The Project Gutenberg eBook of Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia, by Edward Ellis Morris

with those Aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

Professor of English, French and German Languages and
Literatures in the University of Melbourne.

INTRODUCTION

III. SOURCES OF NEW WORDS:—
      1. Altered English
      2. Words quite new to the language:—
         (a) Aboriginal Australian
         (b) Maori

V. CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS

VI. QUOTATIONS. THEIR PURPOSE

VII. BOOKS USED AS AUTHORITIES

VIII.SCIENTIFIC WORDS

IX. ASSISTANCE RECEIVED

I. ORIGIN OF THE WORK.

About a generation ago Mr. Matthew Arnold twitted our nation with the fact that "the journeyman work of literature" was much better done in France—the books of reference, the biographical dictionaries, and the translations from the classics. He did not especially mention dictionaries of the language, because he was speaking in praise of academies, and, as far as France is concerned, the great achievement in that line is Littre and not the Academy's Dictionary. But the reproach has now been rolled away—nous avons change tout cela—and in every branch to which Arnold alluded our journeyman work is quite equal to anything in France.

It is generally allowed that a vast improvement has taken place in translations, whether prose or verse. From quarter to quarter the Dictionary of National Biography continues its stately progress. But the noblest monument of English scholarship is The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society, edited by Dr. James Murray, and published at the cost of the University of Oxford. The name New will, however, be unsuitable long before the Dictionary is out of date. Its right name is the Oxford English Dictionary (`O.E.D.'). That great dictionary is built up out of quotations specially gathered for it from English books of all kinds and all periods; and Dr. Murray several years ago invited assistance from this end of the world for words and uses of words peculiar to Australasia, or to parts of it. In answer to his call I began to collect; but instances of words must be noted as one comes across them, and of course they do not occur in alphabetical order. The work took time, and when my parcel of quotations had grown into a considerable heap, it occurred to me that the collection, if a little further trouble were expended upon it, might first enjoy an independent existence. Various friends kindly contributed more quotations: and this Book is the result.

In January 1892, having the honour to be President of the
Section of "Literature and the Fine Arts" at the Hobart Meeting
of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,
I alluded to Dr. Murray's request:

A body like this Section, composed of men from different parts of scattered colonies, might render valuable help in organising the work of collecting authorities for our various peculiar words and usages. Twenty or thirty men and women, each undertaking to read certain books with the new dictionary in mind, and to note in a prescribed fashion what is peculiar, could accomplish all that is needed. Something has been done in Melbourne, but the Colonies have different words and uses of words, and this work is of a kind which might well extend beyond the bounds of a single city. At first it may seem as if our words were few, as if in the hundred years of Australian life few special usages have arisen; but a man with a philological turn of mind, who notes what he hears, will soon find the list grow. Some philologers speak, not perhaps very satisfactorily, of being "at the fountains of language": we can all of us testify to the birth of some words within our own memory, but the origin of these, if not noted, will in time be lost. There are many other words which the strictest cannot condemn as slang, though even slang, being the speech of the people, is not undeserving of some scientific study; words, for instance, which have come into the language from the Aborigines, and names of animals, shrubs, and flowers. It might even be possible, with sufficient co-operation, to produce an Australian dictionary on the same lines as the New English Dictionary by way of supplement to it. Organisation might make the labour light, whilst for many it would from its very nature prove a pleasant task.

These suggestions were not carried out. Individuals sent quotations to Oxford, but no organisation was established to make the collection systematic or complete, and at the next meeting of the Association the Section had ceased to exist, or at least had doffed its literary character.

At a somewhat later date, Messrs. Funk and Wagnall of New York invited me to join an "Advisory Committee on disputed spelling and pronunciation." That firm was then preparing its Standard Dictionary, and one part of the scheme was to obtain opinions as to usage from various parts of the English-speaking world, especially from those whose function it is to teach the English Language. Subsequently, at my own suggestion, the firm appointed me to take charge of the Australian terms in their Dictionary, and I forwarded a certain number of words and phrases in use in Australia. But the accident of the letter A, for Australian, coming early in the alphabet gives my name a higher place than it deserves on the published list of those co-operating in the production of this Standard Dictionary; for with my present knowledge I see that my contribution was lamentably incomplete. Moreover, I joined the Editorial Corps too late to be of real use. Only the final proofs were sent to me, and although my corrections were reported to New York without delay, they arrived too late for any alterations to be effected before the sheets went to press. This took the heart out of my work for that Dictionary. For its modernness, for many of its lexicographical features, and for its splendid illustrations, I entertain a cordial admiration for the book, and I greatly regret the unworthiness of my share in it. It is quite evident that others had contributed Australasian words, and I must confess I hardly like to be held responsible for some of their statements. For instance—

I have never heard of it, and my ignorance is shared by the greatest Australian botanist, the Baron von Mueller.

"Beauregarde. The Zebra grass-parrakeet of Australia. From F. beau, regarde. See BEAU n. and REGARD."

As a matter of fact, the name is altered out of recognition, but really comes from the aboriginal budgery, good, and gar, parrot.

"Imou-pine. A large New Zealand tree. . . . called red pine by the colonists and rimu by the natives."

I can find no trace of the spelling "Imou." In a circular to New Zealand newspapers I asked whether it was a known variant. The New Zealand Herald made answer—"He may be sure that the good American dictionary has made a misprint. It was scarcely worth the Professor's while to take notice of mere examples of pakeha ignorance of Maori."

In twenty-two years of residence in Australia, I have never heard the former sense.

These examples, I know, are not fair specimens of the accuracy of the Standard Dictionary, but they serve as indications of the necessity for a special book on Australasian English.

II. TITLE AND SCOPE OF THE BOOK.

In the present day, when words are more and more abbreviated, a "short title" may be counted necessary to the welfare of a book. For this reason "Austral English" has been selected. In its right place in the dictionary the word Austral will be found with illustrations to show that its primary meaning, "southern," is being more and more limited, so that the word may now be used as equivalent to Australasian.

"Austral" or "Australasian English" means all the new words and the new uses of old words that have been added to the English language by reason of the fact that those who speak English have taken up their abode in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. Hasty inference might lead to the remark that such addition is only slang, but the remark is far from being accurate; probably not one-tenth of the new vocabulary could fairly be so classified. A great deal of slang is used in Australasia, but very much less is generated here than is usually believed. In 1895 a literary policeman in Melbourne brought out a small Australian Slang Dictionary. In spite of the name, however, the compiler confesses that "very few of the terms it contains have been invented by Australians." My estimate is that not one word in fifty in his little book has an Australian origin, or even a specially Australian use.

The phrase "Australasian English" includes something much wider than slang. Those who, speaking the tongue of Shakspeare, of Milton, and of Dr. Johnson, came to various parts of Australasia, found a Flora and a Fauna waiting to be named in English. New birds, beasts and fishes, new trees, bushes and flowers, had to receive names for general use. It is probably not too much to say that there never was an instance in history when so many new names were needed, and that there never will be such an occasion again, for never did settlers come, nor can they ever again come, upon Flora and Fauna so completely different from anything seen by them before. When the offshoots of our race first began to settle in America, they found much that was new, but they were still in the same North Temperate zone. Though there is now a considerable divergence between the American and the English vocabulary, especially in technical terms, it is not largely due to great differences in natural history. An oak in America is still a Quercus, not as in Australia a Casuarina. But with the whole tropical region intervening it was to be expected that in the South Temperate Zone many things would be different, and such expectation was amply fulfilled. In early descriptions of Australia it is a sort of commonplace to dwell on this complete variety, to harp on the trees that shed bark not leaves, and the cherries with the stones outside. Since the days when "Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field" never were so many new names called for. Unfortunately, names were not given by the best educated in the community, but often by those least qualified to invent satisfactory names: not by a linguist, a botanist, an ornithologist, an ichthyologist, but by the ordinary settler. Even in countries of old civilisation names are frequently conferred or new words invented, at times with good and at times with unsatisfactory results, by the average man, whom it is the modern fashion to call "the man in the street." Much of Australasian nomenclature is due to "the man in the bush" —more precise address not recorded. Givers of new names may be benefactors to their language or violators of its purity and simplicity, but in either case they are nearly always, like the burial-place of Moses, unknown.

III. SOURCES OF NEW WORDS.

Of Australasian additions to the English language there are two main sources, which correspond to the twofold division of them into new words and new uses of old words.

The commoner origin of Australasian English words is the turning and twisting of an already existing English name. The settler saw a fruit somewhat like a cherry. Though he knew well that it was not a cherry, he christened it the "native cherry." It may here be remarked that the prefix native is not a satisfactory distinguishing adjective. Native bear, native cherry, may teach the young Australian that the bear and the cherry so named are not as the bear of the Arctic Regions or the cherry of Europe. But in the British Museum the label does not help much. The settler heard a bird laugh in what he thought an extremely ridiculous manner, its opening notes suggesting a donkey's bray—he called it the "laughing jackass." His descendants have dropped the adjective, and it has come to pass that the word "jackass" denotes to an Australian something quite different from its meaning to other speakers of our English tongue. The settler must have had an imagination. Whip-bird, or Coach-whip, from the sound of the note, Lyre-bird from the appearance of the outspread tail, are admirable names.

Another class of name brought the Australian word nearer to its English use. "Robin" for instance is applied to birds of various species not known in Europe. Bird-names, fish-names, plant-names, are sometimes transferred to new species, sometimes to a new genus, sometimes to an entirely different Natural Order, bearing a resemblance to the original, either real or fancied, as for instance "Magpie." It is hardly necessary to dwell longer on this point, for almost every page of the Dictionary bears witness to it.

Many of the new Australasian words are taken from the languages of the aborigines, often with considerable alteration due to misunderstanding. Such words are either Australian or Maori. Whilst in New Zealand careful attention has been paid by competent scholars to the musical Maori language, it can hardly be claimed that the Australian family of languages has ever been scientifically studied, though there is a heap of printed material—small grammars and lists of words—rudis indigestaque moles. There is no doubt that the vocabularies used in different parts of Australia and Tasmania varied greatly, and equally little doubt that the languages, in structure and perhaps originally in vocabulary, were more or less connected. About the year 1883, Professor Sayce, of Oxford, wrote a letter, which was published in The Argus, pointing out the obligation that lay upon the Australian colonies to make a scientific study of a vanishing speech. The duty would be stronger were it not for the distressing lack of pence that now is vexing public men. Probably a sum of L300 a year would suffice for an educated inquirer, but his full time for several years would be needed. Such an one should be trained at the University as a linguist and an observer, paying especial attention to logic and to Comparative Philology. Whilst the colonies neglect their opportunities, and Sibylla year by year withdraws her offer, perhaps "the inevitable German" will intervene, and in a well-arranged book bring order out of the chaos of vocabularies and small pamphlets on the subject, all that we have to trust to now.

The need of scientific accuracy is strong. For the purposes of this Dictionary I have been investigating the origin of words, more or less naturalised as English, that come from aboriginal Australian, in number between seventy and a hundred. I have received a great deal of kind assistance, many people taking much trouble to inform me. But there is a manifest lack of knowledge. Many supplied me with the meanings of the words as used in English, but though my appeal was scattered far and wide over Australia (chiefly through the kindness of the newspapers), few could really give the origin of the words. Two amongst the best informed went so far as to say that Australian words have no derivation. That doctrine is hard to accept. A word of three syllables does not spring complete from the brain of an aboriginal as Athene rose fully armed from the head of Zeus.

It is beyond all doubt that the vocabularies of the Aborigines differed widely in different parts. Frequently, the English have carried a word known in one district to a district where it was not known, the aboriginals regarding the word as pure English. In several books statements will be found that such and such a word is not Aboriginal, when it really has an aboriginal source but in a different part of the Continent. Mr. Threlkeld, in his Australian Grammar, which is especially concerned with the language of the Hunter River, gives a list of "barbarisms," words that he considers do not belong to the aboriginal tongue. He says with perfect truth-"Barbarisms have crept into use, introduced by sailors, stockmen, and others, in the use of which both blacks and whites labour under the mistaken idea, that each one is conversing in the other's language." And yet with him a "barbarism" has to be qualified as meaning "not belonging to the Hunter District." But Mr. Threlkeld is not the only writer who will not acknowledge as aboriginal sundry words with an undoubted Australian pedigree.

The Maori language, the Italian of the South, has received very different treatment from that meted out by fate and indifference to the aboriginal tongues of Australia. It has been studied by competent scholars, and its grammar has been comprehensively arranged and stated. A Maori Dictionary, compiled more than fifty years ago by a missionary, afterwards a bishop, has been issued in a fourth edition by his son, who is now a bishop. Yet, of Maori also, the same thing is said with respect to etymology. A Maori scholar told me that, when he began the study many years ago, he was warned by a very distinguished scholar not to seek for derivations, as the search was full of pitfalls. It was not maintained that words sprang up without an origin, but that the true origin of most of the words was now lost. In spite of this double warning, it may be maintained that some of the origins both of Maori and of Australian words have been found and are in this book recorded.

The pronunciation of Maori words differs so widely from that of Australian aboriginal names that it seems advisable to insert a note on the subject.

Australian aboriginal words have been written down on no system, and very much at hap-hazard. English people have attempted to express the native sounds phonetically according to English pronunciation. No definite rule has been observed, different persons giving totally different values to represent the consonant and vowel sounds. In a language with a spelling so unphonetic as the English, in which the vowels especially have such uncertain and variable values, the results of this want of system have necessarily been very unsatisfactory and often grotesque. Maori words, on the other hand, have been written down on a simple and consistent system, adopted by the missionaries for the purpose of the translation of the Bible. This system consists in giving the Italian sound to the vowels, every letter—vowel and consonant—having a fixed and invariable value. Maori words are often very melodious. In pronunciation the best rule is to pronounce each syllable with a nearly equal accent.

Care has been taken to remember that this is an Australasian English and not a Maori Dictionary; therefore to exclude words that have not passed into the speech of the settlers. But in New Zealand Maori is much more widely used in the matter of vocabulary than the speech of the aborigines is in Australia, or at any rate in the more settled parts of Australia; and the Maori is in a purer form. Though some words and names have been ridiculously corrupted, the language of those who dwell in the bush in New Zealand can hardly be called Pigeon English, and that is the right name for the "lingo" used in Queensland and Western Australia, which, only partly represented in this book, is indeed a falling away from the language of Bacon and Shakspeare.

IV. LAW OF HOBSON-JOBSON.

In many places in the Dictionary, I find I have used the expression "the law of Hobson-Jobson." The name is an adaptation from the expression used by Col. Yule and Mr. Burnell as a name for their interesting Dictionary of Anglo-Indian words. The law is well recognised, though it has lacked the name, such as I now venture to give it. When a word comes from a foreign language, those who use it, not understanding it properly, give a twist to the word or to some part of it from the hospitable desire to make the word at home in its new quarters, no regard, however, being paid to the sense. The most familiar instance in English is crayfish from the French ecrevisse, though it is well known that a crayfish is not a fish at all. Amongst the Mohammedans in India there is a festival at which the names of "Hassan" and "Hosein" are frequently called out by devotees. Tommy Atkins, to whom the names were naught, converted them into "Hobson, Jobson." That the practice of so altering words is not limited to the English is shown by two perhaps not very familiar instances in French, where "Aunt Sally" has become ane sale, "a dirty donkey," and "bowsprit" has become beau pre, though quite unconnected with "a beautiful meadow." The name "Pigeon English" is itself a good example. It has no connection with pigeon, the bird, but is an Oriental's attempt to pronounce the word "business." It hardly, however, seems necessary to alter the spelling to "pidjin."

It may be thought by some precisians that all Australasian English is a corruption of the language. So too is Anglo-Indian, and, pace Mr. Brander Matthews, there are such things as Americanisms, which were not part of the Elizabethan heritage, though it is perfectly true that many of the American phrases most railed at are pure old English, preserved in the States, though obsolete in Modern England; for the Americans, as Lowell says, "could not take with them any better language than that of Shakspeare." When we hear railing at slang phrases, at Americanisms, some of which are admirably expressive, at various flowers of colonial speech, and at words woven into the texture of our speech by those who live far away from London and from Oxford, and who on the outskirts of the British Empire are brought into contact with new natural objects that need new names, we may think for our comfort on the undoubted fact that the noble and dignified language of the poets, authors and preachers, grouped around Lewis XIV., sprang from debased Latin. For it was not the classical Latin that is the origin of French, but the language of the soldiers and the camp-followers who talked slang and picked words up from every quarter. English has certainly a richer vocabulary, a finer variety of words to express delicate distinctions of meaning, than any language that is or that ever was spoken: and this is because it has always been hospitable in the reception of new words. It is too late a day to close the doors against new words. This Austral English Dictionary merely catalogues and records those which at certain doors have already come in.

V. CLASSIFICATION OF THE WORDS.

The Dictionary thus includes the following classes of Words,
Phrases and Usages; viz.—

(1) Old English names of Natural Objects—Birds, Fishes, Animals, Trees, Plants, etc.—applied (in the first instance by the early settlers) either to new Australian species of such objects, or to new objects bearing a real or fancied resemblance to them—as Robin, Magpie, Herring, Cod, Cat, Bear, Oak, Beech, Pine, Cedar, Cherry, Spinach, Hops, Pea, Rose.

(2) English names of objects applied in Australia to others quite different-as Wattle, a hurdle, applied as the name of the tree Wattle, from whose twigs the hurdle was most readily made; Jackass, an animal, used as the name for the bird Jackass; Cockatoo, a birdname, applied to a small farmer.

(3) Aboriginal Australian and Maori words which have been incorporated unchanged in the language, and which still denote the original object—as Kangaroo, Wombat, Boomerang, Whare, Pa, Kauri.

(4) Aboriginal Australian and Maori words which have been similarly adopted, and which have also had their original meaning extended and applied to other things—as Bunyip, Corrobbery, Warrigal.

(5) Anglicised corruptions of such words—as Copper-Maori, Go-ashore, Cock-a-bully, Paddy-melon, Pudding-ball, Tooky-took.

(6) Fanciful, picturesque, or humorous names given to new Australasian Natural Objects—as Forty-spot, Lyre-bird, Parson-bird, and Coach-whip (birds); Wait-a-while (a tangled thicket); Thousand-jacket, Jimmy Low, Jimmy Donnelly, and Roger Gough (trees); Axe-breaker, Cheese-wood, and Raspberry Jam (timbers); Trumpeter, Schnapper and Sergeant Baker (fishes); Umbrella-grass and Spaniard (native plants), and so on.

(7) Words and phrases of quite new coinage, or arising from quite new objects or orders of things—as Larrikin, Swagman, Billy, Free-selector, Boundary-rider, Black-tracker, Back-blocks, Clear-skin, Dummyism, Bushed.

(8) Scientific names arising exclusively from Australasian necessities, chiefly to denote or describe new Natural Orders, Genera, or Species confined or chiefly appertaining to Australia—as Monotreme, Petrogale, Clianthus, Ephthianura, Dinornis, Eucalypt, Boronia, Ornithorhynchus, Banksia.

(9) Slang (of which the element is comparatively small)— as Deepsinker, Duck-shoving, Hoot, Slushy, Boss-cockie, On-the-Wallaby.

VI. QUOTATIONS.

With certain exceptions, this Dictionary is built up, as a Dictionary should be, on quotations, and these are very copious. It may even be thought that their number is too large. It is certainly larger, and in some places the quotations themselves are much longer, than could ever be expected in a general Dictionary of the English Language. This copiousness is, however, the advantage of a special Dictionary. The intention of the quotations is to furnish evidence that a word is used as an English word; and many times the quotation itself furnishes a satisfactory explanation of the meaning. I hope, however, I shall not be held responsible for all the statements in the quotations, even where attention is not drawn to their incorrectness. Sundry Australasian uses of words are given in other dictionaries, as, for instance, in the parts already issued of the Oxford English Dictionary and in The Century, but the space that can be allotted to them in such works is of necessity too small for full explanation. Efforts have been made to select such quotations as should in themselves be interesting, picturesque, and illustrative. In a few cases they may even be humorous.

Moreover, the endeavour has been constant to obtain quotations from all parts of the Australasian Colonies—from books that describe different parts of Australasia, and from newspapers published far and wide. I am conscious that in the latter division Melbourne papers predominate, but this has been due to the accident that living in Melbourne I see more of the Melbourne papers, whilst my friends have sent me more quotations from books and fewer from newspapers.

The quotations, however, are not all explanatory. Many times a quotation is given merely to mark the use of a word at a particular epoch. Quotations are all carefully dated and arranged in their historical order, and thus the exact chronological development of a word has been indicated. The practice of the `O.E.D.' has been followed in this respect and in the matter of quotations generally, though as a rule the titles of books quoted have been more fully expressed here than in that Dictionary. Early quotations have been sought with care, and a very respectable antiquity, about a century, has been thus found for some Australasian words. As far as possible, the spelling, the stops, the capitals, and the italics of the original have been preserved. The result is often a rich variety of spelling the same word in consecutive extracts.

The last decade has been a very active time in Australian science. A great deal of system has been brought into its study, and much rearrangement of classification has followed as the result. Both among birds and plants new species have been distinguished and named: and there has been not a little change in nomenclature. This Dictionary, it must be remembered, is chiefly concerned with vernacular names, but for proper identification, wherever possible, the scientific name is added. In some cases, where there has been a recent change in the latter, both the new and the older names are recorded.

VII. AUTHORITIES.

The less-known birds, fishes, plants, and trees are in many cases not illustrated by quotations, but have moved to their places in the Dictionary from lists of repute. Many books have been written on the Natural History of Australia and New Zealand, and these have been placed under contribution. Under the head of Botany no book has been of greater service than Maiden's Useful Native Plants. Unfortunately many scientific men scorn vernacular names, but Mr. Maiden has taken the utmost pains with them, and has thereby largely increased the utility of his volume. For Tasmania there is Mr. Spicer's Handbook of Tasmanian Plants; for New Zealand, Kirk's Forest Flora and Hooker's Botany.

For Australian animals Lydekker's Marsupials and Monotremes is excellent; especially his section on the Phalanger or Australian Opossum, an animal which has been curiously neglected by all Dictionaries of repute. On New Zealand mammals it is not necessary to quote any book; for when the English came, it is said, New Zealand contained no mammal larger than a rat. Captain Cook turned two pigs loose; but it is stated on authority, that these pigs left no descendants. One was ridden to death by Maori boys, and the other was killed for sacrilege: he rooted in a tapu burial-place. Nevertheless, the settlers still call any wild-pig, especially if lean and bony, a "Captain Cook."

For the scientific nomenclature of Australian Botany the Census of Australian Plants by the Baron von Mueller (1889) is indispensable. It has been strictly followed. For fishes reliance has been placed upon Tenison Woods' Fishes and Fisheries of New South Wales (1882), on W. Macleay's Descriptive Catalogue of Australian Fishes (Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales, vols. v. and vi.), and on Dr. Guenther's Study of Fishes. For the scientific nomenclature of Animal Life, the standard of reference has been the Tabular List of all the Australian Birds by E. P. Ramsay of the Australian Museum, Sydney (1888); Catalogue of Australian Mammals by J. O. Ogilby of the Australian Museum, Sydney (1892); Catalogue of Marsupials and Monotremes, British Museum (1888); Prodromus to the Natural History of Victoria by Sir F. McCoy. Constant reference has also been made to Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Societies of Victoria and Tasmania, and to the journal of the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria.

The birds both in Australia and New Zealand have been handsomely treated by the scientific illustrators. Gould's Birds of Australia and Buller's Birds of New Zealand are indeed monumental works. Neither Gould nor Sir Walter Buller scorns vernacular names. But since the days of the former the number of named species of Australian birds has largely increased, and in January 1895, at the Brisbane Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, a Committee was appointed to draw up a list of vernacular bird-names. By the kindness of a member of this Committee (Mr. A. J. Campbell of Melbourne) I was allowed the use of a list of such vernacular names drawn up by him and Col. Legge for submission to the Committee.

VIII. SCIENTIFIC WORDS.

The example of The Century has been followed in the inclusion of sundry scientific names, especially those of genera or Natural Orders of purely Australasian objects. Although it is quite true that these can hardly be described as Australasian English, it is believed that the course adopted will be for the general convenience of those who consult this Dictionary.

Some of these "Neo-Latin" and "Neo-Greek" words are extraordinary in themselves and obscure in their origin, though not through antiquity. In his Student's Pastime, at p. 293, Dr. Skeat says "Nowhere can more ignorant etymologies be found than in works on Botany and `scientific' subjects. Too often, all the science is reserved for the subject, so that there is none to spare for explaining the names."

A generous latitude has also been taken in including some words undoubtedly English, but not exclusively Australasian, such as Anabranch, and Antipodes, and some mining and other terms that are also used in the United States. Convenience of readers is the excuse. Anabranch is more frequently used of Australian rivers than of any others, but perhaps a little pride in tracking the origin of the word has had something to do with its inclusion. Some words have been inserted for purposes of explanation, e.g. Snook, in Australasia called Barracouta, which latter is itself an old name applied in Australasia to a different fish; and Cavally, which is needed to explain Trevally.

IX. ASSISTANCE RECEIVED.

There remains the pleasant duty of acknowledging help. Many persons have given me help, whose names can hardly be listed here. A friend, an acquaintance, or sometimes even a stranger, has often sent a single quotation of value, or an explanation of a single word. The Editors of many newspapers have helped not a little by the insertion of a letter or a circular. To all these helpers, and I reckon their number at nearly 200, I tender my hearty thanks.

Various officers of the Melbourne Public Library, and my friend Mr. Edward H. Bromby, the Librarian of this University, have rendered me much assistance. I have often been fortunate enough to obtain information from the greatest living authority on a particular subject: from the Baron von Mueller, from Sir Frederick M'Coy, or from Mr. A. W. Howitt. [Alas! since I penned this sentence, the kind and helpful Baron has been taken from us, and is no longer the greatest living authority on Australian Botany.] My friend and colleague, Professor Baldwin Spencer, a most earnest worker in the field of Australian science, gave many hours of valuable time to set these pages right in the details of scientific explanations. Mr. J. G. Luehmann of Melbourne has kindly answered various questions about Botany, and Mr. A. J. North, of Sydney, in regard to certain birds. Mr. T. S. Hall, of the Biological Department of this University, and Mr. J. J. Fletcher, of Sydney, the Secretary of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales, have rendered me much help. The Rev. John Mathew, of Coburg, near Melbourne, has thrown much light on aboriginal words. The Rev. E. H. Sugden, Master of Queen's College in this University, has furnished a large number of useful quotations. His name is similarly mentioned, honoris causa, in Dr. Murray's Preface to Part I. of the `O. E. D.' Mr. R. T. Elliott of Worcester College, Oxford, has given similar help. The Master himself,—the Master of all who engage in Dictionary work,—Dr. Murray, of Oxford, has kindly forwarded to me a few pithy and valuable comments on my proof-streets. He also made me a strong appeal never to pass on information from any source without acknowledgment. This, the only honest course, I have striven scrupulously to follow; but it is not always easy to trace the sources whence information has been derived.

When gaps in the sequence of quotations were especially apparent on the proofs, Mr. W. Ellis Bird, of Richmond, Victoria, found me many illustrative passages. For New Zealand words a goodly supply of quotations was contributed by Miss Mary Colborne-Veel of Christchurch, author of a volume of poetry called The Fairest of the Angels, by her sister, Miss Gertrude Colborne-Veel, and by Mr. W. H. S. Roberts of Oamaru, author of a little book called Southland in 1856. In the matter of explanation of the origin and meaning of New Zealand terms, Dr. Hocken of Dunedin, Mr. F. R. Chapman of the same city, and Mr. Edward Tregear of Wellington, author of the Maori Polynesian Dictionary, and Secretary of the Polynesian Society, have rendered valuable and material assistance. Dr. Holden of Bellerive, near Hobart, was perhaps my most valued correspondent. After I had failed in one or two quarters to enlist Tasmanian sympathy, he came to the rescue, and gave me much help on Tasmanian words, especially on the Flora and the birds; also on Queensland Flora and on the whole subject of Fishes. Dr. Holden also enlisted later the help of Mr. J. B. Walker, of Hobart, who contributed much to enrich my proofs. But the friend who has given me most help of all has been Mr. J. Lake of St. John's College, Cambridge. When the Dictionary was being prepared for press, he worked with me for some months, very loyally putting my materials into shape. Birds, Animals, and Botany he sub-edited for me, and much of the value of this part of the Book, which is almost an Encyclopaedia rather than a Dictionary, is due to his ready knowledge, his varied attainments, and his willingness to undertake research.

To all who have thus rendered me assistance I tender hearty thanks. It is not their fault if, as is sure to be the case, defects and mistakes are found in this Dictionarv. But should the Book be received with public favour, these shall be corrected in a later edition.

EDWARD E. MORRIS.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES

B. and L. . Barere and L.
Bail. . . . Baillon.
Bechst. . . Bechstein.
Benth. . . Bentham.
Bl. . . . Bleeker.
Bodd. . . . Boddaert

Cab. . . . Cabanis.
Carr. . . . Carriere.
Castln. . . Castelnau.
Cav. . . . Cavanilles.
Corr. . . . Correa.

De C. . . . De Candolle.
Dec. . . . Decaisne.
Desf. . . . Desfontaines.
Desm. . . . Desmarest.
Desv. . . . Desvaux.
De Tarrag. . De Tarragon
Diet. . . . Dietrich.
Donov. . . Donovan.
Drap. . . . Drapiez.
Dryand. . . Dryander.

Fab. . . . Fabricius.
Forsk. . . Forskael.
Forst. . . Forster.
F. v. M. . . Ferdinand von Mueller

G. Forst. . G. Forster.
Gaertn. . . Gaertner.
Gaim. . . . Gaimard.
Garn. . . . Garnot.
Gaud. . . Gaudichaud.
Geoff. . . Geoffroy.
Germ. . . Germar.
Gmel. . . Gmelin.
Guich. . . Guichenot.
Gunth. . . Guenther.

Harv. . . Harvey.
Hasselq. . . Hasselquin.
Haw. . . . Haworth.
Hens. . . Henslow.
Herb. . . Herbert.
Homb. . . Hombron.
Hook. . . J. Hooker.
Hook. f. . . Hooker fils.
Horsf. . . Horsfield.

Lacep. . . Lacepede.
Lath. . . . Latham.
Lehm. . . Lehmann.
Less. . . Lesson.
L'herit. . . L'Heritier.
Licht. . . Lichtenstein.
Lindl. . . Lindley.
Linn. . . . Linnaeus.

Macl. . . . Macleay.
McC. . . . McCoy.
Meissn. . . Meissner.
Menz. . . Menzies.
Milne-Ed. . Milne-Edwards.
Miq. . . . Miquel.

Selb. . . . Selby.
Ser. . . . Seringe.
Serv. . . . Serville.
Sieb. . . . Sieber.
Sm. . . . Smith.
Sol. . . . Solander.
Sow. . . . Sowerby.
Sparrm. . . Sparrman.
Steph. . . Stephan.
Sundev. . . Sundevall.

V. and H. . Vigors and Horsfield.
Val. . . . Valenciennes.
Vent. . . . Ventenat.
Vieill. . . Vieillot.
Vig. . . . Vigors.

Wagl. . . . Wagler.
Water. . . Waterhouse.
Wedd. . . . Weddell.
Willd. . . Willdenow.

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

sic, "thus," draws attention to some peculiarity of diction or to what is believed to be a mistake.

O.E.D. "Oxford English Dictionary," often formerly quoted
as "N.E.D." or "New English Dictionary."

AUSTRALASIAN DICTIONARY

<hw>Absentee</hw>, n. euphemistic term for a convict. The word has disappeared with the need for it.

"The ludicrous and affected philanthropy of the present Governor of the Colony, in advertising runaway convicts under the soft and gentle name of absentees, is really unaccountable, unless we suppose it possible that his Excellency as a native of Ireland, and as having a well-grounded Hibernian antipathy to his absentee countrymen, uses the term as one expressive both of the criminality of the absentee and of his own abhorrence of the crime."

<hw>Acacia</hw>, n. and adj. a genus of shrubs or trees, N.O. Leguminosae. The Australian species often form thickets or scrubs, and are much used for hedges. The species are very numerous, and are called provincially by various names, e.g. "Wattle," "Mulga," "Giddea," and "Sally," an Anglicized form of the aboriginal name Sallee (q.v.). The tree peculiar to Tasmania, Acacia riceana, Hensl., (i>N.O. Leguminosae, is there called the Drooping Acacia.

"Yet, Australian sky and nature awaits and merits real artists to portray it. Its gigantic gum and acacia trees, 40 ft. in girth, some of them covered with a most smooth bark, externally as white as chalk. .. ."

"Rosewood Acacia, the wood of which has a very agreeable violet scent like the Myal Acacia (A. pendula) in Liverpool Plains."

"The Acacias are innumerable, all yielding a famous bark for tanning, and a clean and excellent gum."

"The name Acacia, derived from the Greek, and indicative of a thorny plant, was already bestowed by the ancient naturalist and physician Dioscorides on a Gum-Arabic yielding North-African Acacia not dissimilar to some Australian species. This generic name is so familiarly known, that the appellation `Wattle' might well be dispensed with. Indeed the name Acacia is in full use in works on travels and in many popular writings for the numerous Australian species . . . Few of any genera of plants contain more species than Acacia, and in Australia it is the richest of all; about 300 species, as occurring in our continent, have been clearly defined."

<hw>Acrobates</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian genus of Pigmy Flying-Phalangers, or, as they are locally called, Opossum-Mice. See Opossum-Mouse, Flying-Mouse, Flying-Phalanger, and Phalanger. The genus was founded by Desmarest in 1817. (Grk. 'akrobataes, walking on tiptoe.)

<hw>AEpyprymnus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Rufous Kangaroo-Rat. It is the tallest and largest of the Kangaroo-Rats (q.v.). (Grk. 'aipus, high, and prumnon, the hinder part.)

<hw>Ailuroedus</hw>, n. scientific name for the genus of Australian birds called Cat-birds (q.v.). From Grk. 'ailouros, a cat, and 'eidos, species.

<hw>Ake</hw>, n. originally Akeake, Maori name for either of two small trees, (1) Dodonaea viscosa, Linn., in New Zealand; (2) Olearia traversii, F. v. M., in the Chatham Islands. Ake is originally a Maori adv. meaning "onwards, in time." Archdeacon Williams, in his `Dictionary of New Zealand Language,' says Ake, Ake, Ake, means " for ever and ever." (Edition 182.)

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p.133:

"Ake, a small tree, 6 to 12 feet high. Wood very hard, variegated, black and white; used for Maori clubs; abundant in dry woods and forests."

<hw>Alarm-bird</hw>, n. a bird-name no longer used in Australia. There is an African Alarm-bird.

"Lobivanellus lobatus (Lath.), Wattled Pewit, Alarm Bird of the Colonists."

<hw>Alectryon</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree and flower, Alectryon excelsum, De C., Maori name Titoki (q.v.); called also the New Zealand Oak, from the resemblance of its leaves to those of an oak. Named by botanists from Grk. 'alektruown, a cock.

"The early season could not yet
Have ripened the alectryon's beads of jet,
Each on its scarlet strawberry set."

<hw>Alexandra Palm</hw>, n. a Queensland tree, Ptychosperma alexandrae, F. v. M. A beautifully marked wood much used for making walking sticks. It grows 70 or 80 feet high.

<hw>Alluvial</hw>, n. the common term in Australia and New Zealand for gold-bearing alluvial soil. The word is also used adjectivally as in England.

"The whole of the alluvial will be taken up, and the Terrible
Hollow will re-echo with the sound of pick and shovel."

<hw>Ambrite</hw> (generally called ambrit), n. Mineral [from amber + ite, mineral formative, `O.E.D.'], a fossil resin found in masses amidst lignite coals in various parts of New Zealand. Some identify it with the resin of Dammara australis, generally called Kauri gum (q.v.).

"Although originating probably from a coniferous tree related to the Kauri pine, it nevertheless has been erroneously taken for Kauri gum."—[Footnote]: "It is sufficiently characterised to deserve a special name ; but it comes so near to real amber that it deserves the name of Ambrite."

<hw>Anabranch</hw>, n. a branch of a river which leaves it and enters it again. The word is not Australian, though it is generally so reckoned. It is not given in the `Century,' nor in the `Imperial,' nor in `Webster,' nor in the `Standard.' The `O.E.D.' treats Ana as an independent word, rightly explaining it as anastomosing, but its quotation from the `Athenaeum' (1871), on which it relies,is a misprint. For the origin and coinage of the word, see quotation 1834. See the aboriginal name Billabong.

"Such branches of a river as after separation re-unite, I would term anastomosing-branches; or, if a word might be coined, ana-branches, and the islands they form, branch-islands. Thus, if we would say, `the river in this part of its course divides into several ana-branches,' we should immediately understand the subsequent re-union of the branches to the main trunk."

Col. Jackson was for a while Secretary and Editor of the Society's Journal. In Feb. 1847 he resigned that position, and in the journal of that year there is the following amusing ignorance of his proposed word—

1847. `Condensed Account of Sturt's Exploration in the Interior of Australia—Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' p. 87:

"Captain Sturt proposed sending in advance to ascertain the state of the Ana branch of the Darling, discovered by Mr. Eyre on a recent expedition to the North."

No fewer than six times on two pages is the word anabranch printed as two separate words, and as if Ana were a proper name. In the Index volume it appears "Ana, a branch of the Darling."

"The river itself divided into anabranches which . . . made the whole valley a maze of channels."

"What the Major calls, after the learned nomenclature of Colonel Jackson, in the `Journal of the Geographical Society,' anabranches, but which the natives call billibongs, channels coming out of a stream and returning into it again."

"The Loddon district is called the County of Gunbower, which means, it is said, an ana branch [sic]."

<hw>Anchorwing</hw>, n. a bird-name, Falco melanogenys, Gould. The Black-cheeked Falcon, so called because of the resemblance of the wings outspread in flight to the flukes of an anchor.

