting and hunting purposes.
16. The generic name for a boomerang on the lower Tully R[iver] is wa-ngal. This can be either a charal-jego (charal = to bounce on the ground), a a fighting one, i.e. one which on striking the ground flies low, or a nyaral (= to buzz, hum), a toy one, i.e. one that flies high. The quality of either cannot be gauged except by experience*. Fortunately or unfortunatedly, the natives have learnt that if, during a fight etc, a good fighting one gets broken, they can utilise a toy one by throwing it wrong end-on, onto the ground, when it will rise but little. With either Kind, a left-handed one (i.e. one which when thrown with will swerve to the left) is spoken of as chaku-i, and the a right-handed one as yural-bara, similar terms as these particular attributes in a man.
The boomerang is manufactured from the following timbers only one of which have so far been identified: the yaran (Rhodmyrtus macrocarpa Banks), yandan, bokobai, charkala, puchera, yalma. In all cases, as well as around Cardwill, it is made from the flange on the butt of the tree, and hence is an example of a natural form. Furthermore, it is always got out in the same manner, represented in the diagram (Fig. 25), with a cut above and below, and one behind. This last cut is made about three inches from the tree edge, the split travelling simultaneously up and down, and used to be done with a stone tomohawk; even without this split, a smart blow will remove the piece required. The timber so removed is then cut into shape by splitting, then chipped, then scraped with flint, then with shell, and finally rubbed over with the pumice-stone which is obtained both in the Tully River and at its mouth. The fighting boomerang is clumsier made and heavier than the toy one, and is always used for offensive purposes making it strike the ground first. Originally it used to be ornamented with a uniform coating of red pigment. Its parts are only named as the mollo or handle, and its opposite extremity as chinna or foot.
* Sect. 22 Bull. 4