BOOMERANGS 1600 B.C.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 247, 9 December 1940, Page 6

BOOMERANGS 1600 B.C.

It remains, however, for : Hetsepsu, Queen of Egypt about 1,600 8.C., to impart the staggering information that, on sending an expedition into Sudani Land for myrrh and, other precious produce, they returned not only with the precious spice, but bringing "ebony, ivory, gold and boomerangs!" Still, it's a far cry from Hetsepus to the pyramids of liquid gold whiah gleam pale and tempting on* our shop counters today, and in the meantime, we have, an account of Edward the First's wardrobe in 1292, which contains the information that so much was allotted for the purchase of gold, frankincense. a,nd myrrh as an offering to the priests of Epiphany. ..... But, of course, Christmas is not entirely a matter of perfumes, handkerchiefs, calendars., even boxes of stationery play an important part. Not to mention the paramount matter jaf dicing., Samuel) Pepys,. ftor instance., never once,'ln all thosd nine chronicled Christmases, mentions bestowing a gift or a kind.ly thought on anyone. To be sure, he once stated the illuminating fact that "Mr. Gauden sent me this day, against Christmas, a great Chine of Beef and three dozen tongues." This person, by the way., was afterwards the first Bishop of Exeter after the Restoration, so that perhaps even *in those days graft was not unknown. So much, then, for th 6 past, with its pagans, perfumes, and Pepys. And to-day, though we have modified our appetites, and cannot bestow such gifts as the Magi brought to we do the best we can. Wasn't it Lamb who, in a panegyrie on the subject, summed the whole matter by saying: "Pres. ents endear absents/'