<hw>Anguillaria</hw>, n. one of the vernacular names used for the common Australian wild flower, Anguillaraa australis, R. Br., Wurmbsea dioica, F. v. M., N.O. Liliaceae. The name Anguillarea is from the administrator of the Botanic Gardens of Padua, three centuries ago. There are three Australian forms, distinguished by Robert Brown as species. The flower is very common in the meadows in early spring, and is therefore called the Native Snow Drop. In Tasmania it is called Nancy.

"Spotted Anguillaria. Nancy. The little lively white flower with blue spots in the centre, about 2 inches high, that everywhere enlivens our grassy hills in spring, resembling the Star of Bethlehem."

"Native Snowdrop. Anguillaria Australis. The earliest of all our indigenous spring-flowering plants. . . . In early spring our fields are white with the flowers of this pretty little bulbous-rooted plant."

<hw>Ant-eater</hw>, n. (1) i.q. Ant-eating-Porcupine. See Echidna. (2) The Banded Ant-eater (q.v.).

<hw>Antechinornys</hw>, n. scientific name for the genus with the one species of Long legged Pouched-Mouse (q.v.). (Grk. 'anti, opposed to, 'echivos, hedgehog, and mus, mouse, sc. a mouse different to the hedgehog.) It is a jumping animal exclusively insectivorous.

<hw>Antipodes</hw>, n. properly a Greek word, the plural of 'antipous, lit. "having feet opposed." The ancients, however, had no knowledge of the southern hemisphere. Under the word perioikos, Liddell and Scott explain that 'antipodes meant "those who were in opposite parallels and meridians." The word Antipodes was adopted into the Latin language, and occurs in two of the Fathers, Lactantius and Augustine. By the mediaeval church to believe in the antipodes was regarded as heresy. `O.E.D.' quotes two examples of the early use of the word in English.

"Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that have theyr fete ayenst our fete."

"People . . . called of the Greeks and Latines also 'antipodes, Antipodes, as you might say Counterfooted, or Counterpasers."

Shakspeare uses the word in five places, but, though he knew that this "pendent world" was spherical, his Antipodes were not Australasian. In three places he means only the fact that it is day in the Eastern hemisphere when it is night in England.

"I'll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon
May thro' the centre creep and so displease
His brother's noontide with the Antipodes."

"We should hold day with the Antipodes
If you would walk in absence of the sun."

"Who all this while hath revell'd in the night,
Whilst we were wandering with the Antipodes."

"Thou art as opposite to every good
As the Antipodes are unto us,
Or as the South to the Septentrion." [sc. the North.]

But more precise geographical indications are given in `Much
Ado,' II. i. 273, where Benedick is so anxious to avoid
Beatrice that he says—

"I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a tooth-picker now from the farthest inch of Asia; bring you the length of Prester John's foot; fetch you a hair of the great Kam's beard; do you any embassage to the Pygmies rather than hold three words conference with this harpy."

Now the Pygmies lived on the Upper Nile, near Khartoum,
Prester John in India, and the great Kam (Khan) in Tartary.

The word Antipodes in modern use is applied rather to places than to people. Geographically, the word means a place exactly opposite on the surface of the globe, as Antipodes Island (Eastward of New Zealand), which is very near the opposite end of the diameter of the globe passing through London. But the word is often used in a wider sense, and the whole of Australasia is regarded as the Antipodes of Great Britain.

The question is often asked whether there is any singular to the word Antipodes, and `O.E.D.' shows that antipode is still used in the sense of the exact opposite of a person. Antipod is also used, especially playfully. The adjectives used are Antipodal and Antipodean.

<hw>Ant-orchis</hw>, n. an Australian and Tasmanian orchid, Chiloglottis gunnii, Lind.

<hw>Apple</hw> and <hw>Apple-tree</hw>, n. and adj. The names are applied to various indigenous trees, in some cases from a supposed resemblance to the English fruit, in others to the foliage of the English tree. The varieties are—

Emu A.—
 Owenia acidula, F. v. M.; called also Native
 Nectarine and Native Quince.
 Petalostigma quadriloculare, F. v. M.; called also
 Crab-tree, Native Quince, Quinine-tree
 (q.v.)

1820. John Oxley, `Journal of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales,' p. 187:

"The blue gum trees in the neighbourhood were extremely fine, whilst that species of Eucalyptus, which is vulgarly called the apple-tree . . . again made its appearance. . . ."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 260:

"It builds its nest of sticks lined with grass in Iron-bark and Apple-trees (a species of Angophora)."

"In looking down upon the rich flats below, adjoining the stream, I was perpetually reminded of a thriving and rich apple-orchard. The resemblance of what are called apple-trees in Australia to those of the same name at home is so striking at a distance in these situations, that the comparison could not be avoided, although the former bear no fruit, and do not even belong to the same species."

"I have heard of men employed in felling whole apple-trees (Angophera lanceolata) for the sheep."

"The plains, or rather downs, around it (Yass) are thinly but most picturesquely covered with `apple-trees,' as they are called by the colonists, merely from their resemblance to the European apple-tree in their size and outline, for they do not resemble it in producing an edible fruit."

"Pomona would indignantly disown the apple-tree, for there is not the semblance of a pippin on its tufted branches."

"Sandy apple-tree flats, and iron-bark ridges, lined the creek here on either side."

<HW>Apple-berry</HW>, n. the fruit of an Australian shrub, Billardiera scandens, Smith, N.O. Pittosporeae, called by children "dumplings."

"Billardiera scandens. Climbing Apple Berry. . . . The name Billardiera is given it in honour of James Julian la Billardiere, M.D., F.M.L.S., now engaged as botanist on board the French ships sent in search of M. de la Peyrouse."

<hw>Apteryx</hw>, n. [Grk. 'a privative and pterux, a wing.] A New Zealand bird about the size of a domestic fowl, with merely rudimentary wings.See Kiwi.

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 300 [Letter from Rev. W. Colenso, Waitangi, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Sept. 4, 1850:

"You enquire after an Apteryx. How delighted should I be to succeed in getting you one. Three years ago Owen expressed a similar wish, and I have repeatedly tried, but failed. Yet here they still are in the mountain forests, though, doubtless, fast hastening towards extinction. I saw one in its wild state two years ago in the dense woods of the interior; I saw it clearly. . . . Two living specimens were lately taken by the Acheron, steamer, to Sydney, where they died; these were obtained at the Bay of Islands, where also I once got three at one time. Since then I have not been able to obtain another, although I have offered a great price for one. The fact is, the younger natives do not know how to take them, and the elder ones having but few wants, and those fully supplied, do not care to do so. Further, they can only be captured by night, and the dog must be well trained to be of service."

<hw>Artichoke</hw>, n. name given to the plant Astelia Alpina, R. Br., N.O. Liliaceae.

<hw>Ash</hw>, n. The name, with various epithets, is applied to the following different Australasian trees—

Black Ash—
Nephelium semiglaucum, F. v. M.,
N.O. Sapindaceae; called also Wild Quince.

Black Mountain A.— Eucalyptus leucoxylon, F. v. M.,
N.O. Myrtaceae.

Blueberry A.— Elaeocarpus holopetalus, F. v. M.,
N.O. Tiliaceae.

Elderberry A. (of Victoria)—
Panax sambucifolius, Sieb., N.O. Araliaceae.

"The Moreton Bay Ash (a species of Eucalyptus). ..was here also very plentiful."

<hw>Assigned</hw>, past part. of verb to assign, to allot. Used as adj. of a convict allotted to a settler as a servant. Colloquially often reduced to "signed."

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their assigned servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to their dress; which very much assisted the crime of `bush-ranging.'"

"Of the first five persons we saw to Van Diemen's Land, four were convicts, and perhaps the fifth. These were the assigned servants of the pilot."

"Under the old practice, the convicts, as soon as they arrived from Britain, were assigned among the various applicants. The servant thus assigned was bound to perform diligently, from sunrise till sunset, all usual and reasonable labour."

<hw>Assignee</hw>, n. a convict assigned as a servant. The word is also used in its ordinary English sense.

"It is comparatively difficult to obtain another assignee,—easy to obtain a hired servant."

"Any instance of gross treatment disqualified him for the future as an assignee of convict labour."

"I believe the years of assignment are passed away with discontent and unhappiness."

"That form of service, known as assignment, was established by
Governor King in 1804."

"The assignment system was then in operation, and such as obtained free grants of land were allowed a certain proportion of convicts to bring it into cultivation."

<hw>Asthma</hw> Herb, Queensland, n. Euphorbia pilulifera, Linn. As the name implies, a remedy for asthma. The herb is collected when in flower and carefully dried.

"This plant, having obtained some reputation in Australasia in certain pulmonary complaints, has acquired the appellation to the Colonies of `Queensland Asthma Herb'. Nevertheless, it is by no means endemic in Australasia, for it is a common tropical weed."

<hw>Aua</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand fish, Agonostoma forsteri, Bleek. Another Maori name is Makawhiti; also called Sea-Mullet and sometimes Herring; (q.v.). It is abundant also in Tasmanian estuaries, and is one of the fishes which when dried is called Picton Herring (q.v.). See also Maray and Mullet. Agonostoma is a genus of the family Mugilidae or Grey-Mullets.

<hw>Aurora australis</hw>, n. the Southern equivalent for Aurora borealis.

"Sept. 5, 1788. About half after six in the evening, we saw an Aurora Australis, a phenomenon uncommon in the southern hemisphere."

<hw>Austral</hw>, adj. "Belonging to the South, Southern. Lat. Australis, from auster, south-wind." (`O.E.D.') The word is rarely used in Australasia in its primary sense, but now as equivalent to Australian or Australasian.

"And grant that yet an Austral Milton's song,
Pactolus-like, flow deep and rich along,
An Austral Shakespeare rise, whose living page
To Nature true may charm in every age;
And that an Austral Pindar daring soar,
Where not the Theban Eagle reach'd before."

1825. Barron Field, `First Fruits of Australian Poetry,' Motto in Geographical Memoir of New South Wales, p. 485:

"I first adventure. Follow me who list; And be the second Austral harmonist." Adapted from Bishop Hall.

"For this, midst Austral wilds I waken
Our British harp, feel whence I come,
Queen of the sea, too long forsaken,
Queen of the soul, my spirit's home."—Alien Song.

"How oft, in Austral woods, the parting day
Has gone through western golden gates away."

"What though no weird and legendary lore
Invests our young, our golden Austral shore
With that romance the poet loves too well,
When Inspiration breathes her magic spell."

<hw>Australasia</hw>, n. (and its adjectives), name "given originally by De Brosses to one of his three divisions of the alleged Terra australis." (`O.E.D.') Now used as a larger term than Australian, to include the continent of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Fiji and islands. For peculiar use of the name for the Continent in 1793, see Australia.

1756. Charles de Brosses, `Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes,' tom. i. p. 80:

"On peut de meme diviser le monde austral inconnu en trois portions. .. .L'une dans l'ocean des Indes au sud de l'Asie que j'appellerai par cette raison australasie."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis,' i. p. 49 (Translation of de Brosses)(`O.E.D.):

"The first [division] in the Indian Ocean, south of Asia, which for this reason we shall call Australasia."

[The prize (Chancellor's Medal) was won by Winthrop Mackworth Praed. William Charles Wentworth stood second.] The concluding lines of his poem are:

"How far had these ideas been acted upon by the Colonists of
Austral Asia?" [sic.]

"`The Austral-Asiatic Review,' by Murray, also made its appearance [in Hobart] in February, 1828."

" Katie walks
By the long wash of Australasian seas
Far off, and holds her head to other stars,
And breathes in converse seasons."

"It was neither Cockney nor Yankee, but a nasal blend of both: it was a lingo that declined to let the vowels run alone, but trotted them out in ill-matched couples, with discordant and awful consequences; in a word, it was Australasiatic of the worst description."

1890. `Victorian Consolidated Statutes,' Administration and p.obate Act, Section 39:

"`Australasian Colonies,' shall mean all colonies for the time being on the main land of Australia. ..and shall also include the colonies of New Zealand, Tasmania and Fiji and any other British Colonies or possessions in Australasia now existing or hereafter to be created which the Governor in Council may from time to time declare to be Australasian Colonies within the meaning of this Act."

<hw>Australia</hw>, n., and <hw>Australian</hw>, adj. As early as the 16th century there was a belief in a Terra australis (to which was often added the epithet incognita), literally "southern land," which was believed to be land lying round and stretching outwards from the South Pole.

In `Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia,' Sydney, Jan. 1892, is printed a paper read at the Geographical Congress at Berne, by E. Delmar Morgan, on the `Early Discovery of Australia.' This paper is illustrated by maps taken from `Nordenskiold's Atlas.' In a map by Orontius Finoeus, a French cosmographer of Provence, dated 1531, the Terra australis is shown as "Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene cognita." In Ortelius' Map, 1570, it appears as "Terra Australis nondum cognita." In Gerard Mercator's Map, 1587, as "Terra Australis" simply.

In 1606 the Spaniard Fernandez de Quiros gave the name of Terra Australis del Espiritu Santo to land which he thought formed part of the Great Southland. It is in fact one of the New Hebrides.

The word "Australian " is older than "Australia" (see quotations, 1693 and 1766). The name Australia was adapted from the Latin name Terra Australis. The earliest suggestion of the word is credited to Flinders, who certainly thought that he was inventing the name. (See quotation, 1814.) Twenty-one years earlier, however, the word is found (see quotation, 1793); and the passage containing it is the first known use of the word in print. Shaw may thus be regarded as its inventor. According to its title-page, the book quoted is by two authors, the Zoology, by Shaw and the Botany by Smith. The Botany, however, was not published. Of the two names—Australia and Australasia—suggested in the opening of the quotation, to take the place of New Holland, Shaw evidently favoured Australia, while Smith, in the `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. iv. p. 213 (1798), uses Australasia for the continent several times. Neither name, however, passed then into general use. In 1814, Robert Brown the Botanist speaks of "Terra Australis," not of "Australia." "Australia" was reinvented by Flinders.

"For the site, if you will needs urge me to it, I am not fully resolved, it may be in Terra Australis incognita, there is room enough (for of my knowledge, neither that hungry Spaniard nor Mercurius Britannicus have yet discovered half of it)."

"Terra Australis incognita. ..and yet in likelihood it may be so, for without all question, it being extended from the tropic of Capricorn to the circle Antarctic, and lying as it doth in the temperate zone, cannot choose but yield in time some flourishing kingdoms to succeeding ages, as America did unto the Spaniards."

"But these are hard-hearted, unnatural, monsters of men, shallow politicians, they do not consider that a great part of the world is not yet inhabited as it ought, how many colonies into America, Terra Australis incognita, Africa may be sent?"

1693. `Nouveau Voyage de la Terre Australe, contenant les Coutumes et les Moeurs des Australiens, etc.' Par Jaques Sadeur [Gabriel de Foigny].

[This is a work of fiction, but interesting as being the first book in which the word Australiens is used. The next quotation is from the English translation.]

"It is easy to judge of the incomparability of the Australians with the people of Europe."

"One of the Australians, or natives of the Southern World, whom Gonneville had brought into France."

"The vast Island or rather Continent of Australia, Australasia, or New Holland, which has so lately attracted the particular attention of European navigators and naturalists, seems to abound in scenes of peculiar wildness and sterility; while the wretched natives of many of those dreary districts seem less elevated above the inferior animals than in any other part of the known world; Caffraria itself not excepted; as well as less indued with the power of promoting a comfortable existence by an approach towards useful arts and industry. It is in these savage regions however that Nature seems to have poured forth many of her most highly ornamented products with unusual liberality."

1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Introduction, p. iii. and footnote:

"I have . . . ventured upon the readoption of the original Terra Australis, and of this term I shall hereafter make use, when speaking of New Holland [sc. the West] and New South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended." [Footnote]: "Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."

"Farewell, Australia! You are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret."

"The colonies are determined to be separate. Australia is a
term that finds no response in the patriotic feeling of any
Australian. . . . But this will come to an end sooner or later.
The name of Australia will be dearer, if not greater, to
Australian ears than the name of Great Britain."

[Mr. Trollope's prophecy has come true, and the name of
Australia is now dearer to an Australian than the name of his
own separate colony. The word "Colonial" as indicating
Australian nationality is going out of fashion. The word
"Australian" is much preferred.]

1878. F. P. Labilliere, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 184:

"In a despatch to Lord Bathurst, of April 4th, 1817, Governor Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Captain Flinders's charts of `Australia.' This is the first time that the name of Australia appears to have been officially employed. The Governor underlines the word. . . . In a private letter to Mr. Secretary Goulbourn, M.P., of December 21st, 1817, [he]says . . . `the Continent of Australia, which, I hope, will be the name given to this country in future, instead of the very erroneous and misapplied name hitherto given it of New Holland, which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this immense Continent.'"

"It is pleasant to reflect that the name Australia was selected by the gallant Flinders; though, with his customary modesty, he suggested rather than adopted it."

"Condemning the absurd practice of using the word `Colonial' in connection with our wines, instead of the broader and more federal one, `Australian.' In England our artists, cricketer, scullers, and globe-trotters are all spoken of and acknowledged as Australians, and our produce, with the exception of wine, is classed as follows:—Australian gold and copper, Australian beef and mutton, Australian butter, Australian fruits, &c."

"Merops or Bee-Eater. A tribe [of birds] which appears to be peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia."

<hw>Australian</hw> flag, n. Hot climate and country work have brought in a fashion among bushmen of wearing a belt or leather strap round the top of trousers instead of braces. This often causes a fold in the shirt protruding all round from under the waistcoat, which is playfully known as "the Australian flag." Slang.

<hw>Australioid</hw> and <hw>Australoid</hw>, adj. like Australian, sc. aboriginal—a term used by ethnologists. See quotations.

"The Australoid type contains all the inhabitants of Australia and the native races of the Deccan."

"He [Professor Huxley] distinguishes four principal types of mankind, the Australioid, Negroid, Mongoloid, and Xanthochroic, adding a fifth variety, the Melanochroic. The special points of the Australioid are a chocolate-brown skin, dark brown or black eyes, black hair (usually wavy), narrow (dolichocephalic) skull, brow-ridges strongly developed, projecting jaw, coarse lips and broad nose. This type is best represented by the natives of Australia, and next to them by the indigenous tribes of Southern India, the so-called coolies."

<hw>Avocet</hw>, n. a well-known European bird-name. The Australian species is the Red-necked A., Recurvirostra nova-hollandiae, Vieill.

<hw>Aweto</hw>, n. Maori name for a vegetable-caterpillar of New Zealand. See quotation.

". . . the aweto, or vegetable-caterpillar, called by the naturalists Hipialis virescens. It is a perfect caterpillar in every respect, and a remarkably fine one too, growing to a length in the largest specimens of three and a half inches and the thickness of a finger, but more commonly to about a half or two-thirds of that size. . . . When full-grown, it undergoes a miraculous change. For some inexplicable reason, the spore of a vegetable fungus Sphaeria Robertsii, fixes itself on its neck, or between the head and the first ring of the caterpillar, takes root and grows vigorously . . . exactly like a diminutive bulrush from 6 to 10 inches high without leaves, and consisting solely of a single stem with a dark-brown felt-like head, so familiar in the bulrushes . . . always at the foot of the rata."

"The dye in question was a solution of burnt or powdered resin, or wood, or the aweto, the latter a caterpillar, which, burrowing in the vegetable soil, gets a spore of a fungus between the folds of its neck, and unable to free itself, the insect's body nourishes the fungus, which vegetates and occasions the death of the caterpillar by exactly filling the interior of the body with its roots, always preserving its perfect form. When properly charred this material yielded a fine dark dye, much prized for purposes of moko." [See Moko.]

<hw>Axe-breaker</hw>, n. name of a tree, Notelaea longifolia, Vent., N.O. Jasmineae.

"Axe-breaker. Wood hard, close-grained and firm. Its vernacular name emphasizes its hardness."

<hw>Baal</hw>, or <hw>Bail</hw>, interj. and adv. "An aboriginal expression of disapproval." (Gilbert Parker, Glossary to `Round the Compass in Australia,' 1888.) It was the negative in the Sydney dialect.

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 271, quoting from `The Atlas' (circa 1845):

"Traces, however, of the Egyptian language are discoverable among the present inhabitants, with whom, for instance, the word `Bale' or `Baal' is in continual use . . . ." [Evidently a joke.]

<hw>Babbler</hw>, n. a bird-name. In Europe, "name given, on account of their harsh chattering note, to the long-legged thrushes." (`O.E.D.') The group "contains a great number of birds not satisfactorily located elsewhere, and has been called the ornithological waste-basket." (`Century.') The species are—

<hw>Back-blocks</hw>, n. (1) The far interior of Australia, and away from settled country. Land in Australia is divided on the survey maps into blocks, a word confined, in England and the United States, to town lands.

". . . we were doomed to see the whole of our river-frontage purchased. . . . The back blocks which were left to us were insufficient for the support of our flocks, and deficient in permanent water-supply. . . ."

"Far, far on the plains of the arid back-blocks
A warm-hearted bushman is tending his flocks.
There's little to cheer in that vast grassy sea:
But oh! he finds pleasure in thinking of me.
How weary, how dreary the stillness must be!
But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

"`Down in Vic' you can carry as many sheep to the acre as acres to the sheep up here in the `backblocks.'"

"In the back-blocks of New South Wales he had known both hunger and thirst, and had suffered from sunstroke."

"Although Kara is in the back-blocks of New South Wales, the clothes and boots my brother wears come from Bond Street."

"I am a bushman, a back blocker, to whom it happens about once in two years to visit Melbourne."

"As for Jim, he made himself very busy indeed, sitting on his heels over the fire in an attitude peculiar to back-blockers."

<hw>Back-slanging</hw>, verbal n. In the back-blocks (q.v.) of Australia, where hotels are naturally scarce and inferior, the traveller asks for hospitality at the stations (q.v.) on his route, where he is always made welcome. There is no idea of anything underhand on the part of the traveller, yet the custom is called back-slanging.

<hw>Badger</hw>, n. This English name has been incorrectly applied in Australia, sometimes to the Bandicoot, sometimes to the Rock-Wallaby, and sometimes to the Wombat. In Tasmania, it is the usual bush-name for the last.

"The Parameles, to which the colonists sometimes give the name of badger. . . ."

"That delicious animal, the wombat (commonly known at that place [Macquarie Harbour] by the name of badger, hence the little island of that name in the map was so called, from the circumstance of numbers of that animal being at first found upon it)."

"The rock Wallaby, or Badger, also belongs to the family of the Kangaroo; its length from the nose to the end of the tail is three feet; the colour of the fur being grey-brown."

"The Wombat or Australian Badger as it is popularly called by the colonists. . . ."

"With the exception of wombats or `badgers,' and an occasional kangaroo . . . the intruder had to rely on the stores he carried with him."

1875. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' September, p. 99 [`Port Davey in 1875,' by the Hon. James Reid Scott, M.L.C.]:

"The dwellings occupied by the piners when up the river are of the style known as `Badger-boxes,' in distinction from huts, which have perpendicular walls, while the Badger-box is like an inverted V in section. They are covered with bark, with a thatch of grass along the ridge, and are on an average about 14 x 10 feet at the ground, and 9 or 10 feet high."

<hw>Bail</hw>, n. "A framework for securing the head of a cow while she is milked." (`O.E.D.')

This word, marked in `O.E.D.' and other Dictionaries as
Australian, is provincial English. In the `English Dialect
Dictionary,' edited by Joseph Wright, Part I., the word is
given as used in "Ireland, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Hampshire and New Zealand." It is also used in Essex.

"In every milking yard is an apparatus for confining a cow's head called a `bail.' This consists of an upright standiron, five feet in height, let into a framework, and about six inches from it another fixed at the heel, the upper part working freely in a slit, in which are holes for a peg, so that when the peg is out and the movable standiron is thrown back, there is abundance of room for a cow's head and horns, but when closed, at which time the two standirons are parallel to each other and six inches apart, though her neck can work freely up and down, it is impossible for her to withdraw her head . . ."

"The former bovine female was a brute to manage, whom it would have been impossible to milk without a `bail.' To what man or country the honour of this invention belongs, who can tell? It is in very general use in the Australian colonies; and my advice to any one troubled with a naughty cow, who kicks like fury during the process of milking, is to have a bail constructed in their cow-house."

<hw>Bail up</hw>, v. (1) To secure the head of a cow in a bail for milking.

(2) By transference, to stop travellers in the bush, used of bushrangers. The quotation, 1888, shows the method of transference. It then means generally, to stop. Like the similar verb, to stick up (q.v.), it is often used humorously of a demand for subscriptions, etc.

"The bushrangers . . . walk quickly in, and `bail up,' i.e. bind with cords, or otherwise secure, the male portion."

". . . there were eight or ten bullock-teams baled up by three mounted bushrangers. Being baled up is the colonial phrase for those who are attacked, who are afterwards all put together, and guarded by one of the party of the bushrangers when the others are plundering."

"So long as that is wrong, the whole community will be wrong,— in colonial phrase, `bailed up' at the mercy of its own tenants."

"`Come, sir, immediately,' rejoined Murphy, rudely and insultingly pushing the master; `bail up in that corner, and prepare to meet the death you have so long deserved.'"

"She bailed me up and asked me if I was going to keep my promise and marry her."

"His troutship, having neglected to secure a line of retreat, was, in colonial parlance, `bailed up.'"

"The Kelly gang . . . bailed up some forty residents in the local public house."

"Did I ever get stuck-up? Never by white men, though I have been bailed up by the niggers."

"One of the young cows was a bit strange with me, so I had to shake a stick at her and sing out `Bail up' pretty rough before she'd put her head in. Aileen smiled something like her old self for a minute, and said, `That comes natural to you now, Dick, doesn't it ?' I stared for a bit and then burst out laughing.It was a rum go, wasn't it? The same talk for cows and Christians. That's how things get stuck into the talk in a new country. Some old hand like father, as had been assigned to a dairy settler, and spent all his mornings in the cow-yard, had taken to the bush and tried his hand at sticking up people. When they came near enough of course he'd pop out from behind a tree, with his old musket or pair of pistols, and when he wanted `em to stop, `Bail up, d— yer,' would come a deal quicker and more natural-like to his tongue than `Stand.' So `bail up' it was from that day to this, and there'll have to be a deal of change in the ways of the colonies, and them as come from `em before anything else takes its place between the man that's got the arms and the man that's got the money."

"Alec was proud of the stockyard and pointed out . . . the superior construction of the `crush,' or branding lane, and the bailing-up pen."

<hw>Bald-Coot</hw>, n. a bird-name, Porphyrio melanotus, Temm.; Blue, P. bellus, Gould. The European bald-coot is Fulica atra.

<hw>Ballahoo</hw>, n. a name applied to the Garfish (q.v.) by Sydney fishermen. The word is West Indian, and is applied there to a fast-sailing schooner; also spelled Bullahoo and Ballahou.

<hw>Balloon-Vine</hw> n. Australian name for the common tropical weed, Cardiospermum halicacabum, Linn., N.O. Sapindaceae: called also Heart-seed, Heart-pea, and Winter-cherry. It is a climbing plant, and has a heart-shaped scar on the seed.

<hw>Balsam of Copaiba Tree</hw>, n. The name is applied to the Australian tree, Geijera salicifolia, Schott, N.O. Rutaceae, because the bark has the odour of the drug of that name.

<hw>Bamboo-grass</hw>, n. an Australian cane-like grass, Glyceria ramigera, F. v. M. ; also called Cane Grass. Largely used for thatching purposes. Stock eat the young shoots freely.

<hw>Banana</hw>, n. There are three species native to Queensland, of which the fruit is said to be worthless—

Musa Banksii, F. v. M. M. Hillii, F. v. M. M. Fitzalani, F. v. M., N.O. Scitamineae.

The Bananas which are cultivated and form a staple export of Queensland are acclimatized varieties.

<hw>Banana-land</hw>, n. slang name for Queensland, where bananas grow in abundance.

<hw>Banded Ant-eater</hw>, n. name given to a small terrestrial and ant-eating marsupial, Myrmecobius fasciatus, Waterh, found in West and South Australia. It is the only species of the genus, and is regarded as the most closely allied of all living marsupials to the extinct marsupials of the Mesozoic Age in Europe. It receives its name banded from the presence along the back of a well-marked series of dark transverse bands.

"The Myrmecobius is common on the West Coast and in the interior of New South Wales and South Australia: the Murrumbidgee River may be taken as its most eastern boundary."

"Thus we have here [W. Australia] alone the curious little banded ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), which presents the nearest approach in its dentition to the most ancient known mammals whose remains are found in the oolite and Trias of the Mesozoic epoch."

<hw>Banded-Kangaroo</hw>, i.q. Banded-Wallaby. See Lagostrophus and Wallaby.

<hw>Banded-Wallaby</hw>, n. sometimes called Banded-Kangaroo. See Lagostrophus and Wallaby.

<hw>Bandicoot</hw>, n. an insect-eating marsupial animal; family, Peramelidae; genus, Perameles. "The animals of this genus, commonly called Bandicoots in Australia, are all small, and live entirely on the ground, making nests composed of dried leaves, grass and sticks, in hollow places. They are rather mixed feeders; but insects, worms, roots and bulbs, constitute their ordinary diet." (`Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 9th edit., vol. xv. p. 381.) The name comes from India, being a corruption of Telugu pandi-kokku, literally "pig-dog," used of a large rat called by naturalists Mus malabaricus, Shaw, Mus giganteus, Hardwicke; Mus bandis coota, Bechstein. The name has spread all over India. The Indian animal is very different from the Australian, and no record is preserved to show how the Anglo-Indian word came to be used in Australia. The Bandicoots are divided into three genera—the True Bandicoots (genus Perameles, q.v.), the Rabbit Bandicoots (genus Peragale, q.v.), and the Pig-footed Bandicoots (q.v.) (genus Choeropus, q.v.). The species are—

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales', vol. ii. p. 188 (Bass's Diary at the Derwent, January 1799):

"The bones of small animals, such as opossums, squirrels, kangooroo rats, and bandicoots, were numerous round their deserted fire-places."

"The animals are, the kangaroo, native dog (which is a smaller species of the wolf), the wombat, bandicoot, kangaroo-rat, opossum, flying squirrel, flying fox, etc. etc."

"The bandicoot is about four times he size of a rat, without a tail, and burrows in the ground or in hollow trees."

"The bandicoot is as large as a rabbit. There are two kinds, the rat and the rabbit bandicoot."

"The common people are not destitute of what Wordsworth calls `the poetry of common speech,' many of their similes being very forcibly and naturally drawn from objects familiarly in sight and quite Australian. `Poor as a bandicoot,' `miserable as a shag on a rock.'"

"There is also a rat-like animal with a swinish face, covered with ruddy coarse hair, that burrows in the ground—the bandicoot. It is said to be very fine eating."

"The bandicoot is the size of a large rat, of a dark brown colour; it feeds upon roots, and its flesh is good eating. This animal burrows in the ground, and it is from this habit, I suppose, that when hungry, cold, or unhappy, the Australian black says that he is as miserable as the bandicoot."

"The bandicoots are good eating even for Europeans, and in my opinion are the only Australian mammals fit to eat. They resemble pigs, and the flesh tastes somewhat like pork."

<hw>Bangalay</hw>, n. a Sydney workmen's name for the timber of Eucalyptus botrioides, Smith. (See Gum.) The name is aboriginal, and by workmen is always pronounced Bang Alley.

<hw>Bangalow</hw>, n. an ornamental feathery-leaved palm, Ptychosperma elegans, Blume, N.O. Palmeae.

"The Bangalo, which is a palm. . . The germ, or roll of young leaves in the centre, and near the top, is eaten by the natives, and occasionally by white men, either raw or boiled. It is of a white colour, sweet and pleasant to the taste."

"The aborigines of New South Wales and Queensland, and occasionally the settlers, eat the young leaves of the cabbage and bangalo palms."

You see he was bred in a bangalow wood,
And bangalow pith was the principal food
His mother served out in her shanty."

"Bangalow. . . . The small stems sometimes go under the name of `Moreton Bay Canes.' It is a very ornamental, feathery-leaved palm."

"Every third or fourth year on a cattle station, they have what is called a `bang tail muster'; that is to say, all the cattle are brought into the yards, and have the long hairs at the end of the tail cut off square, with knives or sheep-shears. . . The object of it is. . .to find out the actual number of cattle on the run, to compare with the number entered on the station books."

<hw>Banker</hw>, n. a river full up to the top of the banks. Compare Shakspeare: "Like a proud river, peering o'er his bounds." (`King John,' III. i. 23.)

<hw>Banksia</hw>, n. "A genus of Australian shrubs with umbellate flowers,—now cultivated as ornamental shrubs in Europe." (`O.E.D.') Called after Mr. Banks, naturalist of the Endeavour, afterwards Sir Joseph Banks. The so-called Australian Honeysuckle (q.v.). See also Bottle-brush.

"The different species of banksia. The finest new genus hitherto found in New Holland has been destined by Linnaeus, with great propriety, to transmit to posterity the name of Sir Joseph Banks, who first discovered it in his celebrated voyage round the world."

"A few berries, the yam and fern root, the flowers of the different banksia, and at times some honey, make up the whole vegetable catalogue."

1829. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 312:

"Scrubs where the different species of banksia are found, the flowers of which I (Mr. Caley) have reason to think afford it sustenance during winter."

"Many different species of banksia grow in great plenty in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and from the density of their foliage are very ornamental."

"The table-land is covered by forests of stringy-bark, of melaleuca-gum, and banksia."

"In this they will find an extremely rich collection of bottle-brush-flowered, zigzag-leaved, grey-tinted, odd-looking things, to most eyes rather strange than beautiful, notwithstanding that one of them is named Banksia speciosa. They are the `Botany Bays' of old-fashioned gardeners, but are more in the shrub and tree line than that of flowering pots. Banksia Solandei will remind them to turn to their `Cook's Voyages' when they get home, to read how poor Dr. Solander got up a mountain and was heartily glad to get down again."

"The banksias are of historic interest, inasmuch as the genus was dedicated already by the younger Linne in 1781 to Sir Joseph Banks, from whom the Swedish naturalist received branchlets of those species, which in Captain Cook's first voyage more than 100 years ago (1770) were gathered by Banks at Botany-Bay and a few other places of the east coast of Australia."

"A banksia plain, with its collection of bottle-brush-like-flowers, may have its charms for a botanist, but its well-known sandy ground forbids the hope of good grasses."

<hw>Baobab</hw>, n. a tree, native of Africa, Adansonia digitata. The name is Ethiopian. It has been introduced into many tropical countries. The Australian species of the genus is A. gregorii, F. v. M., called also Cream of Tartar or Sour Gourd-tree, Gouty-stem (q.v.), and Bottle-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Barber</hw>, or <hw>Tasmanian Barber</hw>, n. a name for the fish Anthias rasor, Richards., family Percidae; also called Red-Perch. See Perch. It occurs in Tasmania, New Zealand, and Port Jackson. It is called Barber from the shape of the praeoperculum, one of the bones of the head. See quotation.

"Serranus Rasor.— Tasmanian Barber. . . . The serrature of the preoperculum is the most obvious and general character by which the very numerous Serrani are connected with each other . . . The Van Diemen's Land fish, which is described below, is one of the `Barbers,' a fact which the specific appellation rasor is intended to indicate; the more classical word having been previously appropriated to another species. . . Mr. Lempriere states that it is known locally as the `red perch or shad.'"

[Richardson also says that Cuvier founded a subdivision of the Serrani on the characters of the scales of the jaws, under the name of `les Barbiers,' which had been previously grouped by Block under the title Anthias.]

<hw>Barcoo-grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl. One of the best pasture grasses in Queensland, but growing in other colonies also.

<hw>Barcoo Rot</hw>, n. a disease affecting inhabitants of various parts of the interior of Australia, but chiefly bushmen. It consists of persistent ulceration of the skin, chiefly on the back of the hands, and often originating in abrasions.

It is attributed to monotony of diet and to the cloudless climate, with its alternations of extreme cold at night and burning heat by day. It is said to be maintained and aggravated by the irritation of small flies.

"Land scurvy is better known in Queensland by local names, which do not sound very pleasant, such as `Barcoo rot,' `Kennedy rot,' according to the district it appears in. There is nothing dangerous about it; it is simply the festering of any cut or scratch on one's legs, arms or hands. . . They take months to heal. . . Want of vegetables is assigned as the cause."

"In Western Queensland people are also subject to bad sores on the hand, called Barcoo-rot."

<hw>Barcoo Vomit</hw>, n. a sickness occurring in inhabitants of various parts of the high land of the interior of Australia. It is characterized by painless attacks of vomiting, occurring immediately after food is taken, followed by hunger, and recurring as soon as hunger is satisfied.

The name Barcoo is derived from the district traversed by the river Barcoo, or Cooper, in which this complaint and the Barcoo Rot are common. See Dr. E. C. Stirling's `Notes from Central Australia,' in `Intercolonial Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery,' vol. i. p. 218.

<hw>Bargan</hw>, n. a name of the Come-back Boomerang (q.v.). (Spelt also barragan.)

"The `come-back' variety (of boomerang) is not a fighting weapon. A dialect name for it is bargan, which word may be explained in our language to mean `bent like a sickle or crescent moon.'"

<hw>Barking Owl</hw>, n. a bird not identified, and not in Gould (who accompanied Leichhardt).

"The glucking-bird and the barking-owl were heard throughout the moonlight night."

<hw>Barrack</hw>, v. to jeer at opponents, to interrupt noisily, to make a disturbance; with the preposition "for," to support as a partisan, generally with clamour. An Australian football term dating from about 1880. The verb has been ruled unparliamentary by the Speaker in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is, however, in very common colloquial use. It is from the aboriginal word borak (q.v.), and the sense of jeering is earlier than that of supporting, but jeering at one side is akin to cheering for the other. Another suggested derivation is from the Irish pronunciation of "Bark," as (according to the usually accepted view) "Larrikin" from "larking." But the former explanation is the more probable. There is no connection with soldiers' "barracks;" nor is it likely that there is any, as has been ingeniously suggested, with the French word baragouin, gibberish.

"[The boy] goes much to football matches, where he barracks, and in a general way makes himself intolerable."

