W.H.R.Rivers

“ The evidence should, at least, be sufficient to put us on our guard concerning the supposed antiquity of the Australian boomerang, for in spite of their difference to them in form, there can be no reasonable doubt that the Australian and Melanesian instruments are but divergent manifestations of the handiwork of one people. ”

“ These instruments will be seen to differ from the Australian boomerang in having their ends almost square or showing a slight curve not continuous with the general curvature of the instrument. They are used entirely in sport. They do not return to the thrower, but show the deflections from a straight course which are characteristic of the flight of the Australian boomerang. In one method of throwing, the instrument is made to strike the ground a few yards in front of the thrower. ”

“ The instrument was said by all the old men to belong to their own culture and this was confirmed by its use in ceremonial and its mention in legend. It is thrown especially in connection with the ceremony called wós, in which kava is drunk at intervals of five days for a year or more, the young men throwing boomerangs while the old men drink kava. ”