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Throwing the Hammer

This is a good athletic sport, but the Hammer can scarcely be called a toy. The hammer used by rustics is generally the sledge-hammer of the blacksmith, with a head weighting some twelve or fourteen pounds. The players are all single and do not join in parties, and the prize is given to him who makes the greatest number of long throws in a dozen. It does not merely require strength to throw the sledgehammer, but a nice calculation of the area which the Hammer has to pass over in its flight, combined with the strength of the thrower. THE BOOMERANG (The Instrument represented in the cut is the Australian boomerang. Those used in England have a sharper curve.) This instrument is a curved piece of wood, flat on one side, and slightly rounded on the other. It is used by the natives of New South Wales, who can throw it so dexterously as to kill a man behind a tree, where he may have fled for safety. It should be held horizontally in throwing it, and cast by bringing the arm backwards, and after making a variety of curves it will come back again to the person who send it. If skilfully thrown, it may be made to go in almost any direction the thrower pleases.