"Mr. Isaacs:. . . He hoped this `barracking' would not be continued." [Members had been interrupting him.]

"He noticed with pleasure the decrease of disagreeable barracking by spectators at matches during last season. Good-humoured badinage had prevailed, but the spectators had been very well conducted."

"His worship remarked that the `barracking' that was carried on at football matches was a mean and contemptible system, and was getting worse and worse every day. Actually people were afraid to go to them on account of the conduct of the crowd of `barrackers.' It took all the interest out of the game to see young men acting like a gang of larrikins."

"The `most unkindest cut of all' was that the Premier, who was Mr. Rogers's principal barracker during the elections, turned his back upon the prophet and did not deign to discuss his plan."

"A roomy, roughly-finished building known as the `barracks.' . . . . Three of the numerous bedrooms were tenanted by young men, . . . neophytes, who were gradually assimilating the love of Bush-land."

<hw>Barracouta</hw>, or <hw>Barracoota</hw>, n. The name, under its original spelling of Barracuda, was coined in the Spanish West Indies, and first applied there to a large voracious fish, Sphyraena pecuda, family Sphyraenidae. In Australia and New Zealand it is applied to a smaller edible fish, Thyrsites atun, Cuv. and Val., family Trichiuridae, called Snook (q.v.) at the Cape of Good Hope. It is found from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand.

"Sphyrenidae. The first family is the barracudas, or sea-pike." [Footnote]: "This name is no doubt the same as Barracouta and is of Spanish origin. The application of it to Thyrsites atun in the Southern seas was founded on some fancied resemblance to the West Indian fish, which originally bore the name, though of course they are entirely different."

(2) The word is used as a nickname for an inhabitant of Hobart; compare Cornstalk.

"For sheep, too, is made the `basket fence.' Stakes are driven in, and their pliant `stuff' interwoven, as in a stake hedge in England."

<hw>Bastard Dory</hw> and <hw>John Dory</hw> (q.v.), spelt also <HW>Dorey</HW>, n. an Australian fish, Cyttus australis, family Cyttidae; the Australian representative of Zeus faber, the European "John Dory," and its close relative, is called Bastard Dorey in New Zealand, and also Boar-fish (q.v.).

"Histiopterus. . . .The species figured attains to a length of twenty inches, and is esteemed as food. It is known at Melbourne by the names of `Boar-fish' or `Bastard Dorey' (fig.), Histiopterus recurvirostris."

<hw>Bastard Trumpeter</hw>, n. a fish. See Morwong, Paper-fish, and Trumpeter. In Sydney it is Latris ciliaris, Forst., which is called Moki in New Zealand; in Victoria and Tasmania, L. forsteri, Casteln.

"The bastard trumpeter (Latris Forsteri). . . .Scarcely inferior to the real trumpeter, and superior to it in abundance all the year round, comes the bastard trumpeter. . . This fish has hitherto been confounded with Latris ciliaris (Forst.); but, although the latter species has been reported as existing in Tasmanian waters, it is most probably a mistake: for the two varieties (the red and the white), found in such abundance here, have the general characters as shown above. . . They must be referred to the Latris Forsteri of Count Castelnau, which appears to be the bastard trumpeter of Victorian waters."

<hw>Bat-fish</hw>, n. The name in England is given to a fish of the family Maltheidae. It is also applied to the Flying Gurnard of the Atlantic and to the Californian Sting-ray. In Australia, and chiefly in New South Wales, it is applied to Psettus argenteus, Linn., family Carangidae, or Horse Mackerels. Guenther says that the "Sea Bats," which belong to the closely allied genus Platax, are called so from the extraordinary length of some portion of their dorsal and anal fins and of their ventrals.

"The Bathurst bur (Xanthium spinosuzn), a plant with long triple spines like the barbary, and burs which are ruinous to the wool of the sheep—otherwise, itself very like a chenopodium, or good-fat-hen."

<hw>Bats-wing-coral</hw>, n. the Australian wood Erythrina vespertilio, Bentham, N.O. Leguminosae.

"Batswing Coral. . . .The wood is soft, and used by the aborigines for making their `heilamans,' or shields. It is exceedingly light and spongy, and of the greatest difficulty to work up to get anything like a surface for polishing."

<hw>Bauera</hw>, n. a shrub, Bauera rubioides, Andr., N.O. Saxifrageae, the Scrub Vine, or Native Rose; commonly called in Tasmania "Bauera,"and celebrated for forming impenetrable thickets in conjunction with "cutting grass," Cladium psittacorum, Labill.

"Bauera rubiaefolia. Madder leaved Bauera. A pretty little plant with pink flowers. This genus is named after the celebrated German draughtsman, whose splendid works are yet unrivalled in the art, especially of the Australian plants which he depicted in his voyage round New Holland with Capt. Flinders in the Investigator."

"The Bauera scrub . . . is a tiny, beautiful shrub . . . Although the branches are thin and wiry, they are too tough and too much entangled in mass to cut, and the only mode of progress often is to throw one's self high upon the soft branching mass and roll over to the other side. The progress in this way is slow, monotonous, and exhausting."

"Cutting-grass swamps and the bauera, where a dog can't hardly
go,
Stringy-bark country, and blackwood beds, and lots of it broken
by snow."

"Interposing the even more troublesome Bauera shrub; whose gnarled branches have earned for it the local and expressive name of `tangle-foot' or `leg ropes.' [It] has been named by Spicer the `Native Rose.'"

<hw>Beal</hw>, <hw>Bool</hw>, or <hw>Bull</hw>, n. a sweet aboriginal drink.

"A good jorum of bull (washings of a sugar bag)" [given to aborigines who have been working].

"The flowers are gathered, and by steeping them a night in water the natives made a sweet beverage called `bool.'"

"In the flowers of a dwarf species of banksia (B. ornata) there is a good deal of honey, and this was got out of the flowers by immersing them in water. The water thus sweetened was greedily swallowed by the natives. The drink was named beal by the natives of the west of Victoria, and was much esteemed."

<hw>Bean, Queensland</hw>, or <hw>Leichhardt</hw>, or <hw>Match-box</hw>, n. Entada scandens, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae. Though this bean has two Australian names, it is really widely distributed throughout the tropics. A tall climbing plant; the seeds are used for match-boxes.

"The seeds are about two inches across, by half-an-inch thick, and have a hard woody and beautifully polished shell, of a dark brown or purplish colour. These seeds are converted into snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, spoons, etc., and in the Indian bazaars they are used as weights. (`Treasury of Botany.') In the colonies we usually see the beans of this plant mounted with silver, as match-boxes. The wood itself is soft, fibrous, and spongy."

<hw>Bean-Tree</hw>, n. called also Moreton Bay Chestnut, Castanospermum australe, Cunn. and Fraser, N.O. Leguminosae; a tall tree with red flowers and large seed-pods. The timber of young specimens has beautiful dark clouding.

<hw>Bear, Native</hw>, n. the colonists' name for an animal called by the aborigines Koala, Koolah, Kool-la, and Carbora (Phascolarctus cinereus). It is a tree-climbing marsupial, about two feet in length, like a small bear in its heavy build. Its food is the young leaves of the Eucalyptus, and it is said that the Native Bear cannot be taken to England because it would die on board ship, owing to there being no fresh gum leaves. The writers are incorrect who call the animal a sloth.

"Our coola (sloth or native bear) is about the size of an ordinary poodle dog, with shaggy, dirty-coloured fur, no tail, and claws and feet like a bear, of which it forms a tolerable miniature. It climbs trees readily and feeds upon their leaves."

"The bear (phascolomys) of the colonists is in reality a species of sloth, and partakes of all the characteristics of that animal; it is of the marsupial order, and is found chiefly in the neighbourhood of thickly timbered high land; its flesh is used by the aborigines for food, but is tough and unpalatable; its usual weight is from eight to twelve pounds." [Note: Phascolomys is the name of the Wombat, not the Bear.]

"The luckless carbora fell crashing through the branches." [Footnote] "The native name of an animal of the sloth species, but incorrectly called by the colonists a bear."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 68:

"The koala or karbor (Phascolarctus cinereus) frequents very high trees, and sits in places where it is most sheltered by the branches. . . . Its fur is of the same colour as the bark . . . like the cat has the power of contracting and expanding the pupil of the eye . . . . Its skin is remarkably thick . . . dense woolly fur . . . . The natives aver that the koala never drinks water."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 448:

"They were soon entirely out of provisions, but found a sort of substitute by living on the native bear (Phascolarctus cinereus), which was plentiful even in the forests."

"Look, high up in the branches of that tall tree is a native bear! It sits motionless. It has something the appearance of a solemn old man. How funny his great ears and Roman nose look! He sits on the branch as if it was a chair, holding with hand-like claws the surrounding twigs."

"We learned that a koala or native bear (Phascolarctus cinereus) was sitting on a tree near the but of a shepherd . . . not a dangerous animal. It is called `native bear,' but is in no wise related to the bear family. It is an innocent and peaceful marsupial, which is active only at night, and sluggishly climbs the trees, eating leaves and sleeping during the whole day. As soon as the young has left the pouch, the mother carries it with her on her back. The Australian bear is found in considerable numbers throughout the eastern part of the continent, even within the tropical circle."

<hw>Beardie</hw>, or <hw>Beardy</hw>, n. a fish. In Scotland the name is applied to the Bearded Loach, Nemachilus barbatus, of Europe; in New South Wales the name is given to the fish Lotella marginata, Macl., of the family Gadidae, or Cod-fishes, which is also called Ling (q.v.).

<hw>Beaver-rat</hw>, n. an aquatic rodent, something like the English water-rat, genus Hydromys.

1864. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land' [paper by Morton Allport], p. 62:

"Common to both fresh and brackish water is the yellow bellied beaver-rat or musk-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster)."

<hw>Beech</hw>, n. There is only one true Beech in Australia, Fagus cunninghamii, Hook, N.O. Cupuliferae; but the name is applied to many other kinds of Australian trees, viz.—

Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.O. Laurineae, called also Black Sassafras, White Laurel, She Beech, and Black Beech.

Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae, called also Flindosa Ash, Crow's Ash, and Rasp-pod, and invariably Myrtle to Tasmania.

Phyllanthus ferdinandi, Muell. and Arg., N.O. Euphorbiaceae, called also Pencil Cedar in Southern New South Wales.

Schizomeria ovata, D. Don, N.O. Saxifrageae, called also Corkwood, Light-wood, Coachwood, and White Cherry.

Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae, called also Brush Cherry, and Brush Myrtle.

Fagus cunninghamii, Hook, N.O. Cupuliferae, called also Myrtle and Negro-head Beech.

Flindersia schottiana, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae, called also Ash and Stave-wood.

Callicoma serratifolia, Andr., N.O. Saxifragiae, "one of the trees called by the early colonists `Black Wattle,' from the fancied resemblance of the flowers to those of some of the wattles." (Maiden, p. 389.)

Gmelina leichhardtii , F. v. M., N.O. Verbenaceae, a tall valuable timber-tree.

Cryptocazya obovata, R. Br., H.0. Laurineae, B. Fl., called also Bastard Sycamore.

Elaeocarpus kirtoni, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae, called also Mountain Ash.

(3) In New Zealand, there are six species of true beeches, which according to Kirk are as follows—

<hw>Bee-eater</hw>, n. a bird-name. The European Bee-eater is Merops apiaster; the Australian species is Merops ornatus, Lath. The bird was called "M. phrygius, the Embroidered Merops," by Shaw.

"Specific character.—Black Merops varied with yellow. The bird figured in its natural size on the present plate is a species of Merops or Bee-eater; a tribe which appears to be peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia, since more birds of this genus have been discovered than of any other, except the very numerous one of Psittacus."

[The birds, however, have been since this date further differentiated, and are now all classed in other genera, except the present species.]

"The wattled bee-eater, of which a plate is annexed, fell in our way during the course of the day. . . . Under the eye, on each side, is a kind of wattle of an orange colour. . . This bird seems to be peculiar to New Holland."

"We this day shot a knob-fronted bee-eater (see plate annexed).
This is about the size of a black-bird." [Description follows.]

<hw>Beef-wood</hw>, n. the timber of various Australian trees, especially of the genus Casuarina, and some of the Banksias; often used as a synonym of She-oak (q.v.). The name is taken from the redness of the wood.

"The wood is well known in England by the names of Botany Bay wood, or beef wood.The grain is very peculiar, but the wood is thought very little of in the colony; it makes good shingles, splits, in the colonial phrase, from heart to bark . . ."

"Beef wood. Red-coloured woods are sometimes thus named, but it is generally applied to the Botany-Bay oak."

"We now turn our attention to some trees of a very different nature, Casuarina stricta and quadrivalvis, commonly called He and She oak, and sometimes known by the name of beef-wood, from the wood, which is very hard and takes a high polish, exhibiting peculiar maculae spots and veins scattered throughout a finely striated tint . . ."

"Casuarinaceae,or Beefwoods. Curious branching, leafless trees or shrubs, with timber of a high order, which is both hard and heavy, and of the colour of raw beef, whence the vulgar name."

<hw>Belar</hw>, n. (various spellings, Belah, billa, beela, beal), an aboriginal name for the tree Casuarina glauca. The colonists call the tree Bull-oak, probably from this native name.

<hw>Bell-bird</hw>, n. name given to several birds, from their note, like the tinkling of a bell. In Australia, a Honey-eater, Myzantha melanophrys, Gould ('Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 80), the `Australian Bell-bird' (the same bird as Myzantha flavirostris, V. and H.), chiefly found in New South Wales; also Oreoica gutturalis, Gould (vol. ii. pl. 81), the `Bell-bird' of Western Australia; and Oreoica cristata, Lewin. In New Zealand, Anthornis melanura, Sparrm., chief Maori names, Korimako (q.v.) in North, and Makomako in South. Buller gives ten Maori names. The settlers call it Moko (q.v.). There is also a Bell-bird in Brazil.

"In the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds; the number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance, and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon enquiry we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day."

[This celebrated descriptive passage by Dr. Hawkesworth is based upon the following original from `Banks's Journal,' which now, after an interval of 122 years, has just been published in London, edited by Sir J. D. Hooker.]

"I was awakened by the singing of the birds ashore, from whence we are distant not a quarter of a mile. Their numbers were certainly very great. They seemed to strain their throats with emulation, and made, perhaps, the most melodious wild music I have ever heard, almost imitating small bells, but with the most tunable silver sound imaginable, to which, maybe, the distance was no small addition. On inquiring of our people, I was told that they had observed them ever since we had been here, and that they began to sing about one or two in the morning, and continue till sunrise, after which they are silent all day, like our nightingales."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 319:

"Mr. Caley thus observes on this bird: `Dell-bird or Bell-bird. So called by the colonists. It is an inhabitant of bushes, where its disagreeable noise (disagreeable at least to me) [but not to the poets] may be continually heard; but nowhere more so than on going up the harbour to Paramatta, when a little above the Flats.'"

"During the night, the bell bird supplied, to us, the place of the wakeful nightingale . . . a pleasing surprise, as we had hitherto supposed that the birds in New Holland were not formed for song."

"Every bough seemed to throng with feathered musicians: the melodious chimes of the bell-bird were specially distinct."

"Through the Eucalyptus shade,
Pleased could watch the bell-bird's flutter,
Blending with soft voice of waters
The delicious tones they utter."

"We did hear the birds next morning as Captain Cook had described —first the bell-bird gave its clear, full note, and then came such a jargoning as made one's heart glad."

"Oreoica gutturalis, Gould. Crested Oreoica. Bell-bird, Colonists of Swan River [Western Australia]. . . I find the following remarks in my note-book— `Note, a very peculiar piping whistle, sounding like weet-weet-weet-weet-oo, the last syllable fully drawn out and very melodious. . . . In Western Australia, where the real Bell-bird is never found, this species has had that appellation given to it,—a term which must appear ill-applied to those who have heard the note of the true Bell-bird of the brushes of New South Wales, whose tinkling sound so nearly resembles that of a distant sheep-bell as occasionally to deceive the ears of a practised shepherd."

"Every now and then we stood, by common consent, silent and almost breathless, to listen to the bell-bird, a dingy little fellow, nearly as large as a thrush with the plumage of a chaffinch, but with such a note! How can I make you hear its wild, sweet, plaintive tone, as a little girl of the party said `just as if it had a bell in its throat;' but indeed it would require a whole peal of silver bells to ring such an exquisite chime."

"Where the bell-bird sets solitudes ringing,
Many times I have heard and thrown down
My lyre in despair of all singing."

"Listen to the bell-bird. Ping, ping, sounds through the vast hushed temple of nature."

"The bell-bird, with metallic but mellow pipe, warns the wanderer that he is near water in some sequestered nook."

"And softer than slumber and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-bird are running and ringing."

"Anthornis melanura. Chatham Island Bell-bird (A. Melanocephala), the Bell-bird—so-called from the fanciful resemblance of one of its notes to the distant tolling of a bell."

"Bell-bird, Korimako,or Makomako (Anthornis melanura), is still common in many parts of the South Island—e.g. in the neighbourhood of Dunedin; but has almost disappeared from the North Island. Its song is remarkably fine."

1893. W. P. Reeves, `The Passing of the Forest,' `Review of Reviews,' Feb. 1893, p. 45:

"Gone are the forest birds, arboreal things,
Eaters of honey, honey-sweet in song;
The tui, and the bell-bird—he who sings
That brief rich music one would fain prolong.'

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Part II., Zoology, Aves, p. 74:

"In the north they [Oreoica] are frequently called `Bell-birds,' but bear no resemblance to Manorhina melanophrys in plumage, shape, or note. The Oreoica is such an accomplished ventriloquist that it is difficult to find."

<hw>Bell-bottomed</hw>, adj. a particular fashion of trouser affected by the larrikin (q.v.).

"Can it be that the pernicious influence of the House is gradually tingeing the high priests of the bell-bottomed ballottee with conservatism!"

<hw>Bell-topper</hw>, n. The ordinary Australian name for the tall silk-hat.

"Bell-topper was the derisive name given by diggers to old style hat, supposed to indicate the dandy swell."

"There are certain native terms that are used by the whites also as a kind of colonial slang, such as `yabber,' to talk; `budgeree,' good; `bale,' no; `yan,' to go; `cabon,' much; and so on.

"With the black people a husband is now called a `benjamin,' probably because they have no word to their own language to express this relationship."

<hw>Benjamin-Tree</hw>, n. also called Weeping Fig in Queensland, Ficus benjaminea, Linn., N.O. Urticaceae.

"Agrostis virginica. Virginian Agrostis, or Bent-grass. . . . Many species of this genus go under the general name of Bent-grass. Their roots spread along among light and sandy soil in which they generally grow with joints like the Squitch or Couch grass of England."

<hw>Berigora</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a bird of genus Falco, from beri, claw, and gora, long. See Hawk

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 185:

"The native name of this bird which we have adopted as its specific name, is Berigora. It is called by the settlers Orange-speckled Hawk."

"Hieracidea berigora. Brown Hawk. Berigora, Aborigines of New South Wales. Orange-speckled Hawk of the Colonists."

<hw>Berley</hw>, n. term used by Australian fishermen for ground bait. It is probably of aboriginal origin.

"With hook and line along the rocks of our sea-coast these fishes are caught, but the bait should be crabs. It is usual to wrench legs and shell off the back, and cast them out for Berley."

"I would signal to the sharks by opening and washing out a few of the largest fish at the boat's head, sometimes adding bait chopped small to serve for what Australian fishermen call Berley."

<hw>Betcherrygah</hw>, n. bird-name, Melopsittacus undulatus, Shaw. See Budgerigar.

<hw>Bettongia</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Prehensile-tailed Kangaroo-Rats, whose aboriginal name is Bettong. They are the only ground-dwelling marsupials with prehensile tails, which they use for carrying bunches of grasses and sticks. See Kangaroo-Rat.

<hw>Biddy-biddy</hw>, or <hw>Biddybid</hw>, n. a corruption of Maori name piripiri. It is a kind of bur.

1880. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xii. p. 95:

"Piri-piri (acaena sanguisorbe) by settlers has been converted or corrupted into biddy-biddy; a verb has been formed on it, which is in very constant use for a good part of the year at least. To biddy, is to rid one of burrs, as `I'll just biddy my clothes before I come in.' Small birds are occasionally found in a wretched state of discomfort in which they appear a moving mass of burrs. Parroquets, pipets, and the little white-eyes, have been found victims suffering from these tenacious burrs of the piri-piri, just moving little brown balls unable to fly till picked up and released from their bonds."

"Yes, biddybids detract very materially from the value of the wool, and the plant should not be allowed to seed where sheep are depastured. They are not quite so bad as the Bathurst burr, but they are certainly in the same category."

<hw>Bidyan Ruffe</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish of New South Wales, Therapon richardsonii, Castln., family Percidae. Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, Assistant Zoologist at the Australian Museum, Sydney, says in a letter "The Bidyan Ruffe of Sir Thomas Mitchell is our Therapon ellipticus, Richards (T. richardsonii, Castln.). Found in all the rivers of the Murray system, and called Kooberry by the natives." It is also called the Silver Perch and sometimes Bream.

"Abundance of that which the men commonly called bream (Cernua bidyana), a very coarse but firm fish, which makes a groaning noise when taken out of the water."

<hw>Big-head</hw>, n. a fish. The name is used locally for various fishes; in Australia it is Eleotris nudiceps, Castln., family Gobiidae, a river fish. Of the genus Eleotris, Guenther says that as regards form they repeat almost all the modifications observed among the Gobies, from which they differ only in having the ventral fins non-coalescent. See Bull-head (2).

<hw>Billabong</hw>, n. an effluent from a river, returning to it, or often ending in the sand, in some cases running only in flood time.

In the Wiradhuri dialect of the centre of New South Wales, East coast, billa means a river and bung dead. See Bung. Billa is also a river in some Queensland dialects, and thus forms part of the name of the river Belyando. In the Moreton Bay dialect it occurs in the form pill , and in the sense of `tidal creek.' In the `Western Australian Almanack' for 1842, quoted in J. Fraser's `Australian Language,' 1892, Appendix, p. 50, Bilo is given for River.

Billabong is often regarded as a synonym for Anabranch (q.v.); but there is a distinction. From the original idea, the Anabranch implies rejoining the river; whilst the Billabong implies continued separation from it; though what are called Billabongs often do rejoin.

[Footnote]: "In the south, such a creek as the Macadam is termed a billy-bonn [sic], from the circumstance of the water carrier returning from it with his pitcher (billy) empty (bong, literally dead)."

"What a number of swallows skim about the `billabongs' along the rivers in this semi-tropical region."

"Let's make a start at once, d'ye hear; I want to get over to the billabong by sunrise."

<hw>Billet</hw>, n. an appointment, a position; a very common expression in Australia, but not confined to Australia; adapted from the meaning, "an official order requiring the person to whom it is addressed to provide board and lodging for the soldier bearing it." (`O.E.D.')

"If ever she went back to Australia, she'd remember my young man, and get him a good billet."

<hw>Billy</hw>, n. a tin pot used as a bushman's kettle. The word comes from the proper name, used as abbreviation for William. Compare the common uses of `Jack,' `Long Tom,' `Spinning Jenny.' It came into use about 1850. It is not used in the following.

"He then strikes a light and makes a fire to boil his kettle and fry his bacon."

About 1850, the billy superseded the quart-pot (q.v.), chiefly because of its top-handle and its lid. Another suggested derivation is that billy is shortened from billycan, which is said to be bully-can (sc. Fr. bouili). In the early days "boeuf bouilli" was a common label on tins of preserved meat in ship's stores. These tins, called "bully-tins," were used by diggers and others as the modern billy is (see quotation 1835). A third explanation gives as the origin the aboriginal word billa (river or water).

"An empty preserved meat-canister serving the double purpose of tea-kettle and tea-pot."

"How we praised the simple supper
(we prepared it each in turn),
And the tea! Ye gods! 'twas nectar.
Yonder billy was our urn."

<hw>Billy-can</hw>, n. a variation of the above, more used by townsmen than bushmen.

"But I said, `Dear friend and brother, yonder billy-can is mine; You may confiscate the washing that is hanging on the line, You may depredate the larder, take your choice of pot and pan; But, I pray thee, kind sundowner, spare, oh spare, my billy-can.'"

<hw>Bingy</hw> [g soft], n. stomach or belly. Aboriginal. The form at Botany Bay was bindi; at Jervis Bay, binji.

"They lay rolling themselves on the ground, heavily groaning in pain, and with their hands rubbing their bellies, exclaiming, `Cabonn buggel along bingee' (that is, I am very sick in the stomach)."

<hw>Birch</hw>, n. In New Zealand, the trees called birches are really beeches (q.v.), but the term birch is used very vaguely; see quotation 1889. In Tasmania, the name is applied to Dodonaea ericifolia, Don., N.O. Sapindaceae.

"White-birch of Nelson and Otago (from colour of bark), Black-heart Birch of Wellington, Fagus solandri, Hook, a lofty, beautiful ever-green tree, 100 feet high. Black-birch (Tawhai) of Auckland and Otago (from colour of bark), Red-birch of Wellington and Nelson (from colour of timber), Fagus fusca, N.O. Cupuliferae, a noble tree 60 to 90 feet high."

"Like all small-leaved forest trees it [Fagus solandri, Hook. f.] is termed `birch' by the bushman. . . . It is not too much to say that the blundering use of common names in connection with the New Zealand beeches, when the timber has been employed in bridges and constructive works, has caused waste and loss to the value of many thousands of pounds."

<hw>Bird-catching Plant</hw>, n. a New Zealand shrub or tree, Pisonia brunoniana, Endl., N.O. Nyctagineae; Maori name, Parapara.

1883. R. H. Govett, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xvi. Art. xxviii. p. 364::

"A Bird-killing Tree. . . . In a shrub growing in my father's garden at New Plymouth, two Silver-eyes (Zosterops) and an English Sparrow had been found with their wings so glued by the sticky seed-vessels that they were unable to move, and could only fly away after having been carefully washed."

"It is sometimes termed the `birdcatching plant' by settlers and bushmen . . . It will always be a plant of special interest, as small birds are often found captured by its viscid fruits, to which their feathers become attached as effectively as if they were glued."

<hw>Bird's-nest fungus</hw>, n. a small fungus of the genus Cyathus, four species of which occur in Queensland.

<hw>Bitter-Bark</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Petalostigma quadrilo culare, F. v. M., N.O. Euphorbiacea. Called also Crab-tree, Native Quince, Emu apple, and Quinine-tree. The bark contains a powerful bitter essence, which is used medicinally. The name is also applied to Tabernaemontana orientalis, R. Br., N.O. Apocyneae, and to Alstonia constricta, F. v. M., N.O. Aporynacece, which is also called Feverbark.

"Bitter Bark. This small tree has an intensely bitter bark, and a decoction of it is sometimes sold as `bitters."

<hw>Bitter-Leaf</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Native Hop. See Hops and Hopbush.

<hw>Bittern</hw>, n. bird-name well known in England. The Australian species are—

<hw>Blackberry, Native</hw>, or <hw>Bramble</hw>, n. called also Raspberry. Three species of the genus Rubus occur in Queensland—Rubus moluccanus, Linn., R. parvifolius, Linn., R.

<hw>Blackbird</hw>, n. "A cant name for a captive negro, or Polynesian, on board a slave or pirate ship." (`O.E.D.') But no instance is given of its use for a negro.

1872. `The Argus,' Dec. 21, Supplement, p. 2, col. 1 [Chief Justice's charge in the case of the `Carl Outrage']:

"They were not going pearl-fishing but blackbird-hunting. It is said you should have evidence as to what blackbird-hunting meant. I think it is a grievous mistake to pretend to ignorance of things passing before our eyes everyday. We may know the meaning of slang words, though we do not use them. Is there not a wide distinction between blackbird-hunting and a legitimate labour-trade, if such a thing is to be carried on? What did he allude to? To get labourers honestly if they could, but, if not, any way?"

"The white men on board know that if once the `blackbirds' burst the hatches . . . they would soon master the ship."

<hw>Black-birding</hw>, n. kidnapping natives of South Sea islands for service in Queensland plantations.

"All the three methods, however, of obtaining labour in the South Seas—that which was just and useful, that which was of suspicious character, and that which was nothing, more or less, than robbery and murder—were in use the same time, and all three went by the same general slang term of `blackbirding,' or `blackbird catching.'"

"Well, you see how it is that C is not safe, even though he is a missionary bishop, after A has made the name of missionary an offence by his ingenious mode of `black-birding.'"

"In the early days of sugar-planting there may have been black-birding, but it was confined to a very few, and it is done away with altogether now."

"[He] slays Bishop Patteson by way of reprisal for the atrocities of some black-birding crew."

<hw>Blackboy</hw>, n. a grass-tree. Name applied to all species of the genus Xanthorroea, but especially to X. preissii, Endl., N.O. Liliaceae. Compare Maori-head.

"These trees, called blackboys by the colonists, from the resemblance they bear in the distance to natives."

"Gas admirably fitted for domestic purposes had been extracted from the shrub called the `blackboy.' I regret to state that the gas . . . is not . . . at present known in the colony."

"The common grass-tree or `blackboy,' so called from its long dark stem and dark seed head (when dry)."

"The Blackboy trees are a species of grass-tree or Xanthorrhoea, exuding a gummy substance used by the blacks for fastening glass and quartz-barbs to their spears. Many years ago, when coal was scarce in Western Australia, an enterprising firm . . . erected a gas-making plant, and successfully lit their premises with gas made from the Blackboy."

A story is told of a young lady saying to a naval officer:— "I was this morning watching your ship coming into harbour, and so intently that I rode over a young blackboy." The officer was shocked at her callousness in expressing no contrition.

<hw>Black-Bream</hw>, n. an Australian fish, Chrysophrys australis, Gunth., family Sparidae, or Sea-Breams; called in Tasmania Silver-Bream, the fish there called Black-Bream being another of the Sparidae, Girella tricuspidata, Cuv. and Val. See Tarwhine and Black-fish.

"Chrysophrys comprises the tarwhine and black-bream of the Sydney fishermen. . . . We have two species in Australia. . . . The black-bream, C. australis, Gunth., and the tarwhine, C. sarba, Forsk. . . . The Australian bream is as common on the south as on the east coast. It affords excellent sport to anglers in Victoria."

<hw>Blackbutt</hw>, n. Eucalyptus pilularis, Smith, Victoria; E. regnans, F. v. M., New South Wales; a timber tree, a gum. Another name is Flintwood. The lower part of the trunk is black.

"The range . . . having with the exception of the Blackbutt all the trees . . . of Moreton Bay."

"A tree of considerable size. . . The bark smooth and falling off in flakes upward, and on the branches."

"Mr. Richards stated that the New South Wales black butt and tallow wood were the most durable and noiseless woods for street-paving, as well as the best from a sanitary point of view."

"The native Miago . . . appeared delighted that these `black fellows,' as he calls them, have no throwing sticks."

<hw>Black-Fern</hw>, n. The Tasmanian species so called is Athyrium australe, Presl., N.O. Polypodeae.

<hw>Black-fish</hw>, n. The name is given, especially in Sydney, to the sea-fishes Girella simplex, Richards (see Ludrick), and Girella tricuspidata, Cuv. and Val.; also to a fresh-water fish all over Australia, Gadopsis marmoratus, Richards. G. marmoratus is very common in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and parts of Tasmania. There are local varieties. It is much esteemed as a food fish, but is, like all mud fishes, rich and oily. Girella belongs to the family Sparida, or Sea-Breams, and Gadopsis to the Gadopsidae, a family allied to that containing the Cod fishes. The name was also formerly applied to a whale.

1853. C. St. Julian and E. K. Silvester, `Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,' p. 115:

"There is a species of whale called by those engaged in the south sea fishing the Black-fish or Black-whale, but known to the naturalist as the Southern Rorqual, which the whalemen usually avoid."

"Nothing is better eating than a properly cooked black-fish.
The English trout are annihilating them, however."

<hw>Black-Perch</hw>, n. a river fish of New South Wales. Therapon niger, Castln., family Percidae. A different fish from those to which the name is applied elsewhere. See Perch.

<hw>Black Rock-Cod</hw>, n. an Australian fish, chiefly of New South Wales, Serranus daemeli, Gunth.; a different fish from the Rock-Cod of the northern hemisphere. The Serrani belong to the family Percidae, and are commonly called "Sea-perches."

"The genus Serranus comprises most of the fishes known as `rock cod.'. . . One only is sufficiently useful as an article of food to merit notice, and that is the `black rock cod' (Serranus damelii, Guenther), without exception the very best of all our fishes."

<hw>Black Thursday</hw>, the day of a Victorian conflagration, which occurred on Feb. 6, 1851. The thermometer was 112 degrees in the shade. Ashes from the fire at Macedon, 46 miles away, fell in Melbourne. The scene forms the subject of the celebrated picture entitled "Black Thursday," by William Strutt, R.B.A.

1859. Rev. J. D. Mereweather, `Diary of a Working Clergyman in Australia,' p. 81:

"Feb. 21 . . . Dreadful details are reaching us of the great bush fires which took place at Port Phillip on the 6th of this month . . . . Already it would seem that the appellation of `Black Thursday' has been given to the 6th February, 1851, for it was on that day that the fires raged with the greatest fury."

"The old colonists still repeat the most terrible stories of Black Thursday, when the whole country seemed to be on fire. The flames leaped from tree to tree, across creeks, hills, and gullies, and swept everything away. Teams of bullocks in the yoke, mobs of cattle and horses, and even whole families of human beings, in their bush-huts, were completely destroyed, and the charred bones alone found after the wind and fire had subsided."

"The native police, or `black trackers,' as they are sometimes called, are a body of aborigines trained to act as policemen, serving under a white commandant—a very clever expedient for coping with the difficulty . . . of hunting down and discovering murderous blacks, and others guilty of spearing cattle and breaking into huts . . ."

"The troopers, with the assistance of two black trackers, pursued the bushrangers . . ."

. . . two members of the police force and a black tracker . . . called at Lima station . . ."

"Only three weeks before he had waddied his gin to death for answering questions put to her by a blacktracker, and now he advanced to Charlie . . . and said,. . . `What for you come alonga black fella camp?'"

"About one hundred and fifty horsemen have been out to-day in addition to the local police. The black-trackers arrived by the train last night, and commenced work this morning."

<hw>Black-War</hw>, or <hw>Black-Line</hw>, a military operation planned in 1830 by Governor Arthur for the capture of the Tasmanian aborigines. A levy en masse of the colonists was ordered. About 5000 men formed the "black line," which advanced across the island from north to south-east, with the object of driving the tribes into Tasman's Peninsula. The operation proved a complete failure, two blacks only being captured at a cost to the Government of L 30,000.

"The parties forming the `black line,' composed, as they were, of a curious melange of masters and servants, took their respective stations at the appointed time. As the several parties advanced, the individuals along the line came closer and closer together —the plan was to keep on advancing slowly towards a certain peninsula, and thus frighten the Aborigines before them, and hem them in."

"Thus closed the Black War. This campaign of a month supplied many adventures and many an amusing tale, and, notwithstanding the gravity of his Excellency, much fun and folly . . . . Five thousand men had taken the field. Nearly L 30,000 had been expended, and probably not much less in time and outlay by the settlers, and two persons only were captured."

<hw>Black Wednesday</hw>, n. a political phrase for a day in Victoria (Jan. 9, 1878), when the Government without notice dismissed many Civil Servants, including heads of departments, County Court judges and police magistrates, on the ground that the Legislative Council had not voted the money for their salaries.

"The times in the public service at present reminded him of Black Wednesday in Victoria, which he went through. That caused about a dozen suicides among public servants. Here it had not done so yet, but there was not a head of a department who did not now shake in his shoes."

<hw>Blackwood</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Acacia melanoxylon, R. Br.; often called Lightwood; it is dark in colour but light in weight.

1828. `Report of Van Diemen's Land Company,' Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land, 1832,' p. 118

"Blackwood, Lightwood—rather frequent on many rich river-flats . . . .It is very close-grained and heavy, and is useful for all purposes where strength and flexibility are required."

<hw>Bladder Saltbush</hw>, n. a Queensland shrub, Atriplex vesicarium, Heward, N.O. Salsolaceae. The Latin and vernacular names both refer to "the bladdery appendage to fruiting perianth." (Bailey.) See Saltbush.

<hw>Blandfordia</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Gordon-Lily (see under Lily). The plant was named after George, Marquis of Blandford, son of the second Duke of Marlborough. The Tasmanian aboriginals called the plant Remine, which name has been given to a small port where it grows in profusion on the west coast.

"The trailing scarlet kennedyas, aptly called the `bleeding- heart' or `coral-pea,' brighten the greyness of the sandy peaty wastes."

<hw>Blight-bird</hw>, n. a bird-name in New Zealand for the Zosterops (q.v.). Called also Silver-eye (q.v.), Wax-eye, and White-eye (q.v.). It is called Blight-bird because it eats the blight on trees.

"The white-eye or blight-bird, with cheerful note, in crowded flocks, sweeps over the face of the country, and in its progress clears away multitudes of small insect pests."

1885. A. Hamilton, `Native Birds of Petane, Hawke's Bay,' `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. p. 125:

"Zosterops lateralis, white-eye, blight-bird. One of our best friends, and abundant in all parts of the district."

"By the settlers it has been variously designated as Ring-eye, Wax-eye, White-eye, or Silver-eye, in allusion to the beautiful circlet of satiny-white feathers which surrounds the eyes; and quite as commonly the `Blightbird' or `Winter-migrant.' . . . It feeds on that disgusting little aphis known as American blight, which so rapidly covers with a fatal cloak of white the stems and branches of our best apple-trees; it clears our early cabbages of a pestilent little insect, that left unchecked would utterly destroy the crop; it visits our gardens and devours another swarming parasite that covers our roses."

<hw>Blind Shark</hw>, or <hw>Sand Shark</hw>, n. i.q. Shovel-nose (q.v.).

"Rhinobatus granulatus or shovel-nose, which is properly speaking a Ray, is called here the blind or sand shark, though, as Mr. Hill remarks, it is not blind. He says `that it attains the length of from 6 to 7 feet, and is also harmless, armed only with teeth resembling small white beads secured closely upon a cord; it however can see tolerably well, and searches on sandy patches for crustaceae and small shell fish.'"

"Rhinobatus Granulatus . . . I have not seen a New South Wales example of this fish, which appears to have been confounded with the following by writers on the Australian fauna. Rhinobatus Bongainvillei, Muell and Heule, Habitat Port Jackson. Shovel-nosed Ray of Sydney fishermen."

<hw>Blind-your-Eyes</hw>, n. another name for the Milky Mangrove. See Mangrove.

, doing the</hw>, v. lounging in the fashionable promenade. In Melbourne, it is Collins Street, between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets. In Sydney, "The Block" is that portion of the city bounded by King, George, Hunter, and Pitt Streets. It is now really two blocks, but was all in one till the Government purchased the land for the present Post Office, and then opened a new street from George to Pitt Street. Since then the Government, having purchased more land, has made the street much wider, and it is now called Martin's Place.

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher,' (in an Essay on `Doing the Block') (reprint), p. 13:

"If our Victorian youth showed their appreciation for domestic virtues, Victorian womanhood would `do the Block' less frequently."

"A certain portion of Collins street, lined by the best drapers' and jewellers' shops, with here and there a bank or private office intervening, is known as `the Block,' and is the daily resort of the belles and beaux. . . ."

"The streets are thronged with handsome women, veritable denizens of the soil, fashionably and really tastefully attired, `doing the block,' patrolling Collins-street, or gracefully reclining in carriages. . . ."

"You just do as I tell you, and we'll go straight off to town and `do the block.'"

" We may slacken pace a little now and again, just as the busy man, who generally walks quickly, has to go slowly in the crowd on the Block."

(2) Term in mining, fully explained in `The Miner's Right,' chapters vii. and viii.

<hw>Blood-bird</hw>, n. name given to the Sanguineous Honey-eater. See Honey-eater.

"Myzomela sanguinolenta, Sanguineous Honey-eater. Blood-bird of the Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Blood-sucker</hw>, n. popular name for certain species of Lizards belonging to the genus Amphibolurus (Grammatophora). Especially applied to A. muricata, Shaw.

1890. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Dec. 12, pl. cxi.:

"Why the popular name of `Bloodsucker' should be so universally given to this harmless creature by the Colonists (except on the locus a non lucendo principle) I cannot conceive."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 70:

<hw>Blood-wood</hw>, or <hw>Blood-tree</hw>, n. a name applied, with various epithets, to many of the Gum-trees (q.v.), especially to—(1) Eucalyptus corymbosa, Smith, sometimes called Rough-barked bloodwood; (2) E. eximia, Schauer, Mountain or Yellow bloodwood; (3) Baloghia lucida, Endl., N.O. Euphorbiaceae, called Brush Bloodwood. The sap is blood-red, running copiously when cut across with a knife.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 271:

"The natives tell me it breeds in the winter in Mun'ning-trees or Blood-trees of the colonists (a species of Eucalyptus)."

1892. A. J. North, `Proceedings of Linnaean Society,' New South Wales, vol. vii. series 2, p. 396:

"I traced her to a termite nest in a bloodwood tree (Eucalyptus corymbosa)."

"It [E. eximia] is called `bloodwood,' partly because kino exudes in the concentric circles of the wood . . . partly because its fruits are in shape very similar to those of E. corymbosa."

"The shearers must make their clip clean and thorough. If it be done so incompetently that a `second blow' is needed, the fleece is hacked."

"Is there not very much that the Australian may well be proud of, and may we not commend him for a spice of blow?"

"He can walk as fast as some horses can trot, cut out any beast that ever stood on a camp, and canter round a cheese-plate. This was a bit of blow."

<hw>Blow</hw>, v. to boast; abbreviated from the phrase "to blow your own trumpet." The word is not Australian though often so regarded. It is common in Scotland and in the United States.

"The blast of the trumpet as heard in Victoria is louder than all the blasts—and the Melbourne blast beats all the other blowing of that proud colony. My first, my constant, my parting advice to my Australian cousins is contained in two words, `don't blow.'"

"A fine art much cultivated in the colonies, for which the colonial phrase of `blowing' has been created."

<hw>Bluebell</hw>, n. The name is given in Tasmania to the flower Wahlenbergia gracilis, De C., N.O. Campanulaceae.

<hw>Blueberry</hw>, n. i.q. Native Currant (q.v.). The name is also given to Dianella longifolia, R. Br., N.O. Liliaceae.

<hw>Blueberry Ash</hw>, n. a Victorian tree, Elaeocarpus holopetalus, F. v. M.

"Blueberry Ash or Prickly Fig. A noble tree, attaining a height of 120 feet. Wood pale, fine-grained; exquisite for cabinet work."

<hw>Blue-bush</hw>, n. an Australian forage plant, a kind of Salt-bush, Kochia pyrainidata, Benth, N.O. Chenopodiaceae.

"[The country] would do splendidly for sheep, being thickly grassed with short fine grass, salt and blue bush, and geranium and other herbs."

<hw>Blue-Cod</hw>, n. name given to a New Zealand fish, Percis colias, family Trachinidae. Called also in New Zealand Rock-Cod (q.v.). The fish is of a different family from the Cod of the northern hemisphere.

<hw>Blue-creeper</hw>, n. name given to the creeper, Comesperma volubile, Lab., N.O. Campanulaceae.

<hw>Blue-eye</hw>, n. a bird name. The Blue faced Honey-eater (q.v.).

"Entomyza cyanotis, Swains. Blue-faced Entomyza. Blue-eye of the colonists."

<hw>Blue-fish</hw>, n. name given in Sydney to Girella cyanea, of the family Sparidae, or Sea-Breams. It is different from the Blue-fish of the American coasts, which is of the family Carangidae.

<hw>Blue-Groper</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales and Tasmania, Cossyphus gouldii, one of the Labridae or Wrasses, often called Parrot-Fish in Australia. Called also Blue-head in Tasmania. Distinct from the fish called the Groper (q.v).

<hw>Blue-gum</hw>, n. See under Gum. It is an increasing practice to make a single word of this compound, and to pronounce it with accent on the first syllable, as `wiseman,' `goodman.'

<hw>Blue-head</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the fish called the Blue-Groper (q.v.)

<hw>Blue Lobelia</hw>, n. The indigenous species in Tasmania which receives this name is Lobelia gibbosa, Lab., N.O. Campanulaceae.

<hw>Blue-pointer</hw>, n. a name given in New South
Wales to a species of Shark, Lamna glauca, Mull. and
Heule, family Lamnidae, which is not confined to
Australasia.

"On the appearance of a `blue pointer' among boats fishing for schnapper outside, the general cry is raised, `Look out for the blue pointer.' . . . These are high swimming fishes, and may be readily seen when about pushing their pursuits; the beautiful azure tint of their back and sides, and independent manner they have of swimming rapidly and high among the boats in search of prey, are means of easy recognition, and they often drive the fishermen away."

<hw>Bluestone</hw>, n. a kind of dark stone of which many houses and public buildings are built.

"The ancient Roman ways were paved with polygonal blocks of a stone not unlike the trap or bluestone around Melbourne."

1855. R. Brough Smyth, `Transactions of Philosophical Society, Victoria,' vol. i. p. 25:

"The basalt or `bluestone,' which is well adapted to structural purposes, and generally obtains where durability is desired."

"Basalts, locally called `bluestones,' occur of a quality useful for road-metal, house-blocks, and ordinary rubble masonry."

1890. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' p. xx. [Letter from Mr. S. H. Wintle]:

"The newer basalts, which in Victoria have filled up so extensively Miocene and Pliocene valleys, and river channels, are chiefly vesicular Zeolitic dolerites and anaemesites, the former being well represented by the light-coloured Malmsbury `bluestone' so extensively employed in buildings in Melbourne."

<hw>Blue-tongued Lizard</hw>, n. name given to Tiliqua nigroluteus, Gray, a common Australian and Tasmanian lizard belonging to the family Scincidae. The name is derived from its blue-coloured tongue, and on account of its sluggish habits it is also often called the Sleepy lizard.

"Not uncommon about Melbourne, where it is generally called the
`Blue-tongued Lizard,' or `Sleepy Lizard.'"

<hw>Blue-wing</hw>, n. a sportsman's name (as in England) for the bird called the Shoveller (q.v.).

<hw>Bluey</hw>, n. (1) A blue blanket commonly used by swagmen in Australia. He wraps his bundle in it, and the whole is called a Swag (q.v.). To hump bluey means to go on the tramp, carrying a swag on the back.

(2) In the wet wildernesses of Western Tasmania a rough shirt or blouse is made of this material, and is worn over the coat like an English smock-frock. Sailors and fishermen in England call it a "Baltic shirt."

1891. R. Wallace, `Rural Economy and Agriculture of Australia and New Zealand,' p. 73:

"Leehan presents an animated scene . . . . Heavily laden drays, pack-horses and mules, form constant processions journeying from Dundas or Trial; miners with their swags, surveyors in their `blueys' . . . all aid effectively in the panorama."

"The secretary of the Pastoralists' Association . . . reports that the following stations have started shearing with full boards."

<hw>Boar-fish</hw>, n. a name applied in England to various dissimilar fishes which have projecting snouts. (`Century.') In New Zealand it is given to Cyttus australis, family Cyttidae, which is related to the John Dory (q.v.). This name is sometimes applied to it, and it is also called Bastard Dory (q.v.). In Melbourne the Boar-fish is Histiopterus recurvirostris, family Percidae, and Pentaceropsis recurvirostris, family Pentacerotidae. Mrs. Meredith, in `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' 1880 (pl. vi.), figures Histiopterus recurvirostris with the vernacular name of Pig-faced Lady. It is a choice edible fish.

<hw>Boil down</hw>, v. to reduce a statement to its simplest form; a constant term amongst pressmen. Over the reporters' table in the old `Daily Telegraph' office (Melbourne) there was a big placard with the words-"Boil it down." The phrase is in use in England. `O.E.D.' quotes `Saturday Review,' 1880. The metaphor is from the numerous boiling-down establishments for rendering fat sheep into tallow. See quotation, 1878.

1878. F. P. Labilliere, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 330:

"The first step which turned the tide of ill-fortune was the introduction of the system of boiling down sheep. When stock became almost worthless, it occurred to many people that, when a fleece of wool was worth from half-a-crown to three shillings in England, and a sheep's tallow three or four more, the value of the animal in Australia ought to exceed eighteenpence or two shillings. Accordingly thousands of sheep were annually boiled down after shearing . . . until . . . the gold discovery; and then `boiling down,' which had saved the country, had to be given up. . . . The Messrs. Learmonth at Buninyong . . . found it answered their purpose to have a place of their own, instead of sending their fat stock, as was generally done, to a public `boiling down' establishment."

<hw>Bonduc Nuts</hw>, n. a name in Australia for the fruit of the widely distributed plant Caesalpina bonducella, Flem., N.O. Leguminosae. Called Molucca Beans in Scotland and Nicker Nuts elsewhere.

<hw>Bonito</hw>, n. Sir Frederick McCoy says that the Tunny, the same fish as the European species Thynnus thynnus, family Scombridae, or Mackerels, is called Bonito, erroneously, by the colonists and fishermen. The true Bonito is Thynnus pelamys, Linn., though the name is also applied to various other fishes in Europe, the United States, and the West Indies.

<hw>Boobook</hw>, n. an owl. Ninox boobook (see Owl); Athene boobook (Gould's `Birds of Australia,' vol.i. pl. 32)." From cry or note of bird. In the Mukthang language of Central Gippsland, BawBaw, the mountain in Gippsland, is this word as heard by the English ear." (A. W. Howitt.) In South Australia the word is used for a mopoke.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 188:

"The native name of this bird, as Mr. Caley informs us, is Buck'buck. It may be heard nearly every night during winter, uttering a cry, corresponding with that word. . . .The lower order of the settlers in New South Wales are led away by the idea that everything is the reverse in that country to what it is in England : and the cuckoo, as they call this bird, singing by night, is one of the instances which they point out."

"In most cases—it may not be in all—the familiar call, which is supposed to sound like `More-pork,' is not the mopoke (or podargus) at all, but the hooting of a little rusty red feather-legged owl, known as the Boobook. Its double note is the opposite of the curlew, since the first syllable is dwelt upon and the second sharp. An Englishman hearing it for the first time, and not being told that the bird was a `more-pork,' would call it a night cuckoo."

<hw>Booby</hw>, n. English bird-name. Used in Australia for the Brown-Gannet. See Gannet.

<hw>Boobyalla</hw>, or <hw>Boobialla</hw>, n. the aboriginal name for the tree Acacia longifolia, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae, also called Native Willow. A river in Tasmania bears the name of Boobyalla, the tree being plentiful on the coast.

"Acacia sophora. Sophora podded Acacia or Booby-aloe. This species forms a large shrub on the sand-hills of the coast."

"The sandbanks at the mouth of Macquarie Harbour are covered with Boobialla, a species of Acacia, the roots of which run far in the sand."

1855. J. Milligan, `Vocabulary of Dialects of the Aboriginal Tribes of Tasmania,' `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' vol. iii. p. 238:

<hw>Boomah</hw>, or <hw>Boomer</hw>, n. name of a very large kangaroo, Macropus giganteus, Shaw. The spelling "boomah" seems due to a supposed native origin. See quotation, 1872, the explanation in which is probably erroneous. It is really from the verb to boom, to rush with violence.

1833. Lieut. Breton, `Excursions in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Van Diemen's Land,' p. 251:

"The flying gin (gin is the native word for woman or female) is a boomah, and will leave behind every description of dog."

"The Great or Forest Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), the `Forester' of the Colonists. . . .The oldest and heaviest male of the herd was called a `Boomer,' probably a native term."

"The forester (Macropus major, Shaw), the male being known by the name of `boomer,' and the young female by that of `flying doe,' is the largest and only truly gregarious species."

"An officer from Van Diemen's Land told me that he had once killed in that colony a kangaroo of such magnitude, that, being a long way from home, he was unable, although on horseback, to carry away any portion except the tail, which alone weighed thirty pounds. This species is called the boomah, and stands about seven feet high."

"Some of the male kangaroos, called `boomers,' were described as being four or five feet high."

"A tall old Booma, as the natives call the male kangaroo, can bring his head on a level with the face of a man on horseback. . . . A kangaroo's feet are, in fact, his weapons of defence with which, when he is brought to bay, he tears his antagonists the dogs most dreadfully, and instances are not wanting of even men having been killed by a large old male. No doubt this peculiar method of disposing of his enemies has earned him the name of Booma, which in the native language signifies to strike."

"As he plunged into the yellow waters, the dogs were once more by his side, and again the `boomer' wheeled, and backed against one of the big trees that stud these hollows."

<hw>Boomerang</hw>, n. a weapon of the Australian aborigines, described in the quotations. The origin of the word is by no means certain. One explanation is that of Mr. Fraser in quotation, 1892. There may perhaps be an etymological connection with the name woomera (q.v.), which is a different weapon, being a throwing stick, that is, an instrument with which to throw spears, whilst the boomerang is itself thrown; but the idea of throwing is common to both. In many parts the word is pronounced by the blacks bummerang. Others connect it with the aboriginal word for "wind," which at Hunter River was burramaronga, also boomori. In New South Wales and South Queensland there is a close correspondence between the terms for wind and boomerang.

1827. Captain P. P. King, `Survey of Intertropical and West Coasts of Australia,' vol. i. p. 355:

"Boomerang is the Port Jackson term for this weapon, and may be retained for want of a more descriptive name."

"We gambolled all the way up, throwing small pieces of bark at each other, after the manner of the native youths, who practise this with a view of strengthening their arms, and fitting them for hurling a curious weapon of war called a `bomering,' which is shaped thus:" \ \ / /

"Around their loins was the opossum belt, in one side of which they had placed their waddies, with which they meant to break the heads of their opponents, and on the other was the bomering, or stick, with which they threw their spears."

[This is a confusion between boomerang and woomera (q.v.). Perhaps Mr. Dawson wrote the second word, and this is a misprint.]

1839. Major T. L. `Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. ii. p. 348:

"The bommereng, or their usual missile, can be thrown by a skilful hand, so as to rise upon the air, and thus to deviate from the usual path of projectiles, its crooked course being, nevertheless, equally under control."

"The admirable dexterity with which they fling the bomerangs. To our thinking the thrower was only sending the instrument along the ground, when suddenly, after spinning along it a little way, it sprung up into the air, performing a circle, its crescent shape spinning into a ring, constantly spinning round and round, until it came and fell at his feet."

"Like the strange missile which the Australian throws,
Your verbal boomerang slaps you on the nose."

"This instrument, called a bommereng, is made of wood, and is much like the blade of a scimitar. I believe it has been introduced into England as a plaything for children."

"The boomerang is an extraordinary missile, formed in the shape of a crescent, and when propelled at an object, apparently point blank, it turns in any direction intended by the thrower, so that it can actually be directed in this manner against a person standing by his side. The consummate art visible in its unnatural-looking progression greatly depends upon the manner in which it is made to rebound from the ground when thrown."

"He [Sir Thomas Mitchell] applied to the screw propeller the revolving principle of the boomerang of the Australian natives."

"He [Archbishop Whately] was an adept in various savage sports, more especially in throwing the boomerang."

"Boomerang: a thin piece of wood, having the shape of a parabola, about eighteen inches or two feet long from point to point, the curve being on the thin side. Of the broad sides of the missile one is slightly convex, the other is flat. The thin sides are worked down finely to blunt edges. The peculiar curve of the missile gives it the property of returning to the feet of the thrower. It is a dangerous instrument in a melee. Of course the wood from which it is made is highly seasoned by fire. It is therefore nearly as hard as flint."

"The boomerang is a curved, somewhat flat, and slender weapon, made from a hard and heavy wood, Brigalow (Acacia excelsa), or Myall (Acacia pendula), but the best one I found was made of a lighter kind of wood. The curving of the boomerang, which often approaches a right angle, must be natural, and in the wood itself. One side is perfectly flat, and the other slightly rounded. The ends are pointed."

"You hardly ever see an allusion in the English Press to the boomerang which does not refer to it as a weapon of war which returns to the thrower, whereas the returning boomerang is not a weapon of war, and the boomerang which is a weapon of war does not return to the thrower. There are many kinds of boomerang—some for deadly strife, some for throwing at game, and the returning boomerang, which is framed only for amusement. If a native had no other missile at hand, he would dispatch it at a flight of ducks. Its circular course, however, makes it unfit for such a purpose, and there is a special boomerang made for throwing at birds. The latter keeps a straight course, and a native could throw it more than two hundred yards."

"The name bumarang has always hitherto been written boomerang; but, considered etymologically, that is wrong, for the root of it is buma—strike, fight, kill; and -ara, -arai, -arang, are all of them common formative terminations."

"`I tell you, sir,' said Mr. Healy at an Irish political meeting, `that there are at the present moment crystallizing in this city precedents which will some day come home to roost like a boomerang.'"

<hw>Boongary</hw>, n. the tree-kangaroo of North Queensland, a marsupial tree-climber, about the size of a large wallaby, Dendrolagus lumholtzii, Collett. A native name. Bangaray = Red Kangaroo, in Governor Hunter's vocabulary of the Port Jackson dialect (1793).

"The tree-kangaroo is without comparison a better-proportioned animal than the common kangaroo. The fore-feet, which are nearly as perfectly developed as the hind-feet, have large crooked claws, while the hind-feet are somewhat like those of a kangaroo, though not so powerful. The sole of the foot is somewhat broader and more elastic on account of a thick layer of fat under the skin. In soft ground its footprints are very similar to those of a child. The ears are small and erect, and the tail is as long as the body of the animal. The skin is tough, and the fur is very strong and beautiful. . . . Upon the whole the boongary is the most beautiful mammal I have seen in Australia. It is a marsupial, and goes out only in the night. During the day it sleeps in the trees, and feeds on the leaves."

<hw>Bora</hw>, n. a rite amongst the aborigines of eastern Australia; the ceremony of admitting a young black to the rights of manhood. Aboriginal word.

The word bur, given by Ridley, means not only girdle but `circle.' In the man-making ceremonies a large circle is made on the ground, where the ceremonies take place.

"Girdle—bor or bur. Hence Bora, the ceremony of initiation into manhood, where the candidate is invested with the belt of manhood."

"The great mystery of the Blacks is the Bora—a ceremony at which the young men found worthy receive the rank of warriors."

<hw>Borage, Native</hw>, n. a plant, Pollichia zeylanica, F. v. M., N.O. Boragineae. The so-called Native Borage is not endemic to Australia. In India it is used as a cure for snake bites.

<hw>Borak</hw>, n. aboriginal word of New South Wales, meaning banter, chaff, fun at another's expense. (See quotation, 1845.) Prior to 1870 the word was much in use on the stations in New South Wales. About 1870 Victorian farmers' sons took shearing work there, and brought back the word with them. It was subsequently altered to barrack (q.v.).

1845. C. Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 162:

"The following is a specimen of such eloquence:—`You pilmillally jumbuck, plenty sulky me, plenty boom, borack gammon,' which, being interpreted, means—`If you steal my sheep I shall be very angry, and will shoot you and no mistake.'"

1856. W. W. Dobie, `Recollections of a Visit to Port Phillip, Australia, in 1852-55' p. 93:

". . . he gravely assured me that it was `merrijig' (very good), and that `blackfellow doctor was far better than whitefellow doctor.' In proof of which he would say, `Borak you ever see black fellow with waddie (wooden) leg. Bungalallee white fellow doctor cut him leg, borak black fellow stupid like it that."

"On telling him my adventures, how Bob in my misery had `poked borack' at me. . . ."

1888. Alfred J.Chandler,' Curley' in `Australian Poets,' 1788-1888, ed. Sladen, p. 100:

"It does not do for a man whose mission it is to wear stuff and a horse-hair wig to `poke borak' at that venerable and eminently respectable institution—the law, and still worse is it for a practising barrister to actually set to work, even in the most kindly spirit, to criticise the judges, before whom at any moment he may be called upon to plead."

<hw>Borboby</hw>, n. i.q. Corrobbery (q.v.), but the word is rare.

<hw>Boree</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the tree Acacia pendula, A. Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae; a variety of Myall, probably from Queensland aboriginal word Booreah, fire. It would be preferred by black or white man as firewood over any other timber except giddea (q.v.).

"Weeping, or true myall. It is sometimes called bastard gidgee in Western New South Wales. Called boree by aboriginals, and often boree, or silver-leaf boree, by the colonists of Western New South Wales. Nilyah is another New South Wales name."

"The timber, of course, when seen close at hand is strange. Boree and gidyah, coolibah and whitewood, brigelow, mulgah, and myall are the unfamiliar names by which you learn to recognise the commonest varieties."

"There is another destructive insect called the `borer,' not met with near the sea-coast, but very active and mischievous inland, its attacks being chiefly levelled against timber. This creature is about the size of a large fly."

<hw>Boronia</hw>, n. scientific and vernacular name of a genus of Australian plants, certain species of which are noted for their peculiar fragrance. The genus is especially characteristic of West Australia, to which out of fifty-nine species thirty-three are confined, while only five are known in Tasmania. Boronia belongs to the N.O. Rutaceae.

"Boronia variabilis. A beautiful little heath-like plant growing about the Cascade and other hills round about Hobart Town. . . . This genus is named after Borone, an Italian servant of the late Dr. Sibthorp, who perished at Athens. . . .Another species found in Van Diemen's Land is the Lemon plant of the mountains."

"Winter does not last for ever, and now at each street corner the scent of boronia and the odour of wattle-blossom greet us from baskets of the flower-girl."

<hw>Boss-cockie</hw>, n. a slang name in the bush for a farmer, larger than a Cockatoo (see Cockatoo, n. 2), who employs other labour as well as working himself.

<hw>Botany Bay</hw>, n. lying to the south of the entrance to Port Jackson, New South Wales, the destination of the first two shiploads of convicts from England. As a matter of fact, the settlement at Botany Bay never existed. The "First Fleet," consisting of eleven sail under Governor Phillip, arrived at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788. The Governor finding the place unsuitable for a settlement did not land his people, but on January 25 removed the fleet to Port Jackson. On the next day (January 26) he landed his people at Sydney Cove, and founded the city of Sydney. The name, however, citing to popular imagination, and was used sometimes as the name of Australia. Seventy years after Governor Phillip, English schoolboys used "go to Botany Bay" as an equivalent to "go to Bath." Captain Cook and his naturalists, Banks and Solander, landed at Botany Bay, and the name was given (not at first, when the Bay was marked Stingray, but a little later) from the large number of plants collected there.

"6 May. . . .The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the Name of Botany Bay."

1789. Captain Watkin Tench [Title]: "A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay," published in London.

This was the popular book on the new settlement, the others being high priced. As Lowndes says, "A work of no authority, but frequently printed." Barrington, the pickpocket, whose name it bears, had nothing to do with it. It was pirated from Phillip, Collins, etc. It went through various editions and enlargements to 1810 or later. After 1795 the name was altered to `Voyage to New South Wales.'

1798. D. Collins, `Account of the English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 502:

"The word `Botany Bay' became a term of reproach that was indiscriminately cast on every one who resided in New South Wales."

"Some gentlemen, on a visit to a London theatre, to draw the attention of their friends in an opposite box, called out cooey; a voice in the gallery answered `Botany Bay!'"

"The owner of the ship was an ex-convict in Sydney—then called Botany Bay—who had waxed wealthy on the profits of rum, and the `shangai-ing' of drugged sailors."

<hw>Botany-Bay Greens</hw>, n. a vegetable common to all the colonies, Atriplex cinereum, Poir, N.O. Salsolaceae.

"Botany Bay greens are abundant; they much resemble sage in appearance; and are esteemed a very good dish by the Europeans."

"I do not think it necessary to enter upon any description of the Barilla shrubs (Atriplex halimus, Rhagodur billardiera; and Salicornia arbuscula), which, with some others, under the promiscuous name of Botany Bay greens, were boiled and eaten along with some species of seaweed, by the earliest settlers, when in a state of starvation."

"Atriplex Halimus. Barrilla. Botany Bay Greens. This is the plant so common on the shores of Cape Barren and other islands of the Straits, from which the alkaline salt is obtained and brought up in boats to the soap manufactory at Hobart Town. It has been set down as the same plant that grows on the coast of Spain and other parts of Europe."

"Once used as a pot-herb in New South Wales. Leichhardt used a species of Atriplex as a vegetable, and spoke very highly of it."

<hw>Botany-Bay Oak</hw>, or <hw>Botany-Bay Wood</hw>, n. a trade name in England for the timber of Casuarina. See Beef-wood.

<hw>Bottle-brush</hw>, n. name given to various species of Callistemon and Melaleuca, N.O. Myrtaceae; the Purple Bottle-brush is Melaleuca squamea, Lab. The name is also more rarely given to species of Banksia, or Honeysuckle (q.v.). The name bottle-brush is from the resemblance of the large handsome blossoms to the brush used to clean out wine-bottles.

"Red Bottle-brush. The flowers of some species of Callistemon are like bottle-brushes in shape."

<hw>Bottle-Gourd</hw>, n. an Australian plant, Lagenaria vulgaris, Ser., N.O. Cucurbitaceae.

"Bottle Gourd. This plant, so plentiful along the tropical coast of Queensland, is said to be a dangerous poison. It is said that some sailors were killed by drinking beer that had been standing for some time in a bottle formed of one of these fruits. (F. M. Bailey.)"

<hw>Bottle-Swallow</hw>, n. a popular name for the bird Lagenoplastis ariel, otherwise called the Fairy Martin. See Martin. The name refers to the bird's peculiar retort shaped nest. Lagenoplashs is from the Greek lagaenos, a flagon, and plautaes, a modeller. The nests are often constructed in clusters under rocks or the eaves of buildings. The bird is widely distributed in Australia, and has occurred in Tasmania.

<hw>Bottle-tree</hw>, n. an Australian tree, various species of Sterculia, i.q. Kurrajong (q.v.). So named from its appearance. See quotations.

"The sterculia, or bottle-tree, is a very singular curiosity. It generally varies in shape between a soda-water and port-wine bottle, narrow at the basis, gradually widening at the middle, and tapering towards the neck."

"The most interesting tree of this Rosewood Brush is the true bottle-tree, a strange-looking unseemly tree, which swells slightly four to five feet high, and then tapers rapidly into a small diameter; the foliage is thin, the crown scanty and irregular, the leaves lanceolate, of a greyish green; the height of the whole tree is about forty-five feet."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 127:

"It was on this range (Lat. 26 degrees, 42') that Mitchell saw the bottle-tree for the first time. It grew like an enormous pear-shaped turnip, with only a small portion of the root in the ground."

"A `Kurrajong.' The `Bottle-tree' of N.E. Australia, and also called `Gouty-stem,' on account of the extraordinary shape of the trunk. It is the `Binkey' of the aboriginals.

"The stem abounds in a mucilaginous substance resembling pure tragacanth, which is wholesome and nutritious, and is said to be used as an article of food by the aborigines in cases of extreme need. A similar clear jelly is obtainable by pouring boiling water on chips of the wood."

<hw>Bottom</hw>, n. in gold-mining, the old river-bed upon which the wash-dirt rests, and upon which the richest alluvial gold is found; sometimes called the gutter.

<hw>Bottom</hw>, v. to get to the bedrock, or clay, below which it was useless to sink (gold-mining).

"In their anxiety to bottom their claims, they not seldom threw away the richest stuff."

<hw>Boundary-rider</hw>, n. a man who rides round the fences of a station to see that they are in order.

"A boundary-rider is not a `boss' in the Bush, but he is an important personage in his way. He sees that the sheep in his paddock draw to the water, that there is water for them to draw to, and that the fences and gates are in order. He is paid fairly, and has a fine, free, solitary life."

"The manager's lieutenants are the `boundary-riders,' whose duty it is to patrol the estate and keep him informed upon every portion of it."

<hw>Bower-bird</hw> n. Australian bird. See quotation, 1891. See Ptilonorhynchinae. The following are the varieties—-

"The same person had the last season found, to his surprise, the playhouse, or bower, of the Australian satin bower-bird."

"Any shred of glass or metal which arrests the eye or reflects the rays of the sun is a gem in the bower-bird's collection, which seems in a sense to parody the art decorations of a modern home."

"In one is a representation of the playing place of the spotted bowerbird. These bowers are quite independent of the birds' nests, which are built on neighbouring trees. They first construct a covered passage or bower about three feet long, and near it they place every white or bright object they can find, such as the bleached bones of animals, pieces of white or coloured stone, feathers, shells, etc., etc.; the feathers they place on end. When these curious playing places were first discovered, they were thought to be made by the native women for the amusement of their children. More than a bushel of small pieces of bleached bones or shells are often found at one of these curious sporting places. Sometimes a dozen or more birds will assemble, and they delight in chasing each other through the bower and playing about it."

<hw>Box</hw>, <hw>Box-tree</hw>, <hw>Box-gum</hw>, n. The name is applied to many Eucalypts, and to a few trees of the genus Tristania, as given below, all of the N.O. Myrtaceae, chiefly from the qualities of their timber, which more or less resembles "Boxwood." Most of these trees also bear other vernacular names, and the same tree is further often described vernacularly as different kinds of Box. China-, Heath-, and Native-Box (q.v. below) are of other Natural Orders and receive their names of Box from other reasons. The following table is compiled from Maiden:—

Bastard Box—
Eucalyptus goniocalyx, F. v. M.;
E. largiflorens, F. v. M. (called also Cooburn);
E. longifolia, Link.; E. microtheca, F. v. M.;
E. polyanthema, F. v. M.; E. populifolia,
Hook. (called also Bembil or Bimbil Box and Red Box);
Tristania conferta, R. Br.;
T. laurana, R. Br., all of the N.O. Myrtaceae.

Black Box—
Eucalyptus obliqua, L'Herit.;
E. largiflorens, F. v. M.;
E. microtheca, F. v. M.

China Box— Murraya exotica, Linn., N.O. Rutaceae (not a tree, but a perfume plant, which is found also in India and China).

Dwarf, or Flooded Box— Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M. (Also called Swamp Gum, from its habit of growing on land inundated during flood time. An aboriginal name for the same tree is goborro.)

Grey Box—
Eucalyptus goniocalyx, F. v. M.;
E. hemiphloia, F. v. M.;
E. largiflorens, F. v. M.;
E. polyanthema, Schau.;
E. saligna, Smith.

Heath Box— Alyxia buxifolia, R. Br., N.O. Apocyneae (called also Tonga-beanwood, owing to its scent)

Native Box— Bursaria spinosa, Cav.,
N.O. Pittosporeae. (Called also Box-thorn
and Native-Olive. It is not a timber-tree but a forage-
plant. See quotation, 1889.)

Red Box—
Eucalyptus populifolia, Hook.;
E. polyanthema, Schau.;
Tristania
conferta, R. Br.

White Box—
Eucalyptus hemiphloia, F. v. M.;
E. odorata, Behr.;
E. populifolia, Hook.;
Tristania conferta, R. Br.

Yellow Box—
Eucalyptus hemiphloia, F. v. M.
E. largiflorens, F. v. M.
E. melliodora, A. Cunn.

"The country continued open forest land for about three miles, the cypress and the bastard-box being the prevailing timber; of the former many were useful trees."

"The small kind of tree . . . which Mr. Oxley, I believe, terms the dwarf-box, grows only on plains subject to inundation . . . . It may be observed, however, that all permanent waters are invariably surrounded by the `yarra.' These peculiarities are only ascertained after examining many a hopeless hollow, where grew the `goborro' only; and after I had found my sable guides eagerly scanning the `yarra' from afar, when in search of water, and condemning any view of the `goborro' as hopeless during that dry season."

"Belts of open forest land, principally composed of the box-tree of the colonists, a species of eucalyptus (in no respect resembling the box of Europe)."

"The Honey-Eucalypt (Eucalyptus melliodora). This tree passes by the very unapt vernacular name Yellow Box-tree, though no portion of it is yellow, not even its wood, and though the latter resembles the real boxwood in no way whatever. Its systematic specific name alludes to the odour of its flowers, like that of honey, and as the blossoms exude much nectar, like most eucalypts, sought by bees, it is proposed to call it the small-leaved Honey-Eucalypt, but the Latin name might as easily be conveyed to memory, with the advantage of its being a universal one, understood and used by all nations."

"Poor country, covered with ti-tree, box, and iron-bark saplings, with here and there heavy timber growing on sour-looking ridges."

"Box shrubs which were not yet clothed with their creamy-white plumes (so like the English meadowsweet)."

"These spears are principally made from a tall-growing box (one of the eucalypts) which often attains to an altitude of over 100 feet; it is indigenous to the north-western portion of the colony, and to Riverina; it has a fine wavy grain, consequently easily worked when in a green state. When well seasoned, however, it is nearly as hard as ebony."

"Native box is greedily eaten by sheep, but its thorny character preserves it from extinction upon sheep-runs: usually a small scrub, in congenial localities it developes into a small tree."

"Great care must of course be taken that no two flocks come into collision, for a `box,' as it is technically called, causes an infinity of trouble, which is the reason that the stations are so far apart."

<hw>Box</hw>, v. to mix together sheep that ought to be kept separate apparently from "to box" in the sense of to shut up in narrow limits (`O.E.D.' v. i. 5); then to shut up together and so confuse the classification; then the sense of shutting up is lost and that of confusion remains.

"All the mobs of different aged lambs which had been hitherto kept apart were boxed up together."

"After they'd got out twenty or thirty they'd get boxed, like a new hand counting sheep, and have to begin all over again."

"At nightfall, the fifteen flocks of sheep were all brought in, and `boxed,' or mixed together, to Ernest's astonishment."

"He must keep tally when the sheep are being counted or draughted, I'm not sure which, and swear—no, he needn't swear—when they get boxed."

"But the travelling sheep and the Wilga sheep were boxed on the
Old Man Plain.
'Twas a full week's work ere they drafted out and hunted them off
again."

<hw>Boxer</hw>, n. This word means in Australia the stiff, low-crowned, felt hat, called a billy-cock or bowler. The silk-hat is called a bell-topper (q.v.).

"And will you wear a boxer that is in a battered state ?
I wonder, will you—now that you're a knight?"

<hw>Box-wood</hw>, n. a New Zealand wood, Olea lanceolata, Hook., N.O. Jasminea (Maori name, Maire). Used by the `Wellington Independent' (April 19, 1845) for woodcuts, and recommended as superior to box-wood for the purpose. See also Box, n.

  Oh, wherefore would they eat the muscles?
  Now boylas storm and thunder make.
  Oh, wherefore would they eat the muscles ?"

<hw>Bread, Native</hw>, n. a kind of fungus. "The sclerotium of Polyporus mylitta, C. et M. Until quite recently the sclerotium was known, but not the fructification. It was thought probable that its fruit would be ascomycetous, and on the authority of Berkeley it was made the type of a genus as Mylitta Australis. It is found throughout Eastern Australia and Tasmania. The aborigines ate it, but to the European palate it is tough and tasteless, and probably as indigestible as leather." (L. Rodway.)

1843. James Backhouse, `Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies,' p. 40:

"Natural Order. Fungi. . . . Mylitta Australis. Native Bread. This species of tuber is often found in the Colony, attaining to the size of a child's head: its taste somewhat resembles boiled rice. Like the heart of the Tree-fern, and the root of the Native Potato, cookery produces little change."

1848. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 157:

"11th October, 1848 . . . Specimens of the fungus known as `native bread,' Mylitta Australis, lay upon the table. A member observed that this substance, grated and made into a pudding with milk alone, had been found by him very palatable. Prepared in the same way, and combined with double its weight of rice or sago, it has produced a very superior dish. It has also been eaten with approval in soup, after the manner of truffle, to which it is nearly allied."

"But that which afforded the largest amount of solid and substantial nutritious matter was the native bread, a fungus growing in the ground, after the manner of the truffle, and generally so near the roots of trees as to be reputed parasitical."

"A large specimen of `native bread,' weighing 12 lb., has been unearthed on Crab Tree farm in the Huon district, by Mr. A. Cooper. It has been brought to town, and is being examined with interest by many at the British Hotel. It is one of the fungi tribe that forms hard masses of stored food for future use."

<hw>Breadfruit-tree</hw>, name given by the explorer Leichhardt to the Queensland tree, Gardenia edulis, F. v. M., N.O. Rubiaceae.

"The smartest stock horse that ever brought his rider up within whip distance of a breakaway or dodged the horns of a sulky beast, took the chance."

(2) The panic rush of sheep, cattle, or other animals at the sight or smell of water.

1891: "The Breakaway," title of picture by Tom Roberts at Victorian Artists' Exhibition.

<hw>Bream</hw>, n. The name is applied in Australia to various species of Chrysophrys, family Sparidae, and to other fishes of different families. The Black-Bream (q.v.) is C. australis, Gunth. The Bony-Bream is also called the Sardine (q.v.). The Silver-Bream (q.v.) or White-Bream is Gerres ovatus, Gunth., family Percidae. The Red-Bream is a Schnapper (q.v.) one year old. The popular pronunciation is Brim, and the fishes are all different from the various fishes called Bream in the northern hemisphere. See also Tarwhine and Blue-fish.

<hw>Brickfielder</hw>, n. (1) Originally a Sydney name for a cold wind, blowing from the south and accompanied by blinding clouds of dust; identical with the later name for the wind, the Southerly Buster (q.v.). The brickfields lay to the south of Sydney, and when after a hot wind from the west or north-west, the wind went round to the south, it was accompanied by great clouds of dust, brought up from the brickfields. These brickfields have long been a thing of the past, surviving only in "Brickfield Hill," the hilly part of George Street, between the Cathedral and the Railway Station. The name, as denoting a cold wind, is now almost obsolete, and its meaning has been very curiously changed and extended to other colonies to denote a very hot wind. See below (Nos. 2 and 3), and the notes to the quotations.

1833. Lieut. Breton, R.N., `Excursions in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land,' p. 293:

"It sometimes happens that a change takes place from a hot wind to a `brickfielder,' on which occasions the thermometer has been known to fall, within half an hour, upwards of fifty degrees! That is to say, from above 100 degrees to 50 degrees! A brickfielder is a southerly wind, and it takes its local name from the circumstances of its blowing over, and bringing into town the flames [sic] of a large brick-field: it is nearly as detestable as a hot wind."

[Lieut. Breton must have had a strong imagination. The brickfields, at that date, were a mile away from the town, and the bringing in of their flames was an impossibility. Perhaps, however, the word is a misprint for fumes; yet even then this earliest quotation indicates part of the source of the subsequent confusion of meaning. The main characteristic of the true brickfielder was neither flames nor fumes,—and certainly not heat,—but choking dust.]

1839. W. H. Leigh, `Reconnoitering Voyages, Travels, and Adventures in the new Colony of South Australia,' etc., p. 184:

"Whirlwinds of sand come rushing upon the traveller, half blinding and choking him,—a miniature sirocco, and decidedly cousin-german to the delightful sandy puffs so frequent at Cape Town. The inhabitants call these miseries `Brickfielders,' but why they do so I am unable to divine; probably because they are in their utmost vigour on a certain hill here, where bricks are made."

[This writer makes no allusion to the temperature of the wind, whether hot or cold, but lays stress on its especial characteristic, the dust. His comparison with the sirocco chiefly suggests the clouds of sand brought by that wind from the Libyan Desert, with its accompanying thick haze and darkness (`half blinding and choking'), rather than its relaxing warmth.]

"The `brickfielder' is merely a colonial name for a violent gust of wind, which, succeeding a season of great heat, rushes in to supply the vacuum and equalises the temperature of the atmosphere; and when its baneful progress is marked, sweeping over the city in thick clouds of brick-coloured dust (from the brickfields), it is time for the citizens to close the doors and windows of their dwellings, and for the sailor to take more than half his canvas in, and prepare for a storm."

[Here the characteristic is again dust from the brickfields, as the origin of the name, with cold as an accompaniment.]

"These dust winds are locally named `brickfielders,' from the direction in which they come" [i.e. from neighbouring sandhills, called the brickfields].

[Here dust is the only characteristic observed, with the direction of the wind as the origin of its name.]

"The greatest peculiarity in the climate is what is called by colonists a brickfielder. This wind has all the characteristics of a sirocco in miniature . . . . Returning home, he discovers that the house is full of sand; that the brickfielder has even insinuated itself between the leaves of his books; at dinner he will probably find that his favourite fish has been spoiled by the brickfielder. Nor is this all; for on retiring to rest he will find that the brickfielder has intruded even within the precincts of his musquito curtains."

[Here again its dust is noted as the distinguishing feature of the wind, just as sand is the distinguishing feature of the `sirocco' in the Libyan Desert, and precipitated sand,—`blood rain' or `red snow,'—a chief character of the sirocco after it reaches Italy.]

"The hot winds which resemble the siroccos in Sicily are, however, a drawback . . . but they are almost invariably succeeded by what is there called a `brickfielder,' which is a strong southerly wind, which soon cools the air, and greatly reduces the temperature."

[Here the cold temperature of the brickfielder is described, but not its dust, and the writer compares the hot wind which precedes the brickfielder with the sirocco. He in fact thinks only of the heat of the sirocco, but the two preceding writers are thinking of its sand, its thick haze, its quality of blackness and its suffocating character,—all which applied accurately to the true brickfielder.]

1853. Rev. H. Berkeley Jones, `Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853,' p. 228:

"After the languor, the lassitude, and enervation which some persons experience during these hot blasts, comes the `Brickfielder,' or southerly burster."

"When the wind blows strongly from the southward, it is what the Sydney people call a `brickfielder'; that is, it carries with it dense clouds of red dust or sand, like brick dust, swept from the light soil which adjoins the town on that side, and so thick that the houses and streets are actually hidden; it is a darkness that may be felt."

(2) The very opposite to the original meaning,—a severe hot wind. In this inverted sense the word is now used, but not frequently, in Melbourne and in Adelaide, and sometimes even in Sydney, as the following quotations show. It will be noted that one of them (1886) observes the original prime characteristic of the wind, its dust.

"The `brickfielders' are usually followed, before the day closes, with `south-busters' [sic.]."

This curious inversion of meaning (the change from cold to hot) may be traced to several causes. It may arise—

(a) From the name itself. People in Melbourne and Adelaide, catching at the word brickfielder as a name for a dusty wind, and knowing nothing of the origin of the name, would readily adapt it to their own severe hot north winds, which raise clouds of dust all day, and are described accurately as being `like a blast from a furnace,' or `the breath of a brick-kiln.' Even a younger generation in Sydney, having received the word by colloquial tradition, losing its origin, and knowing nothing of the old brickfields, might apply the word to a hot blast in the same way.

(b) From the peculiar phenomenon.—A certain cyclonic change of temperature is a special feature of the Australian coastal districts. A raging hot wind from the interior desert (north wind in Melbourne and Adelaide, west wind in Sydney) will blow for two or three days, raising clouds of dust; it will be suddenly succeeded by a `Southerly Buster' from the ocean, the cloud of dust being greatest at the moment of change, and the thermometer falling sometimes forty or fifty degrees in a few minutes. The Sydney word brickfielder was assigned originally to the latter part—the dusty cold change. Later generations, losing the finer distinction, applied the word to the whole dusty phenomenon,and ultimately specialized it to denote not so much the extreme dustiness of its later period as the more disagreeable extreme heat of its earlier phase.

(c) From the apparent, though not real, confusion of terms, by those who have described it as a `sirocco.'—The word sirocco (spelt earlier schirocco, and in Spanish and other languages with the sh sound, not the s) is the Italian equivalent of the Arabic root sharaga, `it rose.' The name of the wind, sirocco, alludes in its original Arabic form to its rising, with its cloud of sand, in the desert high-lands of North Africa. True, it is defined by Skeat as `a hot wind,' but that is only a part of its definition. Its marked characteristic is that it is sand-laden, densely hazy and black, and therefore `choking,' like the brickfielder. The not unnatural assumption that writers by comparing a brickfielder with a sirocco, thereby imply that a brickfielder is a hot wind, is thus disposed of by this characteristic, and by the notes on the passages quoted. They were dwelling only on its choking dust, and its suffocating qualities,—`a miniature sirocco.' See the following quotations on this character of the sirocco:—

"The Islands of Italy, especially Sicily and Corfu, are frequently visited by a wind of a remarkable character, to which the name of sirocco, scirocco, or schirocco, has been applied. The thermometer rises to a great height, but the air is generally thick and heavy . . . . People confine themselves within doors; the windows and doors are shut close, to prevent as much as possible the external air from entering; . . . but a few hours of the tramontane, or north wind which generally succeeds it, soon braces them up again. [Compare this whole phenomenon with (b) above.] There are some peculiar circumstances attending the wind. . . . Dr. Benza, an Italian physician, states:—`When the sirocco has been impetuous and violent, and followed by a shower of rain, the rain has carried with it to the ground an almost impalpable red micaceous sand, which I have collected in large quantities more than once in Sicily. . . . When we direct our attention to the island of Corfu, situated some distance eastward of Sicily, we find the sirocco assuming a somewhat different character. . . . The more eastern sirocco might be called a refreshing breeze [sic]. . . . The genuine or black sirocco (as it is called) blows from a point between south-east and south-south-east.'"

"The dust raised from the Sahara and carried northward by the sirocco often falls over the countries north of the Mediterranean as `blood rain,' or as `red snow,' the moisture and the sand falling together. . . .The temperature never rises above 95 degrees."

"(2) A hot, dry, dust-laden wind blowing from the highlands of Africa to the coasts of Malta, Sicily and Naples. . . . During its prevalence the sky is covered with a dense haze."

(3) The illustrative quotations on brickfielder, up to this point, have been in chronological consecutive order. The final three quotations below show that while the original true definition and meaning, (1), are still not quite lost, yet authoritative writers find it necessary to combat the modern popular inversion, (2).

"The `brickfielder' is not the hot wind at all; it is but another name for the cold wind, or southerly buster, which follows the hot breeze, and which, blowing over an extensive sweep of sandhills called the Brickfields, semi-circling Sydney, carries a thick cloud of dust (or `brickfielder') across the city."

[The writer is accusing Dr. Jobson (see quotation 1862, above) of plagiarism from his book `Southern Lights and Shadows.']

"A dust which covered and penetrated everything and everywhere.
This is generally known as a `brickfielder.'"

1896. `Three Essays on Australian Weather,' `On Southerly Buster,' by H. A. Hunt, p. 17:

"In the early days of Australian settlement, when the shores of Port Jackson were occupied by a sparse population, and the region beyond was unknown wilderness and desolation, a great part of the Haymarket was occupied by the brickfields from which Brickfield Hill takes its name. When a `Southerly Burster' struck the infant city, its approach was always heralded by a cloud of reddish dust from this locality, and in consequence the phenomenon gained the local name of `brickfielder.' The brickfields have long since vanished, and with them the name to which they gave rise, but the wind continues to raise clouds of dust as of old under its modern name of `Southerly Burster."

<hw>Brigalow</hw>, n. and adj. Spellings various. Native name, Buriargalah. In the Namoi dialect in New South Wales, Bri or Buri is the name for Acacia pendula, Cunn.; Buriagal, relating to the buri; Buriagalah == place of the buri tree. Any one of several species of Acacia, especially A. harpophylla, F. v. M., H.O. Leguminosae. J. H. Maiden (`Useful Native Plants,' p. 356, 1889) gives its uses thus:

"Wood brown, hard, heavy, and elastic; used by the natives for spears, boomerangs, and clubs. The wood splits freely, and is used for fancy turnery. Saplings used as stakes in vineyards have lasted twenty years or more. It is used for building purposes, and has a strong odour of violets.'

"Almost impassable bricklow scrub, so called from the bricklow (a species of acacia)."

"The Bricklow Acacia, which seems to be identical with the Rosewood Acacia of Moreton Bay; the latter, however, is a fine tree, 50 to 60 feet high, whereas the former is either a small tree or a shrub. I could not satisfactorily ascertain the origin of the word Bricklow, but as it is well understood and generally adopted by all the squatters between the Severn River and the Boyne, I shall make use of the name. Its long, slightly falcate leaves, being of a silvery green colour, give a peculiar character to the forest, where the tree abounds."—[Footnote]: "Brigaloe Gould."

"Now they pass through a small patch of Brigalow scrub. Some one has split a piece from a trunk of a small tree. What a scent the dark-grained wood has!"

"There exudes from the Brigalow a white gum, in outward appearance like gum-arabic, and even clearer, but as a `sticker' valueless, and as a `chew-gum' disappointing."

"The glare of a hard and pitiless sky overhead, the infinite vista of saltbush, brigalow, stay-a-while, and mulga, the creeks only stretches of stone, and no shelter from the shadeless gums."

<hw>Brill</hw>, n. a small and very bony rhomboidal fish of New Zealand, Pseudorhombus scaphus, family Pleuronectidae. The true Brill of Europe is Rhombus levis.

<hw>Bristle-bird</hw>, n. a name given to certain Australian Reed-warblers. They are—Sphenura brachyptera, Latham; Long-tailed B.—S. longirostris, Gould; Rufous-headed B.—S. broadbentii, McCoy. See Sphenura.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 232:

<hw>Broad-leaf</hw>, n. a settlers' name for Griselinia littoralis, Raoul; Maori name, Paukatea.

"There are few trees in the [Otago] bush so conspicuous or so well known as the broad-leaf. . . . It grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet, and a diameter of from three to six; the bark is coarse and fibrous, and the leaves a beautiful deep green of great brilliancy."

1879. J. B. Armstrong, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. Art. 49, p. 328:

"The broadleaf (Griselinia littoralis) is abundant in the district [of Banks' Peninsula], and produces a hard red wood of a durable nature."

<hw>Broker</hw>, n. Australian slang for a man completely ruined, stonebroke.

"We're nearly `dead brokers,' as they say out here. Let's harness up Eclipse and go over to old Yamnibar."

<hw>Bronze-wing</hw>, n. a bird with a lustrous shoulder, Phaps chalcoptera, Lath. Called also Bronze-wing Pigeon.

"One of the gold-winged pigeons, of which a plate is annexed. [Under plate, Golden-winged Pigeon.] This bird is a curious and singular species remarkable for having most of the feathers of the wing marked with a brilliant spot of golden yellow, changing, in various reflections of light, to green and copper-bronze, and when the wing is closed, forming two bars of the same across it."

"The pigeons are by far the most beautiful birds in the island; they are called bronze-winged pigeons."

"Mr. Fitzpatrick followed his kangaroo hounds, and shot his emus, his wild turkeys, and his bronze-wings."

"Hours ago the bronze-wing pigeons had taken their evening draught from the coffee-coloured water-hole beyond the butcher's paddock, and then flown back into the bush to roost on `honeysuckle' and in heather."

"Another most beautiful pigeon is the `bronze-wing,' which is nearly the size of the English wood-pigeon, and has a magnificent purply-bronze speculum on the wings."

"Both the bronze-wing and Wonga-Wonga pigeon are hunted so keenly that in a few years they will have become extinct in Victoria."

"Those who care for museum studies must have been interested in tracing the Australian quail and pigeon families to a point where they blend their separate identities in the partridge bronze-wing of the Central Australian plains. The eggs mark the converging lines just as clearly as the birds, for the partridge-pigeon lays an egg much more like that of a quail than a pigeon, and lays, quail fashion, on the ground."

<hw>Brook-Lime</hw>, n. English name for an aquatic plant, applied in Australia to the plant Gratiola pedunculata, R. Br., N.O. Scrophularinae. Also called Heartsease.

<hw>Broom</hw>, n. name applied to the plant Calycothrix tetragona, Lab., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Broom, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Viminaria denudala, Smith, N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Broom, Purple</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Comesperma retusum, Lab., N.O. Polygaleae.

<hw>Brown-tail</hw>, n. bird-name for the Tasmanian Tit. See Tit.

"Acanthiza Diemenensis, Gould. Brown-tail, colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Brown Tree-Lizard</hw>, n. of New Zealand, Naultinus pacificus.

"Four o'clock. `Smoke O!' again with more bread and brownie (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants)."

<hw>Brumby, Broombie</hw> (spelling various), n. a wild horse. The origin of this word is very doubtful. Some claim for it an aboriginal, and some an English source. In its present shape it figures in one aboriginal vocabulary, given in Curr's `Australian Race' (1887), vol. iii. p. 259. At p. 284, booramby is given as meaning "wild" on the river Warrego in Queensland. The use of the word seems to have spread from the Warrego and the Balowne about 1864. Before that date, and in other parts of the bush ere the word came to them, wild horses were called clear-skins or scrubbers, whilst Yarraman (q.v.) is the aboriginal word for a quiet or broken horse. A different origin was, however, given by an old resident of New South Wales, to a lady of the name of Brumby, viz. "that in the early days of that colony, a Lieutenant Brumby, who was on the staff of one of the Governors, imported some very good horses, and that some of their descendants being allowed to run wild became the ancestors the wild horses of New South Wales and Queensland." Confirmation of this story is to be desired.

"Passing through a belt of mulga, we saw, on reaching its edge, a mob of horses grazing on the plains beyond. These our guide pronounced to be `brumbies,' the bush name here [Queensland] for wild horses."

"The wild horses of this continent known all over it by the
Australian name of `brumbies.'"

"Juggling about the country, with an Australian larrikin; a `brumby' with as much breed as the boy. . . . People who lost money on him called him a `brumby.'"

"The brumbie horse of Australia, tho' not a distinct equine variety, possesses attributes and qualities peculiar to itself, and, like the wild cattle and wild buffaloes of Australia, is the descendant of runaways of imported stock."

"Amongst the blacks on the Lower Balonne, Nebine, Warrego, and Bulloo rivers the word used for horse is `baroombie,' the `a' being cut so short that the word sounds as `broombie,' and as far as my experience goes refers more to unbroken horses in distinction to quiet or broken ones (`yarraman')."

"Yet at times we long to gallop where the reckless bushman rides
In the wake of startled brumbies that are flying for their
hides."

<hw>Brush</hw>, n. at first undergrowth, small trees, as in England; afterwards applied to larger timber growth and forest trees. Its earlier sense survives in the compound words; see below.

"Those vast primeval forests of New South Wales to which the colonists have applied the name of brushes."

1853. Chas. St. Julian and Edward K. Silvester, `The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,' p. 20:

"What the colonists term `brush' lands are those covered with tall trees growing so near each other and being so closely matted together by underwood, parasites, and creepers, as to be wholly impassable."

"Brush was allotted to the growth of large timber on alluvial lands, with other trees intermixed, and tangled vines. The soil was rich, and `brushland' was well understood as a descriptive term. It may die away, but its meaning deserves to be pointed out."

<hw>Brush-Cherry</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., and Eugenia myrtifolia, Simms. Called also Brush-Myrtle.

<hw>Brush-Deal</hw>, n. a slender Queensland tree, Cupania anacardioides, A. Richard. See Brush, above.

<hw>Brusher</hw>, n. a Bushman's name, in certain parts, for a small wallaby which hops about in the bush or scrub with considerable speed. "To give brusher," is a phrase derived from this, and used in many parts, especially of the interior of Australia, and implies that a man has left without paying his debts. In reply to the question "Has so-and-so left the township? "the answer, "Oh yes, he gave them brusher," would be well understood in the above sense.

"These dogs . . . are particularly useful in catching the bandicoots, the small brush kangaroo, and the opossum."

"Violet was so fast that she could catch the brush-kangaroo (the wallaby) within sight."

<hw>Brush-Turpentine</hw>, n. another name for the tree Syncarpia leptopetala, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae, called also Myrtle (q.v.).

<hw>Buck</hw>, v. Used "intransitively of a horse, to leap vertically from the ground, drawing the feet together like a deer, and arching the back. Also transitively to buck off." (`O.E.D.') Some say that this word is not Australian, but all the early quotations of buck and cognate words are connected with Australia. The word is now used freely in the United States; see quotation, 1882.

"Having gained his seat by a nimble spring, I have seen a man (a Sydney native) so much at his ease, that while the horse has been `bucking a hurricane,' to use a colonial expression, the rider has been cutting up his tobacco and filling his pipe, while several feet in the air, nothing to front of him excepting a small lock of the animal's mane (the head being between its legs), and very little behind him, the stern being down; the horse either giving a turn to the air, or going forward every buck."

"`Well,' said one, `that fellow went to market like a bird.' `Yes,' echoed another, `Bucked a blessed hurricane.' `Buck a town down,' cried a third. `Never seed a horse strip himself quicker,' cried a fourth."

"There are two ways, I understand, of sitting a bucking horse . . . one is `to follow the buck,' the other `to receive the buck.'"

"The performance is quite peculiar to Australian horses, and no one who has not seen them at it would believe the rapid contortions of which they are capable. In bucking, a horse tucks his head right between his fore-legs, sometimes striking his jaw with his hind feet. The back meantime is arched like a boiled prawn's; and in this position the animal makes a series of tremendous bounds, sometimes forwards, sometimes sideways and backwards, keeping it up for several minutes at intervals of a few seconds."

"For, mark me, he can sit a buck
For hours and hours together;
And never horse has had the luck
To pitch him from the leather."

<hw>Bucker</hw>, <hw>Buck-jumper</hw>, n. a horse given to bucking or buck-jumping.

1853. H. Berkeley Jones, `Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853,' [Footnote] p. 143:

"If we should . . . select a `bucker,' the probabilities are that we will come to grief."

"`Were you ever on a buck-jumper?' I was asked by a friend, shortly after my return from Australia."

"At length it shook off all its holders, and made one of those extraordinary vaults that they call buck-jumping."

1859. Rev. J. D. Mereweather, `Diary of a Working Clergyman in Australia and Tasmania, kept during the years 1850-1853,' p. 177:

"I believe that an inveterate buckjumper can be cured by slinging up one of the four legs, and lunging him about severely in heavy ground on the three legs. The action they must needs make use of on such an occasion somewhat resembles the action of bucking; and after some severe trials of that sort, they take a dislike to the whole style of thing. An Irishman on the Murrumbidgee is very clever at this schooling. It is called here `turning a horse inside out.'"

"The majority of the horses there [in Australia] are vicious and given to the trick of buck jumping." [It may be worth while to add that this is not strictly accurate.]

"`I should say that buck jumping was produced in this country by bad breaking,' said Mr. Neuchamp oracularly. `Don't you believe it, sir. Bucking is like other vices—runs in the blood.'"

<hw>Buck-shot</hw>, n. a settlers' term for a geological formation. See quotation.

"The plain under our feet was everywhere furrowed by Dead men's graves, and generally covered with the granulated lava, aptly named by the settlers buck-shot, and found throughout the country on these trappean `formations. Buck-shot is always imbedded in a sandy alluvium, sometimes several feet thick."

1877. Australie, `The Buddawong's Crown,' `Australian Poets,' 1788-1888, ed. Sladen, p. 39:

"A Buddawong seed-nut fell to earth,
In a cool and mossy glade,
And in spring it shot up its barbed green swords,
Secure 'neath the myrtle's shade.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the poor, poor palm has died indeed.
But little the strangers care,
`There are zamias in plenty more,' they say,
But the crown is a beauty rare."

<hw>Budgeree</hw>, adj. aboriginal word for good, which is common colloquially in the bush. See Budgerigar.

"They very frequently, at the conclusion of the dance, would apply to us . . . for marks of our approbation . . . which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery, good; or boojery caribberie, a good dance."

<hw>Budgerigar</hw>, or <hw>Betcherrygah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the bird called by Gould the Warbling Grass-parrakeet; called also Shell-parrot and Zebra- Grass-parrakeet. In the Port Jackson dialect budgeri, or boodgeri, means good, excellent. In `Collins' Vocabulary' (1798), boodjer-re = good. In New South Wales gar is common as first syllable of the name for the white cockatoo, as garaweh. See Galah. In the north of New South Wales kaar= white cockatoo. The spelling is very various, but the first of the two above given is the more correct etymologically. In the United States it is spelt beauregarde, derived by `Standard' from French beau and regarde, a manifest instance of the law of Hobson -Jobson.

"Melopsittacus Undulatus. Warbling Grass-Parrakeet. Canary Parrot—colonists. Betcherrygah—natives of Liverpool Plains."

"There is also a small green creature like a miniature cockatoo, called a Budgeragar, which was brought from Australia. He is quaint and now and then noisy, but not on the whole a demonstrative being."

"I saw several pairs of those pretty grass or zebra parroquets, which are called here by the very inharmonious name of `budgereghars.'"

<hw>Bugle</hw>, n. name given to the Australian plant Ajuga australis, R. Br., N.O. Labiatae.

<hw>Bugler</hw>, n. a name given in Tasmania to the fish Centriscus scolopax, family Centriscidae; called in Europe the Trumpet-fish, Bellows-fish, the latter name being also used for it in Tasmania. The structure of the mouth and snout suggests a musical instrument, or, combined with the outline of the body, a pair of bellows. The fish occurs also in Europe.

<hw>Bugong</hw>, or <hw>Bogong</hw>, or <hw>Bougong</hw>, n. an Australian moth, Danais limniace, or Agrotis spina, eaten by the aborigines.

1834. Rev. W. B. Clarke, `Researches in the Southern Gold Fields of New South Wales' (second edition), p. 228:

"These moths have obtained their name from their occurrence on the `Bogongs' or granite mountains. They were described by my friend Dr. Bennett in his interesting work on `New South Wales,' 1832-4, as abundant on the Bogong Mountain, Tumut River. I found them equally abundant, and in full vigour, in December, coming in clouds from the granite peaks of the Muniong Range. The blacks throw them on the fire and eat them."

"The westward range is called the Bougongs. The blacks during summer are in the habit of coming thus far to collect and feed on the great grey moths (bougongs) which are found on the rocks."

"The Gibbs Land and Murray districts have been divided into the following counties: . . . Bogong (native name of grubs and moths)."

"The moths—the Bugong moths(Agrolis suffusa) are greedily devoured by the natives; and in former times, when they were in season, they assembled in great numbers to eat there, and they grew fat on this food." [Also a long footnote.]

"My aim was to obtain some `Boogongs,' the native name for the moths which so abundantly occur on this range, and no doubt have given it its name."

"It cannot be stated positively, but it is thought that the name of the moth `bogong' is taken from that of the mountain. The meaning of the word is not known, but probably it is an aboriginal word."

<hw>Bull-a-bull</hw>, or <hw>Bullybul</hw>, n. a child's corruption of the Maori word Poroporo (q.v.), a flowering shrub of New Zealand. It is allied to the Kangaroo-Apple (q.v.).

<hw>Bull-ant</hw>, n. contracted and common form of the words Bull-dog Ant (q.v.).

<hw>Bull-dog Ant</hw>, n. (frequently shortened to Bull-dog or Bull-ant), an ant of large size with a fierce bite. The name is applied to various species of the genus Myrmecia, which is common throughout Australia and Tasmania.

"Busy colonies of ants (which everywhere infest the country). . . One kind is very warlike—the `bull-dog': sentinels stand on the watch, outside the nest, and in case of attack disappear for a moment and return with a whole army of the red-headed monsters, and should they nip you, will give you a remembrance of their sting never to be forgotten."

"The aborigine is now nearly extinct,
But the bull-dog-ant and the kangaroo rat
Are a little too thick—I think."

"Where the wily free-selector walks in armour-plated pants,
And defies the stings of scorpion and the bites of bull-dog
ants."

<hw>Bull-head</hw>, n. The name is applied to many fishes of different families in various parts of the world, none of which are the same as the following two. (1) A shark of Tasmania and South Australia of small size and harmless, with teeth formed for crushing shells, Heterodontus phillipi , Lacep., family Cestraciontidae; also called the Bull-dog Shark, and in Sydney, where it is common, the Port-Jackson Shark : the aboriginal name was Tabbigan. (2) A freshwater fish of New Zealand, Eleotris gobioides, Cuv.and Val., family Gobiidae. See Bighead.

<hw>Bulln-Bulln</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for the Lyre-bird (q.v.). This native name is imitative. The most southerly county in Victoria is called Buln-Buln; it is the haunt of the Lyre-bird.

"We afterwards learned that this was the work of the Bullen Bullen, or Lyre-bird, in its search for large worms, its favourite food."

"The Gipps Land and Murray districts have been divided into the following counties: . . . Buln Buln (name of Lyre-bird)."

<hw>Bullocky</hw>, n. and adj. a bullockdriver." In the bush all the heavy hauling is done with bullock-drays. It is quite a common sight up the country to see teams of a dozen and upwards." (B. and L.)

<hw>Bull-puncher</hw>, or <hw>Bullock-puncher</hw>, n. slang for a bullockdriver. According to Barrere and Leland's `Slang Dictionary,' the word has a somewhat different meaning in America, where it means a drover. See Punch.

"The stockmen and the bushmen and the shepherds leave the station,
And the hardy bullock-punchers throw aside their occupation."

"These teams would comprise from five to six pairs of bullocks each, and were driven by a man euphoniously termed a `bull-puncher.' Armed with a six-foot thong, fastened to a supple stick seven feet long. . . ."

<hw>Bull-rout</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Centropogon robustus, Guenth., family Scorpaenidae.

"It emits a loud and harsh grunting noise when it is caught. . . . The fisherman knows what he has got by the noise before he brings his fish to the surface. . . . When out of the water the noise of the bull-rout is loudest, and it spreads its gills and fins a little, so as to appear very formidable. . . . The blacks held it in great dread, and the name of bull-rout may possibly be a corruption of some native word."

<hw>Bull's-eye</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Priacanthus macracanthus, Cuv.and Val. Priacanthus, says Guenther, is a percoid fish with short snout, lower jaw and chin prominent, and small rough scales all over them and the body generally. The eye large, and the colour red, pink, or silvery.

"Another good table-fish is the `bull's-eye,' a beautiful salmon-red fish with small scales. . . . At times it enters the harbours in considerable numbers; but the supply is irregular."

<hw>Bulls-wool</hw>, n. colloquial name for the inner portion of the covering of the Stringybark-tree (q.v.). This is a dry finely fibrous substance, easily disintegrated by rubbing between the hands. It forms a valuable tinder for kindling a fire in the bush, and is largely employed for that purpose. It is not unlike the matted hair of a bull, and is reddish in colour, hence perhaps this nickname, which is common in the Tasmanian bush.

<hw>Bully</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Blennius tasmanianus, Richards., family Blennidae.

<hw>Bung, to go</hw>, v. to fail, to become bankrupt. This phrase of English school-boy slang, meaning to go off with an explosion, to go to smash (also according to Barrere and Leland still in use among American thieves), is in very frequent use in Australia. In Melbourne in the times that followed the collapse of the land-boom it was a common expression to say that Mr. So-and-so had "gone bung," sc. filed his schedule or made a composition with creditors; or that an institution had "gone bung," sc. closed its doors, collapsed. In parts of Australia, in New South Wales and Queensland, the word "bung" is an aboriginal word meaning "dead," and even though the slang word be of English origin, its frequency of use in Australia may be due to the existence of the aboriginal word, which forms the last syllable in Billabong (q.v.), and in the aboriginal word milbung blind, literally, eye-dead.

"A place called Umpie Bung, or the dead houses."
[It is now a suburb of Brisbane, Humpy-bong.]

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 175 [in Blacks' pigeon English]:

"Missis bail bong, ony cawbawn prighten. (Missis not dead, only dreadfully frightened.)"

"But just before you hands 'im [the horse] over and gets the money, he goes bong on you" (i.e. he dies).

"Their [the blacks'] ordinary creed is very simple. `Directly me bung (die) me jump up white feller,' and this seems to be the height of their ambition."

"He was importuned to desist, as his musical talent had `gone bung,' probably from over-indulgence in confectionery."

"Still change is humanity's lot. It is but the space of a day
Till cold is the damask cheek, and silent the eloquent tongue,
All flesh is grass, says the preacher, like grass it is withered
away,
And we gaze on a bank in the evening, and lo, in the morn
'tis bung."

"Perhaps Sydney may supply us with a useful example. One member of the mischief-making brotherhood wrote the words `gone bung' under a notice on the Government Savings Bank, and he was brought before the Police Court charged with damaging the bank's property to the extent of 3d. The offender offered the Bench his views on the bank, but the magistrates bluntly told him his conduct was disgraceful, and fined him L 3 with costs, or two months' imprisonment."

<hw>Bunga</hw> or <hw>Bungy</hw>, n. a New Zealand settlers' corruption of the Maori word punga (q.v.).

<hw>Bunt</hw>, n. a Queensland fungus growing on wheat, fetid when crushed. Tilletia caries, Tul., N.O. Fungi.

<hw>Bunya-Bunya</hw>, n. aboriginal word. [Bunyi at heads of Burnett, Mary, and Brisbane rivers, Queensland; baanya, on the Darling Downs.] An Australian tree, Araucaria bidwillii, Hooker, with fruit somewhat like Bertholletia excelsa, N.O. Coniferae. Widgi-Widgi station on the Mary was the head-quarters for the fruit of this tree, and some thousands of blacks used to assemble there in the season to feast on it; it was at this assembly that they used to indulge in cannibalism ; every third year the trees were said to bear a very abundant crop. The Bunya-Bunya mountains in Queensland derive their name from this tree.

"The bunya-bunya tree is noble and gigantic, and its umbrella-like head overtowers all the trees of the bush."

"The kernel of the Bunya fruit has a very fine aroma, and it is certainly delicious eating."

"The Bunya-Bunya or Araucaria on the seeds of which numerous tribes of blacks are accustomed to feed."

"A splendid timber tree of South Queensland, where it forms dense forests, one of the finest of the Araucaria tribe, attaining an approximate height of 200 feet. The Bunya-Bunya withstands drought better than most of the genus, and flourishes luxuriantly in and around Melbourne."

[A full account.] "In laying up a store of bunyas, the blacks exhibited an unusual foresight. When the fruit was in season, they filled netted bags with the seeds, and buried them."

"The cones shed their seeds, which are two to two and a half inches long by three-quarters of an inch broad; they are sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after that resemble roasted chestnuts in taste. They are plentiful once in three years, and when the ripening season arrives, which is generally in the month of January, the aborigina&ls assemble in large numbers from a great distance around, and feast upon them. Each tribe has its own particular set of trees, and of these each family has a certain number allotted, which are handed down from generation to generation with great exactness. The bunya is remarkable as being the only hereditary property which any of the aborigines are known to possess, and it is therefore protected by law. The food seems to have a fattening effect on the aborigines, and they eat large quantities of it after roasting it at the fire."

"The `Bunya-bunya' of the aboriginals—a name invariably adopted by the colonists."

"The Bunya-bunya tree, in the proper season, bears a fir cone of great size—six to nine inches long-and this, when roasted, yields a vegetable pulp, pleasant to eat and nutritious."

"There is a beautiful bunya-bunya in a garden just beyond, its foliage fresh varnished by the rain, and toning from a rich darkness to the very spring tint of tender green."

<hw>Bunyip</hw>, n. (1) the aboriginal name of a fabulous animal. See quotations. For the traditions of the natives on this subject see Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 435.

"Certain large fossil bones, found in various parts of Australia Felix, have been referred by the natives, when consulted on the subject by the colonists, to a huge animal of extraordinary appearance, called in some districts the Bunyup, in others the Kianpraty, which they assert to be still alive. It is described as of amphibious character, inhabiting deep rivers, and permanent water-holes, having a round head, an elongated neck, with a body and tail resembling an ox. These reports have not been unattended to, and the bunyup is said to have been actually seen by many parties, colonists as well as aborigines. . . .[A skull which the natives said was that of a `piccinini Kianpraty' was found by Professor Owen to be that of a young calf. The Professor] considers it all but impossible that such a large animal as the bunyup of the natives can be now living in the country. [Mr. Westgarth suspects] it is only a tradition of the alligator or crocodile of the north."

"On the skull now exhibited at the Colonial Museum of Sydney as that of the Bunyip."

"Did my reader ever hear of the Bunyip (fearful name to the aboriginal native!) a sort of `half-horse, half-alligator,' haunting the wide rushy swamps and lagoons of the interior?"

"The river is too deep, child, and the Bunyip lives in the water under the stones."

"Beyond a doubt, in `Lushy Luke's' belief, a Bunyip had taken temporary lodgings outside the town. This bete noire of the Australian bush Luke asserted he had often seen in bygone times. He described it as being bigger than an elephant, in shape like a `poley' bullock, with eyes like live coals, and with tusks like a walrus's. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What the Bunyip is, I cannot pretend to say, but I think it is highly probable that the stories told by both old bushmen and blackfellows, of some bush beast bigger and fiercer than any commonly known in Australia, are founded on fact. Fear and the love of the marvellous may have introduced a considerable element of exaggeration into these stories, but I cannot help suspecting that the myths have an historical basis."

1872. C. Gould, `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' 1872, p. 33:

"The belief in the Bunyip was just as prevalent among the natives in parts hundreds of miles distant from any stream in which alligators occur. . . . Some other animal must be sought for." . . . [Gould then quotes from `The Mercury' of April 26, 1872, an extract from the `Wagga Advertiser']: "There really is a Bunyip or Waa-wee, actually existing not far from us . . . in the Midgeon Lagoon, sixteen miles north of Naraudera . . . I saw a creature coming through the water with tremendous rapidity . . . . The animal was about half as long again as an ordinary retriever dog, the hair all over its body was jet black and shining, its coat was very long." [Gould cites other instances, and concludes that the Bunyip is probably a seal.]

"In the south-eastern part of Australia the evil spirit of the natives is called Bunjup, a monster which is believed to dwell in the lakes. It has of late been supposed that this is a mammal of considerable size that has not yet been discovered . . . is described as a monster with countless eyes and ears. . . . He has sharp claws, and can run so fast that it is difficult to escape him. He is cruel, and spares no one either young or old."

"The hollow boom so often heard on the margin of reedy swamps —more hollow and louder by night than day—is the mythical bunyip, the actual bittern."

"One advantage arose from the aforesaid long-deferred discovery —a new and strong word was adopted into the Australian vocabulary: Bunyip became, and remains a Sydney synonoyme for impostor, pretender, humbug, and the like. The black fellows, however, unaware of the extinction, by superior authority, of their favourite loup-garou, still continue to cherish the fabulous bunyip in their shuddering imagination."

1853. W. C. Wentworth—Speech in August quoted by Sir Henry Parkes in `Fifty Years of Australian History' (1892), vol. i. p. 41:

"They had been twitted with attempting to create a mushroom, a Brummagem, a bunyip aristocracy; but I need scarcely observe that where argument fails ridicule is generally resorted to for aid."

<hw>Burnet, Native</hw>, n. The name is given in Australia to the plant Acaena ovina, Cunn., N.O. Rosaceae.

<hw>Burnett Salmon</hw>, n. one of the names given to the fish Ceratodus forsteri, Krefft. See Burramundi.

<hw>Burnt-stuff</hw>, n. a geological term used by miners. See quotation.

"The top, or surface soil, for which a spade or shovel is used, was of clay. This was succeeded by a strata almost as hard as iron—technically called `burnt-stuff'—which robbed the pick of its points nearly as soon as the blacksmith had steeled them at a charge of 2s. 6d. a point."

<hw>Bur</hw>, n. In Tasmania the name is applied to Acaena rosaceae, Vahl., N.O. Rosaceae.

<hw>Burramundi</hw>, or <hw>Barramunda</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish, Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Guenth., family Osteoglossidae, found in the Dawson and Fitzroy Rivers, Queensland. The name is also incorrectly applied by the colonists to the large tidal perch of the Fitzroy River, Queensland, Lates calcarifer, Guenth., a widely distributed fish in the East Indies, and to Ceratodus forsteri, Krefft, family Sirenidae, of the Mary and Burnett Rivers, Queensland. Burramundi is the aboriginal name for O. leichhardtii. The spelling barramunda is due to the influence of barracouta (q.v.). See Perch.

"There is a fish too at Rockhampton called the burra mundi,—
I hope I spell the name rightly,—which is very commendable."

"Ceratodus. . . . Two species, C. forsteri and C. miolepis, are known from fresh-waters of Queensland. . . . Locally the settlers call it `flathead,' `Burnett or Dawson salmon,' and the aborigines `barramunda,' a name which they apply also to other largescaled fresh-water fishes, as the Osteoglossum leichhardtii. . . . The discovery of Ceratodus does not date farther back than the year 1870."

1882. W. Macleay, `Descriptive Catalogue of Australian fishes' ('Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' vol. vi. p. 256):

"Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Gunth. Barramundi of the aborigines of the Dawson River."

1892. Baldwin Spencer, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria,' vol. iv. [Note on the habits of Ceratodus forsterii]

"It has two common names, one of which is the `Burnett Salmon' and the other the `Barramunda" . . . the latter name . . . is properly applied to a very different form, a true teleostean fish (Osteoglossum leichhardtii) which is found . . . further north . . . in the Dawson and Fitzroy . . . Mr. Saville Kent states that the Ceratodus is much prized as food. This is a mistake, for, as a matter of fact, it is only eaten by Chinese and those who can afford to get nothing better."

<hw>Burrawang</hw>, or <hw>Burwan</hw>, n. an Australian nut-tree, Macrozamia spiralis, Miq.

"The burwan is a nut much relished by our natives, who prepare it by roasting and immersion in a running stream, to free it from its poisonous qualities."

"The Burrowan, which grows in a sandy soil, and produces an inedible fruit, resembling the pine-apple in appearance."

"Burrawang nut, so called because they used to be, and are to some extent now, very common about Burrawang, N.S.W. The nuts are relished by the aboriginals. An arrowroot of very good quality is obtained from them."

<hw>Bush</hw>, n. Not originally an Australian application. "Recent, and probably a direct adoption of the Dutch Bosch, in colonies originally Dutch" (`O.E.D.'), [quoting (1780) Forster, in `Phil. Trans.' lxxi. 2, "The common Bush-cat of the Cape;" and (1818) Scott, `Tapestr. Chamber,' "When I was in the Bush, as the Virginians call it"]. "Woodland, country more or less covered with natural wood applied to the uncleared or untitled districts in the British Colonies which are still in a state of nature, or largely so, even though not wooded; and by extension to the country as opposed to the towns." (`O.E.D.')

"I have spent a good deal of my time in the woods, or bush, as it is called here.'

"With the exception of two or three little farms, comprising about 20 or 30 acres of cultivation, all was `bush' as it is colonially called. The undergrowth was mostly clear, being covered only with grass or herbs, with here and there some low shrubs."

"His house was well enough for the bush, as the country is generally termed in the colony."

"`The Bush,' when the word is used in the towns, means all the uninclosed and uncultivated country . . . when in the country, `the Bush' means more especially the forest. The word itself has been borrowed from the Cape, and is of Dutch origin."

"`Give us something to do in or about Melbourne, not away in the bush,' says the deputation of the unemployed."

"At first the eternal silence of the bush is oppressive, but a short sojourn is sufficient to accustom a neophyte to the new scene, and he speedily becomes enamoured of it."

"The `bush,' a generic term synonymous with `forest' or `jungle,' applied to all land in its primaeval condition, whether occupied by herds or not."

"All the advantages of civilized life have been surrendered for the bush, its blanket and gunyah."

"The technical meaning of the word `bush.' The bush is the gum-tree forest, with which so great a part of Australia is covered, that folk who follow a country life are invariably said to live in the bush. Squatters who look after their own runs always live in the bush, even though their sheep are pastured on plains. Instead of a town mouse and a country mouse in Australia, there would be a town mouse and a bush mouse; but mice living in the small country towns would still be bush mice."

"Nearly every place beyond the influence of the big towns is called `bush,' even though there should not be a tree to be seen around."

"Bush was a general term for the interior. It might be thick bush, open bush, bush forest, or scrubby bushterms which explain themselves."

"The first thing that strikes me is the lifeless solitude of the bush. . . . There is a deep fascination about the freedom of the bush."

"Almost the whole of New South Wales is covered with bush. It is not the bush as known in New Zealand. It is rather a park-like expanse, where the trees stand widely apart, and where there is grass on the soil between them."

<hw>Bush</hw>, adj. or in composition, not always easy to distinguish, the hyphen depending on the fancy of the writer.

"The round trundling of our cart wheels, it is well known, does not always improve the labours of Macadam, much less a bush road."

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria, during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,'p. 75:

1849. J. Sidney, `Emigrants' Journal, and Travellers' Magazine,' p. 40 (Letter from Caroline Chisholm):

"What I would particularly recommend to new settlers is `Bush Partnership'—Let two friends or neighbours agree to work together, until three acres are cropped, dividing the work, the expense, and the produce—this partnership will grow apace; I have made numerous bush agreements of this kind . . . I never knew any quarrel or bad feeling result from these partnerships, on the contrary, I believe them calculated to promote much neighbourly good will; but in the association of a large number of strangers, for an indefinite period, I have no confidence."

[Bush-road, however, does not usually mean a made-road through the bush, but a road which has not been formed, and is in a state of nature except for the wear of vehicles upon it, and perhaps the clearing of trees and scrub.]

"The roads from the nascent metropolis still partook mainly of the random character of `bush tracks.'"

"Dr. Wills offered to go himself in the absence of any more youthful and, through bush seasoning, qualified person."

"Not as bush roads go. The Australian habit is here followed of using `bush' for country, though no word could be more ludicrously inapplicable, for there is hardly anything on the way that can really be called a bush."

"Canada, Cape Colony, and Australia have preserved the old significance of Bush—Chaucer has it so—as a territory on which there are trees; it is a simple but, after all, a kindly development that when a territory is so unlucky as to have no trees, sometimes, indeed, to be bald of any growth whatever, it should still be spoken of as if it had them."

"It is not easy to write ballads descriptive of the bushland of Australia, as on light consideration would appear."

"About Byrock we met the bush liar in all his glory. He was dressed like—like a bush larrikin. His name was Jim."

"A broken-down, deserted shanty, inhabited once, perhaps, by rail-splitters or bush-fallers." [`O.E.D.,' from which this quotation is taken, puts (?) before the meaning; but "To fall" is not uncommon in Australia for "to fell."]

(2) Name often used for a layman who fancies he knows all about the law without consulting a solicitor. He talks a great deal, and `lays down the law.'

"For some years he cultivated and developed his capacity for rhetorical argument by practising in the minor courts of law in Tasmania as a paid advocate, a position which in those days, and under the exceptional circumstances of the Colony, was not restricted to members of the legal profession, and the term Bush Lawyer probably takes its origin from the practice of this period."

<hw>Bush-magpie</hw>, n. an Australian bird, more commonly called a Magpie (q.v.).

". . . the omnipresent bush-magpie. Here he may warble all the day long on the liquid, mellifluous notes of his Doric flute, fit pipe indeed for academic groves . . . sweetest and brightest, most cheery and sociable of all Australian birds."

<hw>Bushman</hw>, n. (1) Settler in the bush. Used to distinguish country residents from townsfolk.

"How weary, how dreary the stillness must be!
But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

"The bushman . . . Gunyah, his bark hovel; Damper, his unleavened bread baked in the ashes; Billy, his tea-kettle, universal pot and pan and bucket; Sugar-bag, his source of saccharine, a bee-tree; Pheasant, his facetious metaphoric euphism for Liar, quasi Lyre-bird; Fit for Woogooroo, for Daft or Idiotic; Brumby, his peculiar term for wild horse; Scrubber, wild ox; Nuggeting, calf-stealing; Jumbuck, sheep, in general; an Old-man, grizzled wallaroo or kangaroo; Station, Run, a sheep- or cattle-ranch; and Kabonboodgery—an echo of the sound diablery for ever in his ears, from dawn to dusk of Laughing Jackass and from dusk to dawn of Dingo—his half-bird -and-beast-like vocal substitute for Very Good. . . ."

"He was a typical bushman, . . . and of the old bush school; one of those slight active little fellows, whom we used to see in cabbage-tree hats, Crimean shirts, strapped trousers, and elastic-side boots."

(2) One who has knowledge of the bush, and is skilled in its ways. A "good bushman" is especially used of a man who can find his way where there are no tracks.

"It is hardly likely that so splendid a bushman as Mr. Batman would venture upon such an expedition had he not been well. In fact a better bushman at this time could not be met with."

"The worst bushman had to undertake the charge of the camp, cook the provisions, and look after the horses, during the absence of the rest on flying excursions."

"Very slight landmarks will serve to guide a good bushman, for no two places are really exactly alike."

"One of the best bushmen in that part of the country: the men said he could find his way over it blindfold, or on the darkest night that ever was."

"Some were what is termed, par excellence, bushmen—that is, men who split rails, get posts, shingles, take contracts for building houses, stockyards, etc.—men, in fact, who work among timber continually, sometimes felling and splitting, sometimes sawing."

<hw>Bushranger</hw>, n. one who ranges or traverses the bush, far and wide; an Australian highwayman; in the early days usually an escaped convict. Shakspeare uses the verb `to range' in this connection.

"Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage, boldly here."
(`Richard II.,' III. ii. 39.)

"Ranger" is used in modern English for one who protects and not for one who robs; as `the Ranger' of a Park.

1806. May 4, `Sydney Gazette' or `New South Wales Advertiser, given in `History of New South Wales,' p. 265:

"Yesterday afternoon, William Page, the bushranger repeatedly advertised, was apprehended by three constables."

[The settlements in Van Diemen's Land have] "been infested for many years past by a banditti of runaway convicts, who have endangered the person and property of every one. . . . These wretches, who are known in the colony by the name of bushrangers. . ."

"The supposition . . . rests solely on the authority of the Bush Rangers, a species of wandering brigands, who will be elsewhere described."

"Bushrangers, a sub-genus in the order banditti, which happily can now only exist there in places inaccessible to the mounted police."

"This country [Van Diemen's Land] is as much infested as New South Wales with robbers, runaway convicts, or, as they are termed, Bush-rangers."

"The whole region was infested by marauding bands of bush-rangers, terrible after nightfall."

"Whilst he was engaged in this duty in Victoria, a band of outlaws—'bushrangers' as they are colonially termed— who had long defied capture, and had carried on a career of murder and robbery, descended from their haunts in the mountain ranges."

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their assigned servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to their dress; which very much assisted the crime of `bush-ranging.'"

<hw>Bush-scrubber</hw>, n. a bushman's word for a boor, bumpkin, or slatternly person. See Scrubber.

<hw>Bush-telegraph</hw>, n. Confederates of bushrangers who supply them with secret information of the movements of the police.

"The police are baffled by the false reports of the confederates and the number and activity of the bush telegraphs."

"But who has championed the cause of the woman of the bush— or, would it be more correct to say bushwoman, as well as bushman?—and allowed her also a claim to participate in the founding of a nation?"

<hw>Bushed</hw>, adj., quasi past participle, lost in the bush; then, lost or at a loss.

"I left my seat to reach a shelter, which was so many miles off, that I narrowly escaped being `bushed.'"

"The poor youth, new to the wilds, had, in the expressive phrase of the colonials, got bushed, that is, utterly bewildered, and thus lost all idea of the direction that he ought to pursue."

"The Ministry did not assume its duty of leading the House, and Mr. Higgins graphically described the position of affairs by stating that the House was `bushed;' while Mr. Shiels compared the situation to a rudderless ship drifting hither and thither."

<hw>Bustard</hw>, n. "There are about twenty species, mostly of Africa, several of India, one of Australia, and three properly European." (`Century.') The Australian variety is Eupodotis australis, Gray, called also Wild Turkey, Native Turkey, and Plain Turkey. See Turkey.

<hw>Buster, Southerly</hw>, n. The word is a corruption of `burster,' that which bursts. A sudden and violent squall from the south. The name, used first in Sydney, has been adopted also in other Australian cities. See Brickfielder.

"The cold wind or southerly buster which . . . carries a thick cloud of dust . . . across the city."

"Generally these winds end in what is commonly called a `southerly buster.' This is preceded by a lull in the hot wind; then suddenly (as it has been put) it is as though a bladder of cool air were exploded, and the strong cool southerly air drives up with tremendous force. However pleasant the change of temperature may be it is no mere pastime to be caught in a `southerly buster,' but the drifting rain which always follows soon sets matters right, allays the dust, and then follows the calm fresh bracing wind which is the more delightful by contrast with the misery through which one has passed for three long dreary days and nights."

"You should see him with Commodore Jack out in the teeth of the `hard glad weather,' when a southerly buster sweeps up the harbour."

[Title of an essay which was awarded the prize of L 25 offered by the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie.]

<hw>Butcher</hw>, n. South Australian slang for a long drink of beer, so-called (it is said) because the men of a certain butchery in Adelaide used this refreshment regularly; cf. "porter" in England, after the drink of the old London porters.

<hw>Butcher-bird</hw>, n. The name is in use elsewhere, but in Australia it is applied to the genus Cracticus. The varieties are—

The Butcher-bird—
Cracticus torquatus, Lath.; formerly
C. destructor, Gould.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 213:

"Mr. Caley observes—Butcher-bird. This bird used frequently to come into some green wattle-trees near my house, and in wet weather was very noisy; from which circumstance it obtained the name of `Rain-bird.'"

"Cracticus Destructor. Butcher Bird, name given by colonists of Swan River, a permanent resident in New South Wales and South Australia. I scarcely know of any Australian bird so generally dispersed."

"Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were piping their morning song, a strange little melody with not many notes, which no one who has heard it will ever forget."

<hw>Buttercup</hw>, n. The familiar English flower is represented in Australia and Tasmania by various species of Ranunculus, such as R. lappaceus, Sm., N.O. Ranunculaceae.

<hw>Butter-fish</hw>, n. a name given in Australia to Oligorus mitchellii, Castln. (see Murray Perch); in Victoria, to Chilodactylus nigricans, Richards. (see Morwong); in New Zealand, to Coridodax pullus, Forst., called also Kelp-fish. The name is in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus. See Kelp-fish.

"The `butter-fish,' or `kelp-fish' of the colonists of New Zealand (C. pullus), is prized as food, and attains to a weight of four or five pounds."

<hw>Butterfly-conch</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for a marine univalve mollusc, Voluta papillosa, Swainson.

<hw>Butterfly-fish</hw>, n. a New Zealand sea-fish, Gasterochisma melampus, Richards., one of the Nomeidae. The ventral fins are exceedingly broad and long, and can be completely concealed in a fold of the abdomen. The New Zealand fish is so named from these fins; the European Butterfly-fish, Blennius ocellaris, derives its name from the spots on its dorsal fin, like the eyes in a peacock's tail or butterfly's wing.

<hw>Butterfly-Lobster</hw>, n. a marine crustacean, so called from the leaf-like expansion of the antennae. It is "the highly specialized macrourous decapod Ibacus Peronii." (W. A. Haswell.)

"Those curious crustaceans that I have heard called `butterfly lobsters'. . . the shell of the head and body (properly known as the carapace) expands into something like wing-forms, entirely hiding the legs beneath them."

<hw>Butterfly-Plant</hw>, n. a small flowering plant, Utricularia dichotoma, Lab., N.O. Leutibularina.

<hw>Button-grass</hw>, n. Schaenus sphaerocephalus, Poiret, N.O. Cyperaceae. The grass is found covering barren boggy land in Tasmania, but is not peculiar to Tasmania. So called from the round shaped flower (capitate inflorescence), on a thin stalk four or five feet long, like a button on the end of a foil.

<hw>Buzzard</hw>, n. an English bird-name applied in Australia to Gypoictinia melanosternon, Gould, the Black-breasted Buzzard.

<hw>Cabbage Garden</hw>, a name applied to the colony of Victoria by Sir John Robertson, the Premier of New South Wales, in contempt for its size.

"`The cabbage garden,' old cynical Sir John Robertson, of New South Wales, once called Victoria, but a garden notwithstanding. Better at any rate `the cabbage garden' than the mere sheep run or cattle paddock."

<hw>Cabbage-tree</hw>, n (1)Name given to various palm trees of which the heart of the young leaves is eaten like the head of a cabbage. In Australia the name is applied to the fan palm, Livistona inermis, R. Br., and more commonly to Livistona australis, Martius. In New Zealand the name is given to various species of Cordyline, especially to Cordyline indivisa. See also Flame-tree (2).

"We likewise found one Cabage Tree which we cut down for the sake of the cabage."

"There stands an isolated `cabbage-tree' (Ti of the natives; Cordyline Australis) nearly thirty feet high, with ramified branches and a crown of luxuriant growth."

(2) A large, low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, made out of the leaves of the Cabbage-tree (Livistona).

"This hat, made of white filaments of the cabbage-tree, seemed to excite the attention of the whole party."

"With scowl indignant flashing from his eye,
As though to wither each unshaven wretch,
Jack jogs along, nor condescends reply,
As to the price his cabbage-tree might fetch."

"Lushy Luke endeavoured to sober himself by dipping his head in the hollowed tree-trunk which serves for the water-trough of an up-country Australian inn. He forgot, however, to take off his `cabbage-tree' before he ducked, and angry at having made a fool of himself, he gave fierce orders, in a thick voice, for his men to fall in, shoulder arms, and mark time."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. pp. 160, 161:

"The cabbage-palm was also a new species, called by Mr. Brown the Livistonia inermis. It was abundant; but the cabbage (the heart of the young budding leaves) too small to be useful as an article of food, at least to a ship's company. But the leaves were found useful. These dried and drawn into strips were plaited into hats for the men, and to this day the cabbage-tree hat is very highly esteemed by the Australians, as a protection from the sun, and allowing free ventilation." [Note]: "A good cabbage-tree hat, though it very much resembles a common straw hat, will fetch as much as L3."

<hw>Cabbage-tree Mob</hw>, and <hw>Cabbagites</hw>, obsolete Australian slang for modern Larrikins (q.v)., because wearing cabbage-tree hats.

"There are to be found round the doors of the Sydney Theatre a sort of `loafers' known as the Cabbage-tree mob,—a class who, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one might excusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloody one. . . . Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites he was by them furiously assailed."

"From the trees sounds the shrill chirp of large green cicada (native cads as the bushmen call them)."

<hw>Caddie</hw>, n. a bush name for the slouch-hat or wide-awake. In the Australian bush the brim is generally turned down at the back and sometimes all round.

<hw>Cadet</hw>, n. term used in New Zealand, answering to the Australian Colonial Experience, or jackaroo (q.v.).

"A cadet, as they are called—he is a clergyman's son learning sheepfarming under our auspices."

"The military designation of cadet was applied to any young fellow who was attached to a sheep or cattle station in the same capacity as myself. He was `neither flesh nor fowl nor good red herring,' neither master nor man. He was sent to work with the men, but not paid."

<hw>Caloprymnus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus called the Plain Kangaroo-Rat. (Grk. kalos, beautiful, and prumnon, hinder part.) It has bright flanks. See Kangaroo-Rat.

" I was shown my camp, which was a slab but about a hundred yards away from the big house. . . . I was rather tired, and not sorry for the prospect of a camp."

"All about the run, at intervals of fire or six miles, are cattle-camps, and the cattle that belong to the surrounding districts are mustered on their respective camps."

"There was never his like in the open bush,
And never his match on the cattle-camps."

(3) In Australia, frequently used for a camping-out expedition. Often in composition with "out," a camp-out.

"A young fellow with even a moderate degree of sensibility must be excited by the novelty of his first `camp-out' in the Australian bush."

"We're going to have a regular camp; we intend going to Port
Hocking to have some shooting, fishing, and general diversion."

(4) A name for Sydney and for Hobart, now long obsolete, originating when British military forces were stationed there.

"It is the old resident—he who still calls Sydney, with its population of twelve thousand inhabitants, the camp,—that can appreciate these things: he who still recollects the few earth-huts and solitary tents scattered through the forest brush surrounding Sydney Cove (known properly then indeed by the name of `The Camp')."

"Living during the winter in Hobarton, usually called `the camp,' in those days."

<hw>Camp</hw>, v. (1) Generally in composition with "out," to sleep in the open air, usually without any covering. Camping out is exceedingly common in Australia owing to the warmth of the climate and the rarity of rain.

"I like to hear of benighted or belated travellers when they have had to `camp out,' as it is technically called."

"So the Bishop determined to `camp-out' at once where a good fire could be made."

"There is room here for fifty, rolled up on the floor; and should that fail them, there is no end of other places; or the bush, as a fall back, where, indeed, some of them prefer camping as it is."

"The campaign came to an abrupt and somewhat inglorious close,
Sir George Dibbs having to `camp' in a railway carriage, and
Sir Henry Parkes being flood-bound at Quirindi."

"Visitor,—`Where's your Mother?' `Oh, she's camping.'" [The lady was enjoying an afternoon nap indoors.]

"We'll have lunch first before we investigate the caves—if it's agreeable to you. I will take the horses out, and we'll find a nice place to camp before they come."

"At punching oxen you may guess
There's nothing out can camp him.
He has, in fact, the slouch and dress,
Which bullock-driver stamp him."

<hw>Camphor-wood</hw>, n. an Australian timber; the wood of Callitris (Frenea) robusta, Cunn., N.O. Coniferae. Called also Light, Black, White, Dark, and Common Pine, as the wood varies much in its colouring. See Pine.

<hw>Canajong</hw>, n. Tasmanian aboriginal name for the plants called Pig-faces (q.v.).

"Pig-faces. It was the canajong of the Tasmanian aboriginal. The fleshy fruit is eaten raw by the aborigines: the leaves are eaten baked."

<hw>Canary</hw>, n. (1) A bird-name used in New Zealand for Clitonyx ochrocephala, called also the Yellow-head. Dwellers in the back-blocks of Australia apply the name to the Orange-fronted Ephthianura (E. aurifrons, Gould), and sometimes to the White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone albigularis).

(2) Slang for a convict. See quotations. As early as 1673, `canary-bird' was thieves' English for a gaol-bird.

"Convicts of but recent migration are facetiously known by the name of canaries, by reason of the yellow plumage in which they are fledged at the period of landing."

"Can't you get your canaries off the track here for about a quarter of an hour, and let my mob of cattle pass ?"

<hw>Candle-nut</hw>, n. The name is given in Queensland to the fruit of Aleurites moluccana, Willd., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. The nuts are two or more inches diameter. The name is often given to the tree itself, which grows wild in Queensland and is cultivated in gardens there under the name of A. triloba, Forst. It is not endemic in Australia, but the vernacular name of Candle-nut is confined to Australia and the Polynesian Islands.

"Candle-nut. The kernels when dried and stuck on a reed are used by the Polynesian Islanders as a substitute for candles, and as an article of food in New Georgia. These nuts resemble walnuts somewhat in size and taste. When pressed they yield a large proportion of pure palatable oil, used as a drying-oil for paint, and known as country walnut-oil and artists' oil."

"The `Cape Barren Goose' frequents the island from which it takes its name, and others in the Straits. It is about the same size as a common goose, the plumage a handsome mottled brown and gray, somewhat owl-like in character."

[Cape Barren Island is in Bass Strait, between Flinders Island and Tasmania. Banks Strait flows between Cape Barren Island and Tasmania. The easternmost point on the island is called Cape Barren.]

<hw>Cape-Barren Tea</hw>, n. a shrub or tree, Correa alba, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

"Leptospermum lanigerum, hoary tea-tree; Acacia decurrens, black wattle; Correa alba, Cape Barren tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony."

<hw>Cape Weed</hw>, n. In Europe, Roccella tinctoria, a lichen from the Cape de Verde Islands, from which a dye is produced. In New Zealand, name given to the European cats-ear, Hypaechoris radicata. In Australia it is as in quotation below. See `Globe Encyclopaedia,' 1877 (s.v.).

"Cape Weed. Cryptostemma Calendulaceum. (Natural Order, Compositae.) This weed, which has proved such a pest in many parts of Victoria, was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope, as a fodder plant. It is an annual, flowering in the spring, and giving a bright golden hue to the fields. It proves destructive to other herbs and grasses, and though it affords a nutritious food for stock in the spring, it dies off in the middle of summer, after ripening its seeds, leaving the fields quite bare."

<hw>Caper-tree</hw>, n. The Australian tree of this name is Capparis nobilis, F. v. M., N.O. Capparideae. The Karum of the Queensland aboriginals. The fruit is one to two inches in diameter. Called also Grey Plum or Native Pomegranate. The name is also given to Capparis Mitchelli, Lindl. The European caper is Capparis spinosa, Linn.

"Native Caper Tree or Wild Pomegranate. Natural Order, Capparideae. Found in the Mallee Scrub. A small tree. The wood is whitish, hard, close-grained, and suitable for engraving, carving, and similar purposes. Strongly resembles lancewood."

<hw>Captain Cook</hw>, or <hw>Cooker</hw>, n. New Zealand colonists' slang. First applied to the wild pigs of New Zealand, supposed to be descended from those first introduced by Captain Cook; afterwards used as term of reproach for any pig which, like the wild variety, obstinately refused to fatten. See Introduction.

"Many a rare old tusker finds a home in the mountain gorges. The immense tusks at Brooksdale attest the size of the wild boars or Captain Cooks, as the patriarchs are generally named."

"The leanness and roughness of the wild pig gives it quite a different appearance from the domesticated variety; and hence a gaunt, ill-shaped, or sorry-looking pig is everywhere called in derision a `Captain Cook.'"

<hw>Carbora</hw>, n. aboriginal name for (1) the Native Bear. See Bear.

(2) A kind of water worm that eats into timber between high and low water on a tidal river.

<hw>Cardamom</hw>, n. For the Australian tree of this name, see quotation.

"The Australian cardamom tree." [Footnote]: "This is a fictitious name, as are the names of many Australian plants and animals. The tree belongs to the nutmeg family, and its real name is Myristica insipida. The name owes its existence to the similarity of the fruit to the real cardamom. But the fruit of the Myristica has not so strong and pleasant an odour as the real cardamom, and hence the tree is called insipida."

<hw>Carp</hw>, n. The English fish is of the family Cyprinidae. The name is given to different fishes in Ireland and elsewhere. In Sydney it is Chilodactylus fuscus, Castln., and Chilodactylus macropterus, Richards.; called also Morwong (q.v.). The Murray Carp is Murrayia cyprinoides, Castln., a percoid fish. Chilodactylis belongs to the family Cirrhitidae, in no way allied to Cyprinidae, which contains the European carps. Cirrhitidae, says Guenther, may be readily recognized by their thickened undivided lower pectoral rays, which in some are evidently auxiliary organs of locomotion, in others, probably, organs of touch.

<hw>Carpet-Snake</hw>, n. a large Australian snake with a variegated skin, Python variegata, Gray. In Whitworth's `Anglo-Indian Dictionary,' 1885 (s.v.), we are told that the name is loosely applied (sc. in India) to any kind of snake found in a dwelling-house other than a cobra or a dhaman. In Tasmania, a venomous snake, Hoplocephalus curtus, Schlegel. See under Snake.

"For the water-holders or `carriers' (made to fit the bodies of the horses carrying them, or to `ride easily' on pack-saddles)."

<hw>Carrot, Native</hw>, (1) Daucus brachiatus, Sieb., N.O. Umbelliferae. Not endemic in Australia.

"Native carrot. Stock are very fond of this plant when young. Sheep thrive wonderfully on it where it is plentiful. It is a small annual herbaceous plant, growing plentifully on sandhills and rich soil; the seeds, locally termed `carrot burrs,' are very injurious to wool, the hooked spines with which the seeds are armed attaching themselves to the fleece, rendering portions of it quite stiff and rigid. The common carrot belongs, of course, to this genus, and the fact that it is descended from an apparently worthless, weedy plant, indicates that the present species is capable of much improvement by cultivation."

(2) In Tasmania Geranium dissectum, Linn., is also called "native carrot."

<hw>Cascarilla, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Croton verreauxii, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

"Native cascarilla. A small tree; wood of a yellowish colour, close-grained and firm."

<hw>Cassowary</hw>, n. The word is Malay, the genus being found in "the Islands in the Indian Archipelago." (`O.E.D.') The Australian variety is Casuarius australis, Waller. The name is often erroneously applied (as in the first two quotations), to the Emu (q.v.), which is not a Cassowary.

"New Holland Cassowary. [Description given.] This bird is not uncommon to New Holland, as several of them have been seen about Botany Bay, and other parts. . . . Although this bird cannot fly, it runs so swiftly that a greyhound can scarcely overtake it. The flesh is said to be in taste not unlike beef."

"The cassowary of New South Wales is larger in all respects than the well-known bird called the cassowary."

"Casuarius Australis, Wall., Australian Cassowary, sometimes called Black Emu."

"One day an egg of a cassowary was brought to me; this bird, although it is nearly akin to the ostrich and emu, does not, like the latter, frequent the open plains, but the thick brushwood. The Australian cassowary is found in Northern Queensland from Herbert river northwards, in all the large vine-scrubs on the banks of the rivers, and on the high mountains of the coasts."

"The proud cassowary, the stateliest bird of Australia . . . this beautiful and comparatively rare creature.'"

"The Australian cassowary. . . . They are somewhat shorter and stouter in build than the emu."

<hw>Casuarina</hw>, n. the scientific name of a large group of trees common to India, and other parts lying between India and Australasia, but more numerous in Australia than elsewhere, and often forming a characteristic feature of the vegetation. They are the so-called She-oaks (q.v.). The word is not, however, Australian, and is much older than the discovery of Australia. Its etymology is contained in the quotation, 1877.

1814. R. Brown, `Botany of Terra Australis,' in M. Flinders' `Voyage to Terra Australis,' vol. ii. p. 571:

"Casuarinae. The genus Casuarina is certainly not referable to any order of plants at present established . . . it may be considered a separate order. . . . The maximum of Casuarina appears to exist in Terra Australis, where it forms one of the characteristic features of the vegetation."

"The vegetation assumed a new character, the eucalyptus and casuarina alternating with the wild cherry and honeysuckle."

"The scientific name of these well-known plants is as appropriate as their vernacular appellation is odd and unsuited. The former alludes to the cassowary (Casuarius), the plumage of which is comparatively as much reduced among birds, as the foliage of the casuarinas is stringy among trees. Hence more than two centuries ago Rumph already bestowed the name Casuarina on a Java species, led by the Dutch colonists, who call it there the Casuaris-Boom. The Australian vernacular name seems to have arisen from some fancied resemblance of the wood of some casuarinas to that of oaks, notwithstanding the extreme difference of the foliage and fruit; unless, as Dr. Hooker supposes, the popular name of these trees and shrubs arose from the Canadian `Sheack.'"

"From a fancied resemblance of the wood of casuarinas to that of oak, these trees are called `oaks,' and the same and different species have various appellations in various parts."

"Along its banks (the Comet's) my attention was drawn to a number of casuarinas—those leafless, dark trees, which always make a sad impression on the traveller; even a casual observer will notice the dull, depressing sigh which comes from a grove of these trees when there is the least breeze.'"

<hw>Cat-bird</hw>, n. In America the name is given to Mimus carolinensis, a mocking thrush, which like the Australian bird has a cry resembling the mewing of a cat. The Australian species are—

Spotted C.—
Ailuraedus maculosus, Ramsay.
Pomatostomus rubeculus, Gould.

"Its loud, harsh and extraordinary note is heard; a note which differs so much from that of all other birds, that having been once heard it can never be mistaken. In comparing it to the nightly concert of the domestic cat, I conceive that I am conveying to my readers a more perfect idea of the note of this species than could be given by pages of description. This concert, like that of the animal whose name it bears, is performed either by a pair or several individuals, and nothing more is required than for the hearer to shut his eyes from the neighbouring foliage to fancy himself surrounded by London grimalkins of house-top celebrity."

"One of the most peculiar of birds' eggs found about the Murray is that of the locally-termed `cat-bird,' the shell of which is veined thickly with dark thin threads as though covered with a spider's web."

"The cat-bird (AEluraedus maculosus), which makes its appearance towards evening, and has a voice strikingly like the mewing of a cat."

"Another quaint caller of the bush is the cat-bird, and its eggs are of exactly the colour of old ivory."

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' pt. ii. Zoology, p. 92:

"Their habit of mewing like a cat has gained for them the local cognomen of cat-birds."

<hw>Cat-fish</hw>, n. The name is applied in the Old World to various fishes of the family Siluridae, and also to the Wolf-fish of Europe and North America. It arises from the resemblance of the teeth in some cases or the projecting "whiskers" in others, to those of a cat. In Victoria and New South Wales it is a fresh-water fish, Copidoglanis tandanus, Mitchell, brought abundantly to Melbourne by railway. It inhabits the rivers of the Murray system, but not of the centre of the continent. Called also Eel-fish and Tandan (q.v.). In Sydney the same name is applied also to Cnidoglanis megastoma, Rich., and in New Zealand Kathetostoma monopterygium. Cnidoglanis and Cnidoglanis are Siluroids, and Kathetostoma is a"stargazer," i.e. a fish having eyes on the upper surface of the head, belonging to the family Trachinidsae.

"The Cat-fish, which I have frequently caught in the McLeay, is a large and very ugly animal. Its head is provided with several large tentacatae, and it has altogether a disagreeable appearance. I have eat its flesh, but did not like it."

"Mr. Frank Buckland . . . writing of a species of rock-fish, says—`I found that it had a beautiful contrivance in the conformation of its mouth. It has the power of prolongating both its jaws to nearly the extent of half-an-inch from their natural position. This is done by a most beautiful bit of mechanism, somewhat on the principle of what are called `lazy tongs.' The cat-fish possesses a like feature, but on a much larger scale, the front part of the mouth being capable of being protruded between two and three inches when seizing prey.'"

<hw>Cat, Native</hw>, n. a small carnivorous marsupial, of the genus Dasyurus. The so-called native cat is not a cat at all, but a marsupial which resembles a very large rat or weasel, with rather a bushy tail. It is fawn-coloured or mouse-coloured, or black and covered with little white spots; a very pretty little animal. It only appears at night, when it climbs fences and trees and forms sport for moonlight shooting. Its skin is made into fancy rugs and cloaks or mantles.

"The native cat is similar [to the Tiger Cat; q.v.] but smaller, and its for is an ashy-grey with white spots. We have seen two or three skins quite black, spotted with white, but these are very rare."

"The voices of most of our night animals are guttural and unpleasing. The 'possum has a throaty half-stifled squeak, the native cat a deep chest-note ending with a hiss and easily imitated." [See Skirr.]

<hw>Catholic Frog</hw>, n. name applied to a frog living in the inland parts of New South Wales, Notaden bennettii, Guenth., which tides over times of drought in burrows, and feeds on ants. Called also "Holy Cross Toad." The names are given in consequence of a large cross-shaped blackish marking on the back.

1801. J. J. Fletcher, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society, New South Wales,' vol. vi. (2nd series), p. 265:

"Notaden bennettii, the Catholic frog, or as I have heard it called the Holy Cross Toad, I first noticed in January 1885, after a heavy fall of rain lasting ten days, off and on, and succeeding a severe drought."

<hw>Cat's Eyes</hw>, n. Not the true Cat's-eye, but the name given in Australia to the opercula of Turbo smaragdus, Martyn, a marine mollusc. The operculum is the horny or shelly lid which closes the aperture of most spiral shell fish.

"The cat's-head fern; though why that name was given to it I have not the remotest idea. . . . It is full of beauty—the pinnules so exquisitely formed and indented, and gemmed beneath with absolute constellations of Spori Polystichum vestitum."

<hw>Catspaw</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, Trichinium spathulatum, Poir., N.O. Amarantaceae.

<hw>Cattle-bush</hw>, n. a tree, Atalaya hemiglauca, F. v. M., N.O. Sapindacea. It is found in South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland, and is sometimes called Whitewood.

"Cattle-bush . . . The leaves of this tree are eaten by stock, the tree being frequently felled for their use during seasons of drought."

<hw>Cattle-duffer</hw>, n. a man who steals cattle (usually by altering their brands). See also Duffer.

"Cattle-duffers on a jury may be honest men enough,
But they're bound to visit lightly sins in those
who cattle duff."

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 294:

"A Cattle-racket. The term at the head of this chapter was originally applied in New South Wales to the agitation of society which took place when some wholesale system of plunder in cattle was brought to light. It is now commonly applied to any circumstance of this sort, whether greater or less, and whether springing from a felonious intent or accidental."

<hw>Caustic-Creeper</hw>, n. name given to Euphorbia drummondii, Boiss., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

"Called `caustic-creeper' in Queensland. Called `milk-plant' and `pox-plant' about Bourke. This weed is unquestionably poisonous to sheep, and has recently (Oct. 1887) been reported as having been fatal to a flock near Bourke, New South Wales. . . . When eaten by sheep in the early morning, before the heat of the sun has dried it up, it is almost certain to be fatal. Its effect on sheep is curious. The head swells to an enormous extent, becoming so heavy that the animal cannot support it, and therefore drags it along the ground; the ears suppurate. (Bailey and Gordon.)"

<hw>Caustic-Plant</hw>, or <hw>Caustic-Vine</hw>, n. Sarcostemma australis, R. Br., N.O. Asclepiadea. Cattle and sheep are poisoned by eating it.

<hw>Cavally</hw>, n. the original form of the Australian fish-name Trevally (q.v.). The form Cavally is used to Europe, but is almost extinct in Australia; the form Trevally is confined to Australia.

<hw>Cedar</hw>,</hw> n. The true Cedar is a Conifer (N.O. Coniferae) of the genus Cedrus, but the name is given locally to many other trees resembling it in appearance, or in the colour or scent of their wood. The New Zealand Cedar is the nearest approach to the true Cedar, and none of the so-called Australian Cedars are of the order Coniferae. The following are the trees to which the name is applied in Australia:—

Ordinary or Red C.— Cedrela australis, F. v. M. Cedrela toona, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae. [C. toona is the "Toon" tree of India: its timber is known in the English market as Moulmein Cedar; but the Baron von Mueller doubts the identity of the Australian Cedar with the "Toon" tree; hence his name australis.]

Scrub White C.— Pentaceras australis, Hook. and Don.,
N.O. Rutacea.

In Tasmania, three species of the genus Arthrotaxis are
called Cedars or Pencil Cedars; namely, A. cupressoides,
Don., known as the King William Pine; A. laxifolza,
Hook., the Mountain Pine; and A. selaginoides, Don., the
Red Pine. All these are peculiar to the island.

In New Zealand, the name of Cedar is applied to Libocedrus bidwillii, Hook., N.O. Coniferae; Maori name, Pahautea.

"The cedar of the colony (Cedrela toona, R. Br.), which is to be found only in some rocky gullies of the coast range."

"Besides being valuable as a timber-producing tree, this red cedar has many medicinal properties. The bark is spoken of as a powerful astringent, and, though not bitter, said to be a good substitute for Peruvian bark in the cure of remitting and intermitting fevers."

"Pahautea, Cedar. A handsome conical tree sixty to eighty feet high, two to three feet in diameter. In Otago it produces a dark-red, freeworking timber, rather brittle . . . frequently mistaken for totara."

<hw>Celery, Australian</hw>, or <hw>Native</hw>, n. Apium australe, Thon. Not endemic in Australia. In Tasmania, A. prostratum, Lab., N.O. Umbelliferae.

"Australian Celery. This plant may be utilised as a culinary vegetable. (Mueller.) It is not endemic in Australia."

<hw>Celery-topped Pine</hw>. n. See Pine. The tree is so called from the appearance of the upper part of the branchlets, which resemble in shape the leaf of the garden celery.

"The tanekaha is one of the remarkable `celery-topped pines,' and was discovered by Banks and Solander during Cook's first voyage."

<hw>Centaury, Native</hw>, n. a plant, Erythraea australis, R. Br., N.O. Gentianeae. In New South Wales this Australian Centaury has been found useful in dysentery by Dr. Woolls.

"Native centaury . . . is useful as a tonic medicine, especially in diarrhoea and dysentery. The whole plant is used and is pleasantly bitter. It is common enough in grass-land, and appears to be increasing in popularity as a domestic remedy."

<hw>Centralia</hw>, n. a proposed name for the colony South Australia ,(q.v.).

"For telegraphic, postal, and general purposes one word is desirable for a name—e.g. why not Centralia; for West Australia, Westralia; for New South Wales, Eastralia?"

<hw>Cereopsis</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus of the bird peculiar to Australia, called the Cake Barren Goose. See Goose. The word is from Grk. kaeros, wax, and 'opsis, face, and was given from the peculiarities of the bird's beak. The genus is confined to Australia, and Cereopsis novae-hollandiae is the only species known. The bird was noticed by the early voyagers to Australia, and was extraordinarily tame when first discovered.

<hw>Channel-Bill</hw>, n. name given to a bird resembling a large cuckoo, Scythrops novae-hollandiae, Lath. See Scythrops.

<hw>Cheesewood</hw>, n. a tree, so-called in Victoria (it is also called Whitewood and Waddywood in Tasmania), Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae.

"Cheesewood is yellowish-white, very hard, and of uniform texture and colour. It was once used for clubs by the aboriginals of Tasmania. It turns well, and should be tested for wood engraving. (`Jurors' Reports, London International Exhibition of 1862.') It is much esteemed for axe-handles, billiard-cues, etc."

<hw>Cherry, Herbert River</hw>, n. a Queensland tree, Antidesma dallachyanum, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. The fruit is equal to a large cherry in size, and has a sharp acid flavour.

<hw>Cherry, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Exocarpus cupressiformis, R. Br., N.O. Santalaceae.

"Of native fruits, a cherry, insipid in comparison of the European sorts, was found true to the singularity which characterizes every New South Wales production, the stone being on the outside of the fruit."

"The shrub which is called the native cherry-tree appears like a species of cyprus, producing its fruit with the stone united to it on the outside, the fruit and the stone being each about the size of a small pea. The fruit, when ripe, is similar in colour to the Mayduke cherry, but of a sweet and somewhat better quality, and slightly astringent to the palate, possessing, upon the whole, an agreeable flavour."

"The cherry-tree resembles a cypress but is of a tenderer green, bearing a worthless little berry, having its stone or seed outside, whence its scientific name of exocarpus."

"We also ate the Australian cherry, which has its stone, not on the outside, enclosing the fruit, as the usual phrase would indicate, but on the end with the fruit behind it. The stone is only about the size of a sweet-pea, and the fruit only about twice that size, altogether not unlike a yew-berry, but of a very pale red. It grows on a tree just like an arbor vitae, and is well tasted, though not at all like a cherry in flavour."

"The principal of these kinds of trees received its generic name first from the French naturalist La Billardiere, during D'Entrecasteaux's Expedition. It was our common Exocarpus cupressiformis, which he described, and which has been mentioned so often in popular works as a cherry-tree, bearing its stone outside of the pulp. That this crude notion of the structure of the fruit is erroneous, must be apparent on thoughtful contemplation, for it is evident at the first glance, that the red edible part of our ordinary exocarpus constitutes merely an enlarged and succulent fruit-stalklet (pedicel), and that the hard dry and greenish portion, strangely compared to a cherry-stone, forms the real fruit, containing the seed."

"The fruit is edible. The nut is seated on the enlarged succulent pedicel. This is the poor little fruit of which so much has been written in English descriptions of the peculiarities of the Australian flora. It has been likened to a cherry with the stone outside (hence the vernacular name) by some imaginative person."

"Grass-trees and the brown brake-fern, whips of native cherry, and all the threads and tangle of the earth's green russet vestment hide the feet of trees which lean and lounge between us and the water, their leaf heads tinselled by the light."

"Melithreptus Validirostris, Gould. Strong-billed Honey-eater [q.v.]. Cherry-picker, colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Chewgah-bag</hw>, n. Queensland aboriginal pigeon-English for Sugar-bag (q.v.).

<hw>Chinkie</hw>, n. slang for a Chinaman. "John," short for John Chinaman, is commoner.

"The pleasant traits of character in our colonialised `Chinkie,' as he is vulgarly termed (with the single variation `Chow')."

<hw>Chock-and-log</hw>, n. and adj. a particular kind of fence much used on Australian stations. The Chock is a thick short piece of wood laid flat, at right-angles to the line of the fence, with notches in it to receive the Logs, which are laid lengthwise from Chock to Chock, and the fence is raised in four or five layers of this chock-and-log to form, as it were, a wooden wall. Both chocks and logs are rough-hewn or split, not sawn.

"Another fence, known as `chock and log,' is composed of long logs, resting on piles of chocks, or short blocks of wood."

"And to finish the Riverine picture, there comes a herd of kangaroos disturbed from their feeding-ground, leaping through the air, bounding over the wire and `chock-and-log' fences like so many india-rubber automatons."

<hw>Choeropus</hw>, n. the scientific name for the genus of Australian marsupial animals with only one known species, called the Pigfooted-Bandicoot (q.v.), and see Bandicoot. (Grk. choiros, a pig, and pous, foot.) The animal is about the size of a rabbit, and is confined to the inland parts of Australia.

<hw>Christmas</hw>, n. and adj. As Christmas falls in Australasia at Midsummer, it has different characteristics from those in England, and the word has therefore a different connotation.

"Sheep-shearing in November, hot midsummer weather at Christmas, the bed of a river the driest walk, and corn harvest in February, were things strangely at variance with my Old-World notions."

"One Christmas time when months of drought
Had parched the western creeks,
The bush-fires started in the north
And travelled south for weeks."

<hw>Christmas-bush</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Ceratopetalum gummiferum, Smith, N.O. Saxifrageae. Called also Christmas-tree (q.v.), and Officer-bush.

<hw>Christmas-tree</hw>, n. In Australia, it is the same as Christmas-bush (q.v.). In New Zealand, it is Metrosideros tomentosa, Banks, N.O. Myrtaceae; Maori name, Pohutukawa (q.v.).

"Some few scattered Pohutukaua trees (Metrosideros tomentosa), the last remains of the beautiful vegetation . . . About Christmas these trees are full of charming purple blossoms; the settler decorates his church and dwelling with its lovely branches, and calls the tree `Christmas-tree'! "

"The Christmas-tree is in a sense the counterpart of the holly of the home countries. As the scarlet berry gives its ruddy colour to Christmas decorations in `the old country,' so here the creamy blossoms of the Christmas-tree are the only shrub flowers that survive the blaze of midsummer."

"The Pohutukawa blossoms in December, when its profusion of elegant crimson-tasselled flowers imparts a beauty to the rugged coast-line and sheltered bays which may fairly be called enchanting. To the settlers it is known as the `Christmas-tree,' and sprays of its foliage and flowers are used to decorate churches and dwellings during the festive Christmastide. To the Maoris this tree must possess a weird significance, since it is related in their traditions that at the extreme end of New Zealand there grows a Pohutukawa from which a root descends to the beach below. The spirits of the dead are supposed to descend by this to an opening, which is said to be the entrance to `Te Reinga.'"

<hw>Chucky-chucky</hw>, n. aboriginal Australian name for a berry; in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit of species of Gaultheria. See Wax Cluster.

"To gather chucky-chuckies—as the blacks name that most delicious of native berries."

1891. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xv. p. 198:

"When out of breath, hot and thirsty, how one longed for a handful of chuckie-chucks. In their season how good we used to think these fruits of the gaultheria, or rather its thickened calyx. A few handfuls were excellent in quenching one's thirst, and so plentifully did the plant abound that quantities could soon be gathered. In these rude and simple days, when housekeepers in the hills tried to convert carrots and beet-root into apricot and damson preserves, these notable women sometimes encouraged children to collect sufficient chuckie-chucks to make preserve. The result was a jam of a sweet mawkish flavour that gave some idea of a whiff caught in passing a hair-dresser's shop."

<hw>Chy-ack</hw>, v. simply a variation of the English slang verb, to cheek.

[Here the Australian pronunciation is also caught. Barere and Leland give "chi-iked (tailors), chaffed unmercifully," but without explanation.]

"The Cicada is often erroneously called a locust. . . . It is remarkable for the loud song, or chirruping whirr, of the males in the heat of summer; numbers of them on the hottest days produce an almost deafening sound."

<hw>Cider-Tree</hw>, or </hw>Cider-Gum, n. name given in Tasmania to Eucalyptus gunnii, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae. See Gum.

"Specimens of that species of eucalyptus called the cider-tree, from its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling molasses. . . . When allowed to remain some time and to ferment, it settles into a coarse sort of wine or cider, rather intoxicating if drank to any excess."

<hw>City</hw>, n. In Great Britain and Ireland the word City denotes "a considerable town that has been, (a) an episcopal seat, (b) a royal burgh, or (c) created to the dignity, like Birmingham, Dundee, and Belfast, by a royal patent. In the United States and Canada, a municipality of the first class, governed by a mayor and aldermen, and created by charter." (`Standard.') In Victoria, by section ix. of the Local Government Act, 1890, 54 Victoria, No. 1112, the Governor-in-Council may make orders, #12:

"To declare any borough, including the city of Melbourne and the town of Geelong, having in the year preceding such declaration a gross revenue of not less than twenty thousand pounds, a city."

<hw>Claim</hw>, n. in mining, a piece of land appropriated for mining purposes: then the mine itself. The word is also used in the United States. See also Reward-claim and Prospecting-claim.

<hw>Clay-pan</hw>, n. name given, especially in the dry interior of Australia, to a slight depression of the ground varying in size from a few yards to a mile in length, where the deposit of fine silt prevents the water from sinking into the ground as rapidly as it does elsewhere.

"We travelled down the road for about thirty-three miles over stony plains; many clay-pans with water but no feed."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, vol. i. p. 17:

"One of the most striking features of the central area and especially amongst the loamy plains and sandhills, is the number of clay-pans. These are shallow depressions, with no outlet, varying in length from a few yards to half a mile, where the surface is covered with a thin clayey material, which seems to prevent the water from sinking as rapidly as it does in other parts."

<hw>Clean-skins</hw>, or <hw>Clear-skins</hw>, n. unbranded cattle or horses.

"These clean-skins, as they are often called, to distinguish them from the branded cattle."

"Strangers and pilgrims, calves and clear-skins, are separated at the same time."

"`Clear-skins,' as unbranded cattle were commonly called, were taken charge of at once."

"As they fed slowly homeward bellowing for their calves, and lowing for their mates, the wondering clean-skins would come up in a compact body, tearing, ripping, kicking, and moaning, working round and round them in awkward, loblolly canter."

"[They] held a small piece of land on what is called a clearing lease—that is to say, they were allowed to retain possession of it for so many years for the labour of clearing the land."

<hw>Clematis</hw>, n. the scientific and vernacular name of a genus of plants belonging to the N.O. Ranunculaceae. The common species in Australia is C. aristata, R. Br.

"The beautiful species of clematis called aristata, which may be seen in the months of November and December, spreading forth its milk-white blossoms over the shrubs . . . in other places rising up to the top of the highest gum-trees."

<hw>Clianthus</hw>, n. scientific name for an Australasian genus of plants, N.O. Leguminosae, containing only two species—in Australia, Sturt's Desert Pea (q.v.), C. dampieri; and in New Zealand, the Kaka-bill (q.v.), C. puniceus. Both species are also called Glory-Pea, from Grk. kleos, glory, and anthos, a flower.

"Hooker says the genus Clianthus consists of the Australian and New Zealand species only, the latter is therefore clearly indigenous. `One of the most beautiful plants known' (Hooker). Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solandel found it during Cook's first voyage."

<hw>Clitonyx</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of New Zealand birds, including the Yellow-head (q.v.) and the White-head (q.v.); from Greek klinein, root klit, to lean, slant, and 'onux, claw. The genus was so named by Reichenbach in 1851, to distinguish the New Zealand birds from the Australian birds of the genus Orthonyx (q.v.), which formerly included them both.

<hw>Clock-bird</hw>, n. another name for the Laughing Jachass. See Jackass.

<hw>Cloudy-Bay Cod</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for the Ling (q.v.). See also Cod.

<hw>Clover-Fern</hw>, n. another name for the plant called Nardoo (q.v.).

<hw>Clover, Menindie</hw>, n. an Australian fodder plant, Trigonella suavissima, Lind., N.O. Leguminoseae.

`From its abundance in the neighbourhood of Menindie, it is often called Menindie-clover.' It is the `Australian shamrock' of Mitchell. This perennial, fragrant, clover-like plant is a good pasture herb."

<hw>Clover-Tree</hw>, n. a Tasmanian tree, called also Native Laburnun. See under Laburnum.

<hw>Coach</hw>, n. a bullock used as a decoy to catch wild cattle. This seems to be from the use of coach as the University term for a private tutor.

"To get them [sc. wild cattle] a party of stockmen take a small herd of quiet cattle, `coaches.'"

<hw>Coach-whip Bird</hw>, n. Psophodes crepitans, V. and H. (see Gould's `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 15); Black-throated C.B., P. nigrogularis, Gould. Called also Whipbird and Coachman.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 330:

"This bird is more often heard than seen. It inhabits bushes. The loud cracking whip-like noise it makes (from whence the colonists give it the name of coachwhip), may be heard from a great distance."

"If you should hear a coachwhip crack behind, you may instinctively start aside to let the mail pass; but quickly find it is only our native coachman with his spread-out fantail and perked-up crest, whistling and cracking out his whip-like notes as he hops sprucely from branch to branch."

"Another equally singular voice among our feathered friends was that of the `coachman,' than which no title could be more appropriate, his chief note being a long clear whistle, with a smart crack of the whip to finish with."

"The bell-bird, by the river heard;
The whip-bird, which surprised I hear,
In me have powerful memories stirred
Of other scenes and strains more dear;
Of sweeter songs than these afford,
The thrush and blackbird warbling clear."
—Old Impressions.

"The coach-whip is a small bird about the size of a sparrow, found near rivers. It derives its name from its note, a slow, clear whistle, concluded by a sharp jerking noise like the crack of a whip."

"The whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far more agreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing of diggers."

"That is the coach-whip bird. There again.
Whew-ew-ew-ew-whit. How sharply the last note sounds."

1888. James Thomas, `May o' the South,' `Australian Poets 1788-1888' (ed. Sladen), p. 552:

"Merrily the wagtail now
Chatters on the ti-tree bough,
While the crested coachman bird
`Midst the underwood is heard."

"I ain't like you, Towney, able to coast about without a job of work from shearin' to shearin'."

<hw>Cobb</hw>, n. sometimes used as equivalent to a coach. "I am going by Cobb." The word is still used, though no Mr. Cobb has been connected with Australian coaches for many years. See quotation.

"Mr. Cobb was an American, and has returned long ago to his native country. He started a line of conveyances from Melbourne to Castlemaine some time after the gold discoveries. Mr. Cobb had spirit to buy good horses, to get first-class American coaches, to employ good Yankee whips, and in a couple of years or so he had been so extensively patronised that he sold out, and retired with a moderate fortune." [But the Coaching Company retained . . . the style of Cobb & Co.]

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway!
Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!
Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse
To carry me Westward Ho!"

<hw>Cobbler</hw>, n. (1) The last sheep, an Australian shearing term. (2) Another name for the fish called the Fortescue (q.v.)

"Every one might not know what a `cobbler' is. It is the last sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear, as the easy ones are picked first. The cobbler must be taken out before `Sheep-ho' will fill up again. In the harvest field English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf, `This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.' `What?' `The last,' with that lusty laugh, which, though it might betray `a vacant mind,' comes from a very healthy organism."

<hw>Cobblers-Awl</hw>, n. bird-name. The word is a provincial English name for the Avocet. In Tasmania, the name is applied to a Spine-Bill (q.v.) from the shape of its beak.

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Lath., Slender-billed Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land. Spine-bill, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Cobbler's Pegs</hw>, name given to a tall erect annual weed, Erigeron linifolius, Willd., N.O. Compositae and to Bidens pilosus, Linn., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Cobbra</hw>, n. aboriginal word for head, skull. [Kabura or Kobbera, with such variations as Kobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one of the words on the East Coast manifestly of Malay origin.—J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse with blacks. `Goodway cobra tree' = `Tree very tall.'] Collins, `Port Jackson Vocabulary,' 1798 (p. 611), gives `Kabura, ca-ber-ra.' Mount Cobberas in East Gippsland has its name from huge head-like masses of rock which rise from the summit.

"The black fellow who lives in the bush bestows but small attention on his cobra, as the head is usually called in the pigeon-English which they employ."

"I should be cock-sure that having an empty cobbra, as the blacks say, was on the main track that led to the grog-camp."

<hw>Cock-a-bully</hw>, n. a popular name for the New Zealand fish Galaxias fasciatus, Gray, a corruption of its Maori name Kokopu (q.v.).

"During my stay in New Zealand my little girl caught a fish rather larger than an English minnow. Her young companions called it a `cock-a bully.' It was pretty obvious to scent a corruption of a Maori word, for, mark you, cock-a-bully has no meaning. It looks as if it were English and full of meaning. Reflect an instant and it has none. The Maori name for the fish is `kokopu'"

<hw>Cockatiel</hw>, <hw>-eel</hw>, n. an arbitrary diminutive of the word Cockatoo, and used as another name for the Cockatoo-Parrakeet, Calopsitta novae-hollandiae, and generally for any Parrakeet of the genus Calopsitta. (`O.E.D.')

<hw>Cockatoo</hw>, n. (1) Bird-name. The word is Malay, Kakatua. (`O.E.D.') The varieties are—

Rose-breasted C.— Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill. [See
Galah. Gould calls it Cocatua eos.

"We saw to-day for the first time on the Kalare, the redtop cockatoo (Plyctolophus Leadbeateri)."

"The rose-breasted cockatoo (Cocatua eos, Gould) visited the patches of fresh burnt grass."

"The black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus Banksii) has been much more frequently observed of late."

"Dr. Leichhardt caught sight of a number of cockatoos; and, by tracking the course of their flight, we, in a short time, reached a creek well supplied with water."

"Black Cockatoos. Gang-gang Cockatoos. [Close season.] From the 1st day of August to the 10th day of December next following in each year."

"The egg of the blood-stained cockatoo has not yet been scientifically described, and the specimen in this collection has an interest chiefly in that it was taken [by Mr. A. J. Campbell] from a tree at Innamincka waterholes, not far from the spot where Burke the explorer died."

(2) A small farmer, called earlier in Tasmania a Cockatooer (q.v.). The name was originally given in contempt (see quotations), but it is now used by farmers themselves. Cocky is a common abbreviation. Some people distinguish between a cockatoo and a ground-parrot, the latter being the farmer on a very small scale. Trollope's etymology (see quotation, 1873) will not hold, for it is not true that the cockatoo scratches the ground. After the gold fever, circa 1860, the selectors swarmed over the country and ate up the substance of the squatters; hence they were called Cockatoos. The word is also used adjectivally.

"Oi'm going to be married
To what is termed a Cockatoo—
Which manes a farmer."

"These small farmers are called cockatoos in Australia by the squatters or sheep-farmers, who dislike them for buying up the best bits on their runs; and say that, like a cockatoo, the small freeholder alights on good ground, extracts all he can from it, and then flies away, to `fresh fields and pastures new.' . . . However, whether the name is just or not, it is a recognised one here; and I have heard a man say in answer to a question about his usual `occupation, `I'm a cockatoo.'"

"The word cockatoo in the farinaceous colony has become so common as almost to cease to carry with it the intended sarcasm. . . . It signifies that the man does not really till his land, but only scratches it as the bird does."

"It may possibly have been a term of reproach applied to the industrious farmer, who settled or perched on the resumed portions of a squatter's run, so much to the latter's rage and disgust that he contemptuously likened the farmer to the white-coated, yellow-crested screamer that settles or perches on the trees at the edge of his namesake's clearing."

"`With a cockatoo' [Title]. Cockatoo is the name given to the small, bush farmer in New Zealand."

"The governor is a bigoted agriculturist; he has contracted the cockatoo complaint, I'm afraid."

"Hire yourself out to a dairyman, take a contract with a rail-splitter, sign articles with a cockatoo selector; but don't touch land without knowing something about it."

"Fancy three hundred acres in Oxfordshire, with a score or two of bullocks,and twice as many black-faced Down sheep. Regular cockatooing."

"The correct thing, on first arriving at a drafting-yard, is to `cockatoo,' or sit on the rails high above the tossing horn-billows."

<hw>Cockatooer</hw>, n. a variant of Cockatoo (q.v.), quite fallen into disuse, if quotation be not a nonce use.

"A few wretched-looking huts and hovels, the dwellings of `cockatooers,' who are not, as it might seem, a species of bird, but human beings; who rent portions of this forest . . . on exorbitant terms . . . and vainly endeavour to exist on what they can earn besides, their frequent compulsory abstinence from meat, when they cannot afford to buy it, even in their land of cheap and abundant food, giving them some affinity to the grain-eating white cockatoos."

"There would be roads and cockatoo fences . . . in short, all the hostile emblems of agricultural settlement."

"The fields were divided by open rails or cockatoo fences, i.e. branches and logs of trees laid on the ground one across the other with posts and slip-rails in lieu of gates."

<hw>Cockatoo Orchis</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Orchid, Caleya major, R. Br.

<hw>Cock-eyed Bob</hw>, a local slang term in Western Australia for a thunderstorm.

"They [the natives of the northwest of Western Australia] are extremely frightened of them [sc. storms called Willy Willy, q.v.], and in some places even on the approach of an ordinary thunderstorm or `Cock-eyed Bob,' they clear off to the highest ground about."

<hw>Cockle</hw>, n. In England the name is given to a species of the familiar marine bivalve mollusc, Cardium. The commonest Australian species is Cardium tenuicostatum, Lamarck, present in all extra-tropical Australia. The name is also commonly applied to members of the genus Chione.

<hw>Cock-Schnapper</hw>, n. a fish; the smallest kind of Schnapper (q.v.). See also Count-fish.

"The usual method of estimating quantity for sale by the fisherman is, by the schnapper or count-fish, the school-fish, and squire, among which from its metallic appearance is the copper head or copper colour, and the red bream. Juveniles rank the smallest of the fry, not over an inch or two in length, as the cock-schnapper. The fact, however, is now generally admitted that all these are one and the same genus, merely in different stages of growth."

<hw>Cod</hw>, n. This common English name of the Gadus morrhua is applied to many fishes in Australia of various families, Gadoid and otherwise. In Melbourne it is given to Lotella callarias, Guenth., and in New South Wales to several fishes of the genus Serranus. Lotella is a genus of the family Gadidae, to which the European Cod belongs; Serranus is a Sea perch (q.v.). See Rock Cod, Black Rock Cod, Red Rock Cod, Black Cod, Elite Cod, Red Cod, Murray Cod, Cloudy Bay Cod, Ling, Groper, Hapuku, and Haddock.

<hw>Coffee-Bush</hw>, n. a settlers' name for the New Zealand tree the Karamu (q.v.). Sometimes called also </hw>Coffee-plant.

<hw>Coffee Plant</hw>, or <hw>Coffee Berry</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the Tasmanian Native Holly (q.v.).

<hw>Colonial Experience</hw>, n. and used as adj. same as cadet (q.v.) in New Zealand; a young man learning squatting business, gaining his colonial experience. Called also jackaroo (q.v.).

"You're the first `colonial experience' young fellow that it ever occurred to within my knowledge."

<hw>Colonial Goose</hw>, n. a boned leg of mutton stuffed with sage and onions. In the early days the sheep was almost the sole animal food. Mutton was then cooked and served in various ways to imitate other dishes.

<hw>Colour</hw>, n. sc. of gold. It is sometimes used with `good,' to mean plenty of gold: more usually, the `colour' means just a little gold, enough to show in the dish.

"This is the fifth claim he has been in since he came here, and the first in which he has seen the colour."

"After spending a little time there, and not finding more than a few colours of gold, he started for Mount Heemskirk."

<hw>Convictism</hw>, n. the system of transportation of convicts to Australia and Van Diemen's Land, now many years abolished.

"May it remain nailed to the mast until these colonies are emancipated from convictism."

"No one who has not lived in Australia can appreciate the profound hatred of convictism that obtains there."

<hw>Coobah</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for the tree Acacia salicina, Lindl., N.O.Leguminosae. See Acacia. The spellings vary, and sometimes begin with a K.

<hw>Coo-ee</hw>, or <hw>Cooey</hw>, n. and interj. spelt in various ways. See quotations. A call borrowed from the aborigines and used in the bush by one wishing to find or to be found by another. In the vocabulary of native words in `Hunter's Journal,' published in 1790, we find "Cow-ee = to come."

"In calling to each other at a distance, the natives make use of the word Coo-ee, as we do the word Hollo, prolonging the sound of the coo, and closing that of the ee with a shrill jerk. . . . [It has] become of general use throughout the colony; and a newcomer, in desiring an individual to call another back, soon learns to say `Coo-ee' to him, instead of Hollo to him."

"There yet might be heard the significant `cooy' or `quhy,' the true import of which was then unknown to our ears."

"Although Mr. Brown made the woods echo with his `cooys.'"
[See also p. 87, note.]

1845. Clement Hodgkinson, `Australia from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay,' p. 28:

"Their cooieys are not always what we understand by the word, viz., a call in which the first note is low and the second high, uttered after sound of the word cooiey. This is a note which congregates all together and is used only as a simple `Here.'"

"Like the natives of New South Wales, they called to each other from a great distance by the cooey; a word meaning `come to me.' The Sydney blacks modulated this cry with successive inflexions; the Tasmanian uttered it with less art. It is a sound of great compass. The English in the bush adopt it: the first syllable is prolonged; the second is raised to a higher key, and is sharp and abrupt."

"Coo-oo-oo-y is a shrill treble cry much used in the bush by persons wishful to find each other. On a still night it will travel a couple of miles, and it is thus highly serviceable to lost or benighted travellers."

"The jingling of bells round the necks of oxen, the cooey of the black fellow . . . constituted the music of these desolate districts."

"A particular `cooee' . . . was made known to the young men when they were initiated."

"From the woods they heard a prolonged cooee, which evidently proceeded from some one lost in the bush."

"The bride encircled her lips with her two gloved palms, and uttered a cry that few of the hundreds who heard it ever forgot—`coo-ee!' That was the startling cry as nearly as it can be written. But no letters can convey the sustained shrillness of the long, penetrating note represented by the first syllable, nor the weird, die-away wail of the second. It is the well-known bushcall,the `jodel' of the black fellow."

1887. G. L. Apperson, in `All the Year Round,' July 30, p. 67, col. 1 (`O.E.D.'):

"A common mode of expression is to be `within cooey' of a place. . . . Now to be `within cooey' of Sydney is to be at the distance of an easy journey therefrom."

"Witness said that there was a post-office clock `within coo-ee,' or within less than half-a-mile of the station."

"Our sable guides `cooed' and `cooed' again, in their usual tone of calling to each other at a distance."

"Cooey is the aboriginal mode of calling out to any person at a distance, whether visible or not, in the forest. The sound is made by dwelling on the first syllable, and pronouncing the second with a short, sharp, rising inflexion. It is much easier made, and is heard to a much greater distance than the English holla! and is consequently in universal use among the colonists. . . . There is a story current in the colony of a party of native-born colonists being in London, one of whom, a young lady, if I recollect aright, was accidentally separated from the rest, in the endless stream of pedestrians and vehicles of all descriptions, at the intersection of Fleet Street with the broad avenue leading to Blackfriars Bridge. When they were all in great consternation and perplexity at the circumstance, it occurred to one of the party to cooey, and the well-known sound, with its ten thousand Australian associations, being at once recognised and responded to, a reunion of the party took place immediately, doubtless to the great wonderment of the surrounding Londoners, who would probably suppose they were all fit for Bedlam."

"They [the aborigines] warily entered scrubs, and called out (cooyed) repeatedly in approaching water-holes, even when yet at a great distance."

"A female, born on this division of the globe, once stood at the foot of London Bridge, and cooyed for her husband, of whom she had lost sight, and stopped the passengers by the novelty of the sound; which however is not unknown in certain neighbourhoods of the metropolis. Some gentlemen, on a visit to a London theatre, to draw the attention of their friends in an opposite box, called out cooey; a voice in the gallery answered `Botany Bay!'"

"George, there's somebody treading on my dress; cooee to the bottom of the stairs."

<hw>Coo-in-new</hw>, n. aboriginal name for "a useful verbenaceous timber-tree of Australia, Gmelina leichhardtii, F. v. M. The wood has a fine silvery grain, and is much prized for flooring and for the decks of vessels, as it is reputed never to shrink after a moderate seasoning." (`Century.') Usually called Mahogany-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Coolaman</hw> or <hw>Kooliman</hw>, n. an aboriginal word, Kamilaroi Dialect of New South Wales. [W. Ridley, `Kamilaroi,' p. 25, derives it from Kulu, seed, but it is just as likely from Kolle, water.—J. Mathew.] A hollowed knot of a tree, used as a seed vessel, or for holding water. The word is applied to the excrescence on the tree as well as to the vessel; a bush hand has been heard to speak of a hump-backed man as `cooliman-backed.'

"Three koolimans (vessels of stringy bark) were full of honey water, from one of which I took a hearty draught."

"Koolimans, water vessels. . . The koolimans were made of the inner layer of the bark of the stringy-bark tree."

"Cooliman, a vessel for carrying water, made out of the bark which covers an excrescence peculiar to a kind of gum-tree."

<hw>Cooper's-flag</hw>, n. another name in New Zealand for Raupo (q.v.).

<hw>Coopers-wood</hw>, n. the timber of an Australian tree, Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss, N.O. Rhamneae. The wood becomes dark with age, and is used for coopers' staves and various purposes.

<hw>Coot</hw>, n. common English birdname; the Australian species is Fulica australis, Gould. See also Bald-Coot.

<hw>Copper Maori</hw>. This spelling has been influenced by the English word Copper, but it is really a corruption of a Maori word. There is a difference of opinion amongst Maori scholars what this word is. Some say Kapura, a common fire used for cooking, in contradistinction to a `chief's fire,' at which he sat, and which would not be allowed to be defiled with food. Others say Kopa. The Maori word Kopa was (1) adj. meaning bent, (2) n. angle or corner, and (3) the native oven, or more strictly the hole scooped out for the oven.

1888. T. Pine, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' `A local tradition of Raukawa,' vol. xxi. p. 417:

"So they set to work and dug holes on the flat, each hole about 2 ft. across and about 1 1/2 ft. deep, and shaped something like a Kopa Maori."

1889. H. D. M. Haszard, ibid. `Notes on some Relics of Cannibalism,' vol. xxii. p. 104:

"In two distinct places, about four chains apart, there were a number of Kapura Maori, or native ovens, scattered about within a radius of about forty feet."

<hw>Coprosma</hw>, n. scientific and vernacular name fora large genus of trees and shrubs of the order Rubiaceae. From the Greek kopros, dung, on account of the bad smell of some of the species. See quotation. The Maori name is Karamu (q.v.). Various species receive special vernacular names, which appear in their places in the Dictionary.

"Corosma comprises about forty species, of which at least thirty are found in New Zealand, all of which are restricted to the colony except C. pumila, which extends to Australia. Five species are found in Australia, one of which is C. pumila mentioned above. A few species occur in the Pacific, Chili, Juan Fernandez, the Sandwich Islands, &c."

<hw>Coral-Fern</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to Gleichenia circinata, Swartz, called in Bailey's list Parasol-Fern. See Fern.

<hw>Coral-Flower</hw>, n. a plant, Epacris (q.v.), Epacris microphylla, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae.

"The trailing scarlet kennedyas, aptly called the `bleeding-heart' or `coral pea,' brighten the greyness of the sandy, peaty wastes."

<hw>Coranderrk</hw>, n. the aboriginal name for the Victorian Dogwood (q.v.). An "aboriginal station," or asylum and settlement for the remaining members of the aboriginal race of Victoria, is called after this name because the wood grew plentifully there.

<hw>Cordage-tree</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to a Kurrajong (q.v.). The name Sida pulchella has been superseded by Plagianthus sidoides, Hook.

"Sida pulchella. Handsome Sida. Currijong or cordage tree of Hobart Town. . . . The bark used to be taken for tying up post and rail fences, the rafters of huts, in the earlier periods of the colony, before nails could be so easily procured."

<hw>Corella</hw>, n. any parrot of the genus Nymphicus; the word is dim. of late Lat. cora = korh, a girl, doll, etc. The Australian Corella is N. novae-hollandiae, and the name is also given to Licmetus nasicus, Temm, the Long-billed Cockatoo (q.v.). It is often used indiscriminately by bird-fanciers for any pretty little parrot, parrakeet, or cockatoo.

<hw>Corkwood</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree, Entelea arborescens, R. Br., N.O. Tiliaceae. Maori name, Whau.

"The whau . . . is termed corkwood by the settlers on account of its light specific gravity."

<hw>Cormorant</hw>, n. common English bird-name. In Australia the name is applied to the following birds:—

<hw>Cornstalk</hw>, n. a young man or a girl born and bred in New South Wales, especially if tall and big.

"The colonial-born, bearing also the name of cornstalks (Indian corn), from the way in which they shoot up."

"The Australian ladies may compete for personal beauty and elegance with any European, although satirized as `Cornstalks,' from the slenderness of their forms."

"Our host was surrounded by a little army of `cornstalks.'. . . The designation `cornstalk' is given because the young people run up like the stems of the Indian corn."

"If these are the heroes that my cornstalk friends worship so ardently, they must indeed be hard up for heroes."

"While in the capital I fell in with several jolly cornstalks, with whom I spent a pleasant time in boating, fishing, and sometimes camping out down the harbour."

<hw>Correa</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of Australian plants of the N.O. Rutaceae, so named after Correa de Serra, a Portuguese nobleman who wrote on rutaceous plants at the beginning of the century. They bear scarlet or green and sometimes yellowish flowers, and are often called Native Fuchsias (q.v.), especially C. speciosa, Andrews, which bears crimson flowers.

"The genus was first named by Sir J. E. Smith in compliment to the late M. Correa de Serra, a celebrated Portuguese botanist."

"With all wish to maintain vernacular names, which are not actually misleading, I cannot call a correa by the common colonial name `native fuchsia,' as not the slightest structural resemblance and but little habitual similarity exists between these plants; they indeed belong to widely different orders."

"All Correas are geographically restricted to the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent and Tasmania, the genus containing but few species."

"I see some pretty red correa and lilac." [Footnote]: "Correa speciosa, native fuchsia of Colonies."

<hw>Corrobbery</hw>, n. This spelling is nearest to the accepted pronunciation, the accent falling on the second syllable. Various spellings, however, occur, viz.—Corobbery, Corrobery, Corroberry, Corroborree, Corrobbory, Corroborry, Corrobboree, Coroboree, Corroboree, Korroboree, Corroborri, Corrobaree, and Caribberie. To these Mr. Fraser adds Karabari (see quotation, 1892), but his spelling has never been accepted in English. The word comes from the Botany Bay dialect.

[The aboriginal verb (see Ridley's `Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages,' p. 107) is korobra, to dance; in the same locality boroya or beria means to sing; probably koro is from a common Australian word for emu.—J. Mathew.]

1836. C. Darwin, `Journal of the Voyage of the Beagle' (ed. 1882), c. xix. p. 450:

"A large tribe of natives, called the white cockatoo men, happened to pay a visit to the settlement while we were there. These men as well as those of the tribe belonging to King George's Sound, being tempted by the offer of some tubs of rice and sugar were persuaded to hold a `corrobery' or great dancing party." [Description follows.]

"There can be little doubt that the corrobboree is the medium through which the delights of poetry and the drama are enjoyed in a limited degree, even by these primitive savages of New Holland."

"Great preparations were made, as for a grand corrobory, or festival, the men divesting themselves of even the portions of clothing commonly worn, and painting their naked black bodies in a hideous manner with pipe-clay. After dark, they lit their fires, which are small, but kept blazing with constant additions of dry bark and leaves, and the sable gentry assembled by degrees as they completed their evening toilette, full dress being painted nudity. A few began dancing in different parties, preparatory to the grand display, and the women, squatting on the ground, commenced their strange monotonous chant, each beating accurate time with two boomerangs. Then began the grand corrobory, and all the men joined in the dance, leaping, jumping, bounding about in the most violent manner, but always in strict unison with each other, and keeping time with the chorus, accompanying their wild gesticulations with frightful yells, and noises. The whole `tableau' is fearfully grand! The dark wild forest scenery around—the bright fire-light gleaming upon the savage and uncouth figures of the men, their natural dark hue being made absolutely horrible by the paintings bestowed on them, consisting of lines and other marks done in white and red pipe-clay, which gives them an indescribably ghastly and fiendish aspect—their strange attitudes, and violent contortions and movements, and the unearthly sound of their yells, mingled with the wild and monotonous wail-like chant of the women, make altogether a very near approach to the horribly sublime in the estimation of most Europeans who have witnessed an assembly of the kind."

"They have no instrument of music, the corobery's song being accompanied by the beating of two sticks together, and by the women thumping their opossum rugs.'"

"These words, which were quite as unintelligible to the natives as the corresponding words in the vernacular language of the white men would have been, were learned by the natives, and are now commonly used by them in conversing with Europeans, as English words. Thus corrobbory, the Sydney word for a general assembly of natives, is now commonly used in that sense at Moreton Bay; but the original word there is yanerwille. Cabon, great; narang, little; boodgeree, good; myall, wild native, etc. etc., are all words of this description, supposed by the natives [of Queensland] to be English words, and by the Europeans to be aboriginal words of the language of that district."

[The phrase "general assembly" would rise naturally in the mind of Dr. Lang as a Presbyterian minister; but there is no evidence of anything parliamentary about a corrobbery.]

"The exact object or meaning of their famous corrobboree or native dance, beyond mere exercise and patience, has not as yet been properly ascertained; but it seems to be mutually understood and very extensively practised throughout Australia, and is generally a sign of mutual fellowship and good feeling on the part of the various tribes."

"When our blacks visited Sydney, and saw the military paraded, and heard the bands, they said that was `white fellows' corrobbory.'"

"It is a very great mistake to suppose . . . that there is any kind of religious ceremony connected with the ordinary corrobory. . . . I may also remark that the term corrobory is not a native word."

[It is quite certain that it is native, though not known to
Mr. E. Stone Parker.]

[In Tasmania] "the assembling of the tribes was always celebrated by a grand corroboree, a species of bestial bal masque. On such occasions they presented a most grotesque and demon-like appearance, their heads, faces, and bodies, liberally greased were besmeared alternately with clay and red ochre; large tufts of bushy twigs were entwined around their ankles, wrists, and waists; and these completed their toilet."

1879. J. D. Woods, `Native Tribes of South Australia,' Introduction, pp. xxxii. and xxxiii.:

"The principal dance is common all over the continent, and `corrobboree' is the name by which it is commonly known. It is not quite clear what a corrobboree is intended to signify. Some think it a war-dance—others that it is a representation of their hunting expeditions—others again, that it is a religious, or pagan, observance; but on this even the blacks themselves give no information."

"The good fortune to witness a korroboree, that is a festive dance by the natives in the neighbourhood."

"`Karabari' is an aboriginal name for those dances which our natives often have in the forests at night. Hitherto the name has been written corrobboree, but etymologically it should be karabari, for it comes from the same root as `karaji,' a wizard or medicine-man, and `bari' is a common formative in the native languages. The karabari has been usually regarded as a form of amusement . . . these dances partake of a semi-religious character."

"I feared he might imagine we were afraid of his incantations, for he sang most lamentable corroborris."

". . . listen to the new corroborree. Great numbers arrive; the corroborree is danced night after night with the utmost enthusiasm. . . .These corroborrees travel for many hundreds of miles from the place where they originated. . . .These composers [of song and dance] pretend that the Spirit of Evil originally manufactured their corroborree."

"The story was a grand joke among the blacks for many a day. It became, no doubt, the theme for a `corroberee,' and Tommy was always after a hero amongst his countrymen."

"A corrobory of gigantic dimensions is being prepared for
[General Booth's] reception [in Australia]." (`O.E.D.')

"There's a big corrobbery on to-night at Government House, and you can't get a cab for love or money."

"The boy raises the most awful corroboree of screams and howls, enough for a whole gang of bushrangers, if they went in for that sort of thing."

"Latest about the Cretan corroboree in our cable messages this evening. The situation at the capital is decidedly disagreeable. A little while ago the Moslems threw the Christians out and took charge. Now the last report is that there is a large force of Christians attacking the city and quite ready, we doubt not, to cut every Moslem throat that comes in the way."

"For some time the district where the nut [bunya] abounds is a scene of feasting and corroboreeing."

"The Menura Alberti [see Lyrebird] scratches for itself shallow holes, or, as they are called by the natives, corroborying places, where it is believed both sexes assemble."

"`Look out there! `he continued; `quart-pot corroborree,' springing up and removing with one hand from the fire one of the quart-pots, which was boiling madly, while with the other he dropped in about as much tea as he could hold between his fingers and thumb."

"They had almost finished their meal before the new quart corroborreed, as the stockman phrased it."

<hw>Corypha-palm</hw>, n. an obsolete name for Livistona inermis, now called Cabbage-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Cottage</hw>, n. a house in which all the rooms are on the ground-floor. An auctioneer's advertisement often runs—"large weatherboard cottage, twelve rooms, etc.," or "double-fronted brick cottage." The cheapness of land caused nearly all suburban houses in Australia to be built without upper storeys and detached.

<hw>Cotton-bush</hw>, n. name applied to two trees called Salt-bush (q.v.). (1) Bassia bicornis, Lindl. (2) Kochia aphylla, R. Br., N.O. Salsolaceae. S. Dixon (apud Maiden, p. 132) thus describes it—

"All kinds of stock are often largely dependent on it during protracted droughts, and when neither grass nor hay are obtainable I have known the whole bush chopped up and mixed with a little corn, when it proved an excellent fodder for horses."

"This is a fine open, hilly district, watered, well grassed, and with plenty of herbage and cotton-bush."

<hw>Cotton-shrub</hw>, n. a name given in Tasmania to the shrub Pimelea nivea, Lab., N.O. Thymeleae.

<hw>Cotton-tree</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Hibiscus teliaceus, Linn., N.O. Malvaceae.

"The fibre of the bark [cotton-tree] is used for nets and fishing-lines by the aborigines."

<hw>Cotton-wood</hw>, n. the timber of an Australian tree, Bedfordia salicina, De C., N.O. Compositae. Called Dog-wood (q.v.) in Tasmania.

"The `dog-wood' of Tasmania, and the `cotton-wood' of Southern
New South Wales, on account of the abundant down on the leaves.
A hard, pale-brown, well-mottled wood, said by some to be good
for furniture. It emits a foetid smell when cut."

<hw>Coucal</hw>, n. a bird-name, "mentioned probably for the first time in Le Vaillant's `Oiseaux d'Afrique,' beginning about 1796; perhaps native African. An African or Indian spear-headed cuckoo: a name first definitely applied by Cuvier in 1817 to the birds of the genus Centropus." (`Century.') The Australian species is Centropus phasianellus, Gould, or Centropus phasianus, Lath. It is called also Swamp-pheasant (q.v.), and Pheasant-cuckoo.

<hw>Count-fish</hw>, n. a large Schnapper (q.v.). See Cock-Schnapper.

"The ordinary schnapper or count fish implies that all of a certain size are to count as twelve to the dozen, the shoal or school-fish eighteen or twenty-four to the dozen, and the squire, thirty or thirty-six to the dozen—the latter just according to their size, the redbream at per bushel."

<hw>Count-muster</hw>, n. a gathering, especially of sheep or cattle in order to count them.

"The old man's having a regular count-muster of his sons and daughters, and their children and off side relatives-that is, by marriage."

<hw>Cowdie</hw>, n. an early variant of Kauri (q.v.), with other spellings.

"The native name `Kauri' is the only common name in general use. When the timber was first introduced into Britain it was termed `cowrie' or `kowdie-pine'; but the name speedily fell into disuse, although it still appears as the common name in some horticultural works."

<hw>Cowshorns</hw>, n. a Tasmanian orchid, Pterostylis nutans, R. Br.

<hw>Cow-tree</hw>, n. a native tree of New Zealand. Maori name, Karaka (q.v.).

"The karaka-tree of New Zealand (Corynocarpus laevigata), also called kopi by the natives, and cow-tree by Europeans (from that animal being partial to its leaves), grows luxuriantly in Sydney."

<hw>Crab</hw>, n. Of the various Australian species of this marine crustacean, Scylla serrata alone is large enough to be much used as food, and it is seldom caught. In Tasmania and Victoria, Pseudocarcinus gigas, called the King-Crab, which reaches a weight of 20 lbs., is occasionally brought to market. There is only one fresh-water crab known in Australia—Telphusa transversa.

1896. Spencer and Hall, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Zoology, p. 228:

"In the case of Telphusa transversa, the fresh-water crab, the banks of certain water holes are riddled with its burrows."

<hw>Crab-hole</hw>, n. a hole leading into a pit-like burrow, made originally by a burrowing crayfish, and often afterwards increased in size by the draining into it of water. The burrows are made by crayfish belonging to the genera Engaeus and Astacopsis, which are popularly known as land-crabs.

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria, during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 72:

"Full of crab holes, which are exceedingly dangerous for the horses. There are holes varying in depth from one to three feet, and the smallest of them wide enough to admit the foot of a horse: nothing more likely than that a horse should break its leg in one. . . . These holes are formed by a small land-crab and then gradually enlarged by the water draining into them."

"Across the creek we went . . . now tripping over tussocks, now falling into crab holes."

<hw>Cradle</hw>, n. common in Australia, but of Californian origin. "A trough on rockers in which auriferous earth or sand is shaken in water, in order to separate and collect the gold." (`O.E.D.')

1849. `Illustrated London News,' Nov. 17, p. 325, col. 1 (`O.E.D.'): [This applies to California, and is before the Australian diggings began]:

"Two men can keep each other steadily at work, the one digging and carrying the earth in a bucket, and the other washing and rocking the cradle."

1851. Letter by Mrs. Perry, quoted in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 171:

<hw>Crake</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australian varieties are—

<hw>Cranberry, Native</hw>, n. called also <hw>Ground-berry</hw>; name given to three Australian shrubs. (1) Styphelia (formerly Lissanthe) humifusa, Persoon, N.O. Epacrideae.

"Astroloma humifusum. The native cranberry has a fruit of a green, reddish, or whitish colour, about the size of a black currant, consisting of a viscid apple-flavoured pulp inclosing a large seed; this fruit grows singly on the trailing stems of a small shrub resembling juniper, bearing beautiful scarlet blossoms in autumn."

"Commonly called `ground-berry.' In Tasmania the fruits are often called native cranberries. The fruits of these dwarf shrubs are much appreciated by school-boys and aboriginals. They have a viscid, sweetish pulp, with a relatively large stone. The pulp is described by some as being apple-flavoured, though I have always failed to make out any distinct flavour."

"Lissanthe sapida, a native of South-eastern Australia, is called the Australian Cranberry, on account of its resemblance both in size and colour to our European cranberry, Vaccinium Oxyconos."

"Native cranberry. The fruit is edible. It is something like the cranberry of Europe both in size and colour, but its flesh is thin, and has been likened to that of the Siberian crab. [Found in] New South Wales."

(3) Pernettya tasmanica, Hook., N.O. Ericeae (peculiar to Tasmania).

<hw>Crane</hw>, n. common English bird-name. In Australia used for (1) the Native-Companion (q.v.), Grus australianus, Gould; (2) various Herons, especially in New Zealand, where the varieties are—Blue Crane (Matuku), Ardea sacra, Gmel.; White Crane (Kotuku), Ardea egretta, Gmel. See Kotuku and Nankeen Crane. The Cranes and the Herons are often popularly confused.

"Ardea Novae-Hollandiae, Lath., White-fronted Heron, Blue Crane of the colonists. Herodias Jugularis, Blue Reef Heron, Blue Crane, colonists of Port Essington."

"Herodias Immaculata, Gould [later melanopus], Spotless Egret, White Crane of the colonists."

"[Close Season.] All Birds known as Cranes such as Herons,
Egrets, &c. From First day of August to Twentieth day of
December following in each year."

<hw>Crawler</hw>, n. that which crawls; used specially in Australia of cattle.

"Well-bred station crawlers, as the stockmen term them from their peaceable and orderly habits."

<hw>Cray-fish</hw>, n. The Australasian Cray-fish belong to the family Parastacidae, the members of which are confined to the southern hemisphere, whilst those of the family Potamobiidae are found in the northern hemisphere. The two families are distinguished from one another by, amongst other points of structure, the absence of appendages on the first abdominal segment in the Parastacidae. The Australasian cray-fishes are classified in the following genera—Astacopsis, found in the fresh waters of Tasmania and the whole of Australia; Engaeus, a land-burrowing form, found only in Tasmania and Victoria; Paranephrops, found in the fresh waters of New Zealand; and Palinurus, found on the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The species are as follows :—

(1) The Yabber or Yabbie Crayfish. Name given to the commonest fresh-water Australian Cray-fish, Astacopsis bicarinatus, Gray. This is found in waterholes, but not usually in running streams, over the greater part of the continent, and often makes burrows in the ground away from water, and may also do great damage by burrowing holes through the banks of dams and reservoirs and water-courses, as at Mildura. It was first described as the Port Essington Crayfish.

1845. Gray, in E. J. Eyre's `Expeditions into Central Australia,' vol. i. p. 410:

"They are commonly known about Melbourne by the native name of
Yabber or Yabbie."

(2) The Murray Lobster or the Spiny Cray-fish. Name given to the largest Australian fresh-water Cray-fish, Astacopsis serratus, Shaw, which reaches a length of over twelve inches, and is found in the rivers of the Murray system, and in the southern rivers of Victoria such as the Yarra, the latter being distinguished as a variety of the former and called locally the Yarra Spiny Cray-fish.

Our plate 160 illustrates a remarkable variety of the typical A. serratus of the Murray, common in the Yarra and its numerous affluents flowing southwards."

(3) The Tasmanian Cray-fish. Name given to the large fresh-water Cray-fish found in Tasmania, Astacopsis franklinii; Gray.

(4) The Land-crab. Name applied to the burrowing Cray-fish of Tasmania and Victoria, Engaeus fossor, Erich., and other species. This is the smallest of the Australian Cray-fish, and inhabits burrows on land, which it excavates for itself and in which a small store of water is retained. When the burrow, as frequently happens, falls in there is formed a Crab-hole (q.v.).

"Only four of the previously described forms are fresh-water species, namely: Astacopsis franklinii and A. tasmanicus, Engaeus fossor and E. cunicularius, all fresh-water cray fishes."

(5) New Zealand Fresh-water Cray-fish. Name applied to Paranephrops zealandicus, White, which is confined to the fresh water of New Zealand.

1889. T. J. Parker, `Studies in Biology' (Colonial Museum and Geological Survey Department, New Zealand), p. 5:

"Paranephrops which is small and has to be specially collected in rivers, creeks or lakes."

(6) Sydney Cray-fish. Name given to the large salt-water Cray-fish, rarely called Craw-fish, or Spiny Lobster, found along the Sydney coast, Palinurus huegeli, Heller.

"This species, which is the common Sydney Craw-fish, is easily distinguished from the southern one, the P. Lalandi, which is the common Melbourne Craw-fish."

(7) Southern Rock-Lobster or Melbourne Crayfish. Name given to the large salt-water Cray-fish, sometimes called Craw-fish, found along the southern coast and common in the Melbourne market, Palinurus lalandi, Lam.

"I suggest the trivial name of Southern Rock Lobster for this species, which abounds in Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as the Cape of Good Hope . . . does not appear to have been noticed as far north as Sydney."

The name Craw-fish is merely an ancient variant of Cray-fish, though it is said by Gasc, in his French Dictionary, that the term was invented by the London fishmongers to distinguish the small Spiny Lobster, which has no claws, from the common Lobster, which has claws. The term Lobster, in Australia, is often applied to the Sydney Cray-fish (see 7, above).

<hw>Creadion</hw>, n. scientific name given by Vieillot in 1816 to a genus of birds peculiar to New Zealand, from Greek kreadion, a morsel of flesh, dim. of kreas, flesh. Buller says, "from the angle of the mouth on each side there hangs a fleshy wattle, or caruncle, shaped like a cucumber seed and of a changeable bright yellow colour." ('Birds of New Zealand,' 1886, vol. i. p. 18.) The Jack-bird (q.v.) and Saddle-back (q.v.) are the two species.

"Family Sturnidae—Tieki (Creadion Carunculatus). This is a beautiful black bird with a chestnut band across the back and wings; it has also a fleshy lappet on either side of the head. The tieki is considered a bird of omen: if one flies on the right side it is a good sign; if on the left, a bad one."

<hw>Creek</hw>, n. a small river, a brook, a branch of a river. "An application of the word entirely unknown in Great Britain." (`O.E.D.') The `Standard Dictionary' gives, as a use in the United States, "a tidal or valley stream, between a brook and a river in size." In Australia, the name brook is not used. Often pronounced crick, as in the United States.

Dr. J. A.H. Murray kindly sends the following note:—"Creek goes back to the early days of exploration. Men sailing up the Mississippi or other navigable river saw the mouths of tributary streams, but could not tell with out investigation whether they were confluences or mere inlets, creeks. They called them creeks, but many of them turned out to be running streams, many miles long—tributary rivers or rivulets. The name creek stuck to them, however, and thus became synonymous with tributary stream, brook."

"In the afternoon a creek obliged them to leave the banks of the river, and go round its head, as it was too deep to cross: having rounded the head of this creek. . ."

"Through Rickerby's grounds upon the riverside and those of the
Rev. Mr. Marsden on the creek."

"The creeks and rivers of Australia have in general a transitory existence, now swollen by the casual shower, and again rapidly subsiding under the general dryness and heat of the climate."

"A Londoner reading of the crossing of a creek would naturally imagine the scene to be in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, instead of being perhaps some hundreds of miles in the interior, and would dream of salt water, perriwinkles and sea-weed, when he should be thinking of slimy mud-holes, black snakes and gigantic gum-trees."

"The little rivulet, called, with that singular pertinacity for error which I have so often noticed here, `the creek.'"

"The creek, just like a Scotch burn, hurrying and tumbling down the hillside to join the broader stream in the valley."

"In the rivers, whether large watercourses, and dignified by the name of `river,' or small tributaries called by the less sounding appellation `creeks."

"Generally where the English language is spoken a creek means a small inlet of the sea, but in Australia a creek is literally what it is etymologically, a crack in the ground. In dry weather there is very little water; perhaps in the height of summer the stream altogether ceases to run, and the creek becomes a string of waterholes; but when the heavens are opened, and the rain falls, it reappears a river."

<hw>Creeper</hw>, n. The name (sc. Tree-creeper) is given to several New Zealand birds of the genus Certhiparus, N.O. Passeres. The Maori names are Pipipi, Toitoi, and Mohona.

"Certhiparus Novae Zelandiae, Finsch. New Zealand Creeper." [A full description.]

(1) A racing term used of a horse which is out of order and not "fit" for the contest; hence transferred to a horse whose owner is shamming its illness and making it "run crooked" for the purpose of cheating its backers.

(2) Used more generally as slang, but not recognized in Barere and Leland's `Slang Dictionary.'

"He said he would dispose of the cloth at a moderate figure because it was `cronk.' The word `cronk,' Mr. Finlayson explained, meant `not honestly come by.'"

<hw>Crow</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australian species is—White-eyed, Corvus coronoides V. and H. In New Zealand (Maori name, Kokako) the name is used for the Blue-wattled Crow, Glaucopis wilsoni and for the (N. island) Orange-wattled, G. cinerea, Gmel. (S. island).

<hw>Crow-shrike</hw>, n. Australian amalgamation of two common English bird-names. The Crow-shrikes are of three genera, Strepera, Gymnorrhima, and Cracticus. The varieties of the genus Strepera are—

Birds of the genus Gymnorrhina are called Magpies (q.v.). Those of the genus Cracticus are called Butcher-birds (q.v.).

"A crush, which is an elongated funnel, becoming so narrow at the end that a beast is wedged in and unable to move."

"There were some small yards, and a `crush,' as they call it, for branding cattle."

<hw>Cuckoo</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australian birds to which it is applied are—

Brush C.—
Cacomantis insperatus.
[Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl.87.]

In New Zealand, the name is applied to Eudynamis taitensis (sc. of Tahiti) Sparm., the Long-tailed Cuckoo; and to Chrysococcyx lucidus, Gmel., the Shining Cuckoo. The name Cuckoo has sometimes been applied to the Mopoke (q.v.) and to the Boobook (q.v.). See also Pheasant-cuckoo.

"There are two species of the Longtailed Cuckoo (Eudynamis taitensis), and the beautiful Bronze or Shining Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus). They are both migratory birds. The Long-tailed Cuckoo spends its winter in some of the Pacific islands, the Shining Cuckoo in Australia."

<hw>Cuckoo-shrike</hw>, n. This combination of two common English bird-names is assigned in Australia to the following—

<hw>Cultivation paddock</hw>, n. a field that has been tilled and not kept for grass.

1853. Chas. St. Julian and Ed. K. Silvester, `The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,' p. 170:

"Few stations of any magnitude are without their `cultivation paddocks,' where grain and vegetables are raised . . ."

"Besides this large horse paddock, there was a space cleared of trees, some twenty to thirty acres in extent, on the banks of the creek, known as the `Cultivation Paddock,' where in former days my husband had grown a sufficient supply of wheat for home consumption."

"How any man could have been such an idiot as to attempt to make a cultivation paddock on a bed of clay passed all my knowledge.'

<hw>Curlew</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australian species is Numenius cyanopus, Vieill. The name, however, is more generally applied to AEdicnemus grallarius, Lath.

"Truly the most depressing cry I ever heard is that of the curlew, which you take no notice of in course of time; but which to us, wet, weary, hungry, and strange, sounded most eerie."

"The calling of the stone plover. It might as well be a curlew at once, for it will always be a curlew to country people. Its first call, with the pause between, sounds like `Curlew'—that is, if you really want it to sound so, though the blacks get much nearer the real note with `Koo-loo,' the first syllable sharp, the second long drawn out."

"There is a curlew in Australia, closely resembling the English bird, and it calls as that did over the Locksley Hall sand-dunes; but Australians are given to calling AEdicnemus grallarius Latham (our Stone Plover), the `curlew,' which is a misnomer. This also drearily wails, and after dark."

<hw>Currant, Native</hw>, n. The name is given to various shrubs and trees of the genus Coprosma, especially Coprosma billardieri, Hook., N.O. Rubiare(e; also to Leucopogon richei, Lab., N.O. Epacrideae, various species of Leptomeria, N.O. Santalaceae, and Myoporum serratum, R. Br., N.O. Myoporineae. The names used for M. serratum, chiefly in South Australia, are Blueberry Tree, Native Juniper, Native Myrtle, Palberry, and Cockatoo Bush.

"Our native currants are strongly acidulous, like the cranberry, and make an excellent preserve when mixed with the raspberry."

"Leucopogon lanceolatum. A large bush with numerous harsh leaves, growing along the sea shore, with some other smaller inland shrubs of the same tribe, produces very small white berries of a sweetish and rather herby flavour. These are promiscuously called white or native currants in the colony."

["The insignificant and barely edible berries of this shrub are said to have saved the life of the French botanist Riche, who was lost in the bush on the South Australian coast for three days, at the close of the last century." (Maiden.) The plant is now called L. Richei.]

"Native Currant. . . . This plant bears a small round drupe, about the size of a small pea. Mr. Backhouse states that (over half a century ago) when British fruits were scarce, it was made into puddings by some of the settlers of Tasmania, but the size and number of the seeds were objectionable."

<hw>Currency</hw>, n. (1) Name given especially to early paper-money in the Colonies, issued by private traders and of various values, and in general to the various coins of foreign countries, which were current and in circulation. Barrington, in his `History of New South Wales `(1802), gives a table of such specie.

"Much of this paper-money is of the most trifling description. To this is often added `payable in dollars at 5s. each.' Some . . . make them payable in Colonial currency."

"All Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes . . . as also all Contracts and Agreements whatsoever which shall be drawn and circulated or issued, or made and entered into, and shall be therein expressed . . . to be payable in Currency, Current Money, Spanish Dollars . . . shall be . . . Null and Void."

"Every man in business . . . issued promissory notes, varying in value from the sum of fourpence to twenty shillings, payable on demand. These notes received the appellation of paper currency. . . . The pound sterling represented twenty-five shillings of the paper-money."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. (Table of Contents):

"Our colonial-born brethren are best known here by the name of Currency, in contradistinction to Sterling, or those born in the mother-country. The name was originally given by a facetious paymaster of the 73rd Regiment quartered here—the pound currency being at that time inferior to the pound sterling."

1833. H. W. Parker, `Rise, Progress, and Present State of Van Diemen's Land,' p. 18:

"The Currency lads, as the country born colonists in the facetious nomenclature of the colony are called, in contradistinction to those born in the mother country."

"Whites born in the colony, who are also called `the currency'; and thus the `Currency Lass' is a favourite name for colonial vessels." [And, it may be added, also of Hotels.]

"A singular disinclination to finish any work completely, is a striking characteristic of colonial craftsmen, at least of the `currency' or native-born portion. Many of them who are clever, ingenious and industrious, will begin a new work, be it ship, house, or other erection, and labour at it most assiduously until it be about two-thirds completed, and then their energy seems spent, or they grow weary of the old occupation, and some new affair is set about as busily as the former one."

"English girls have such lovely complexions and cut out us poor currency lasses altogether."

<hw>Cushion-flower</hw>, n. i.q. Hakea laurina, R. Br. See Hakea.

<hw>Cut out</hw>, v. (1) To separate cattle from the rest of the herd in the open.

"The other two . . . could cut out a refractory bullock with the best stockman on the plains."

"We . . . camped for the purpose of separating our cattle, either by drafting through the yard, or by `cutting out' on horse-back."

"Drafting on the camp, or `cutting out' as it is generally called, is a very pretty performance to watch, if it is well done."

"A Queenslander would have thought it was as simple as going on to a cutting-out camp up North and running out the fats."

"When the stations `cut out,' as the term for finishing is, and the shearers and rouseabout men leave."

<hw>Cutting-grass</hw>, n. Cladium psittacorum, Labill., N.O. Cyperaceae. It grows very long narrow blades whose thin rigid edge will readily cut flesh if incautiously handled; it is often called Sword-grass.

"Long grass, known as cutting-grass between four and five feet high, the blade an inch and a half broad, the edges exquisitely sharp."

"Travelling would be almost impossible but for the button rush and cutting grass, which grow in big tussocks out of the surrounding bog."

"`Cutting grass' is the technical term for a hard, tough grass about eight or ten inches high, three-edged like a bayonet, which stock cannot eat because in their efforts to bite it off it cuts their mouths."

<hw>Dabchick</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The New Zealand species is Podiceps rufipectus. There is no species in Australia.

<hw>Dacelo</hw>, n. Name given by "W. E. Leach, 1816. An anagram or transposition of Lat. Alcedo, a Kingfisher." (`Century.') Scientific name for the Jackass (q.v.).

<hw>Dactylopsila</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian genus of the Striped Phalanger, called locally the Striped Opossum; see Opossum. It has a long bare toe. (Grk. daktulos, a finger, and psilos, bare.)

<hw>Daisy, Brisbane</hw>, n. a Queensland and New South Wales plant, Brachycome microcarpa, F. v. M., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daisy, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian flower, Brachycome decipiens, Hook., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daisy Tree</hw>, n. two Tasmanian trees, Astur stellulatus, Lab., and A. glandulosus, Lab., N.O. Compositae. The latter is called the Swamp-Daisy-Tree.

<hw>Dam</hw>, n. In England, the word means a barrier to stop water in Australia, it also means the water so stopped, as `O.E.D.' shows it does in Yorkshire.

"At present few stations are subdivided into paddocks smaller than 20,000 acres apiece. If in each of these there is but one waterhole or dam that can be relied upon to hold out in drought, sheep and cattle will destroy as much grass in tramping from the far corners of the grazing to the drinking spot as they will eat. Four paddocks of 5,000 acres each, well supplied with water, ought to carry almost double the number of sheep."

"[The murderer] has not since been heard of. Dams and waterholes have been dragged . . . but without result."

<hw>Dammara</hw>, n. an old scientific name of the genus, including the Kauri Pine (q.v.). It is from the Hindustani, damar, `resin.' The name was applied to the Kauri Pine by Lambert in 1832, but it was afterwards found that Salisbury, in 1805, had previously constituted the genus Agathis for the reception of the Kauri Pine and the Dammar Pine of Amboyna. This priority of claim necessitated the modern restoration of Agathis as the name of the genus.

<hw>Damper</hw>, n. a large scone of flour and water baked in hot ashes; the bread of the bush, which is always unleavened. [The addition of water to the flour suggests a more likely origin than that given by Dr. Lang. See quotation, 1847.]

"The farm-men usually make their flour into flat cakes, which they call damper, and cook these in the ashes . . ."

"I watched the distorted countenances of my humble companions while drinking their tea and eating their damper."

"I must here enlighten my readers as to what `damper' is. It is the bread of the bush, made with flour and water kneaded together and formed into dough, which is baked in the ashes, and after a few months keeping is a good substitute for bread."

[The last clause contains a most extraordinary statement— perhaps a joke. Damper is not kept for months, but is generally made fresh for each meal. See quotation, 1890, Lumholtz.]

"A cake baked in the ashes, which in Australia is usually styled a damper." [Footnote]: "This appellation is said to have originated somehow with Dampier, the celebrated navigator."

"`Damper' is a dough made from wheat-flour and water without yeast, which is simply pressed flat, and baked in the ashes; according to civilized notions, rather hard of digestion, but quite agreeable to hungry woodmen's stomachs."

"At first we had rather a horror of eating damper, imagining it to be somewhat like an uncooked crumpet. Experience, however, showed it to be really very good. Its construction is simple, and is as follows. Plain flour and water is mixed on a sheet of bark, and then kneaded into a disc some two or three inches thick to about one or two feet in diameter, great care to avoid cracks being taken in the kneading. This is placed in a hole scraped to its size in the hot ashes, covered over, and there left till small cracks caused by the steam appear on the surface of its covering. This is a sign that it is nearly done, and in a few minutes the skilful chef will sound it over with his "Wedges of damper (or bread baked in hot ashes) were cut from time to time from great circular flat loaves of that palatable and wholesome but somewhat compressed-looking bread."

"Damper is the name of a kind of bread made of wheat flour and water. The dough is shaped into a flat round cake, which is baked in red-hot ashes. This bread looks very inviting, and tastes very good as long as it is fresh, but it soon becomes hard and dry."

<hw>Damson, Native</hw>, n. called also Native Plum, an Australian shrub, Nageia spinulosa, F. v. M., N.O. Coniferae.

"Native Damson or Native Plum. This shrub possesses edible fruit, something like a plum, hence its vernacular names. The Rev. Dr. Woolis tells me that, mixed with jam of the Native Currant (Leptomeria acida), it makes a very good pudding."

<hw>Dandelion, Native</hw>, n. a flowering plant, Podolepis acuminata, R. Br., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daphne, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Myoporum viscorum, R. Br., N.O. Myoporineae; called also Dogwood and Waterbush.

"Native Daphne. . . . Timber soft and moderately light, yet tough. It is used for building purposes. It dresses well, and is straight in the grain."

<HW>Darling Pea</HW>, n. an Australian plant, Swainsonia galegifolia, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae; i.q. Indigo Plant (q.v.). See also Poison-bush. The Darling Downs and River were named after General (later Sir Ralph) Darling, who was Governor of New South Wales from Dec. 19, 1825 to Oct. 21, 1831. The "pea" is named from one of these.

<hw>Darling Shower</hw>, n. a local name in the interior of Australia, and especially on the River Darling, for a dust storm, caused by cyclonic winds.

<hw>Dart</hw>, n. (1) Plan, scheme, idea [slang]. It is an extension of the meaning—"sudden motion."

"Whose `dart' for the Looard
Was to appear the justest steward
That ever hiked a plate round."

"`Fresh strawberries eh!—that's my dart,' says the bushman when he sees the fruit lunch in Collins-street."

<hw>Darter</hw>, n. common English name for birds of the genus Plotus. So called from the way it "darts" upon its prey. The Australian species is Plotus novae- hollandiae, Gould.

<hw>Dasyure</hw>, and <hw>Dasyurus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Australian animals called Native Cats. See under Cat. The first form is the Anglicized spelling and is scientifically used in preference to the misleading vernacular name. From the Greek dasus, thick with hair, hairy, shaggy, and 'oura, tail. They range over Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the adjacent islands. Unlike the Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil (q.v.), which are purely terrestrial, the Dasyurus are arboreal in their habits, while they are both carnivorous and insectivorous.

The Thylacine, Tasmanian Devil, Pouched Mice, and Banded Ant-eater have sometimes been incorrectly classed as Dasyures, but the name is now strictly allotted to the genus Dasyurus, or Native Cat.

<hw>Date, Native</hw>, n. a Queensland fruit, Capparis canescens, Banks, N.O. Capparideae. The fruit is shaped like a pear, and about half an inch in its largest diameter. It is eaten raw by the aborigines.

<hw>Deadbeat</hw>, n. In Australia, it means a man "down on his luck," "stone-broke," beaten by fortune. In America, the word means an impostor, a sponge. Between the two uses the connection is clear, but the Australian usage is logically the earlier.

<hw>Dead-bird</hw>, n. In Australia, a recent slang term, meaning "a certainty." The metaphor is from pigeon-shooting, where the bird being let loose in front of a good shot is as good as dead.

(2) Acacia farnesiana, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae. See quotation, 1889.

"On the eastern face of the coast range are pine, red cedar, and beech, and on the western slopes, rose-wood, myall, dead-finish, plum-tree, iron-wood and sandal-wood, all woods with a fine grain suitable for cabinet-making and fancy work."

"Sometimes called by the absurd name of `Dead Finish.' This name given to some species of Acacia and Albizzia, is on account of the trees or shrubs shooting thickly from the bottom, and forming an impenetrable barrier to the traveller, who is thus brought to a `dead finish' (stop)"

"The hawthorn is admirably represented by a brush commonly called `dead finish.'" [p. 61]: "Little knolls are crowned with `dead finish' that sheep are always glad to nibble."

<hw>Dead-wood Fence</hw>, n. The Australian fence, so called, is very different from the fence of the same name in England. It is high and big, built of fallen timber, logs and branches. Though still used in Australia for fencing runs, it is now usually superseded by wire fences.

"A `dead-wood fence,' that is, a mass of timber four or five feet thick, and five or six high, the lower part being formed of the enormous trunks of trees, cut into logs six or eight feet long, laid side by side, and the upper portion consisting of the smaller branches skilfully laid over, or stuck down and twisted."

"A very common fence is built by felling trees round the space to be enclosed, and then with their stems as a foundation, working up with the branches, a fence of a desirable height."

<hw>Deal, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Nageia elata, F. v. M., N.O. Coniferae. For other vernacular names see quotation.

"Pine, white pine, called she-pine in Queensland; native deal, pencil cedar. This tree has an elongated trunk, rarely cylindrical; wood free from knots, soft, close, easily worked, good for joiners' and cabinet-work; some trees afford planks of great beauty. (Macarthur.) Fine specimens of this timber have a peculiar mottled appearance not easily described, and often of surpassing beauty."

"Warm December sweeps with burning breath
Across the bosom of the shrinking earth."

<hw>Deepsinker</hw>, n. (1) The largest sized tumbler; (2) the long drink served in it. The idea is taken from deep-sinking in a mining shaft.

"As athletes the cocoons can run rings round the beans; they can jump out of a tumbler—whether medium, small, or deepsinker is not recorded."

<hw>Deep Yellow-Wood</hw>, n. Rhus rhodanthema, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiaceae. A tree with spreading head; timber valuable. See Yellow-Wood.

<hw>Deferred Payment</hw>, n. a legal phrase. "Land on deferred payment"; "Deferred payment settler"; "Pastoral deferred payment." These expressions in New Zealand have reference to the mode of statutory alienation of Crown lands, known in other colonies as conditional sale, etc., i.e. sale on time payment, with conditions binding the settler to erect improvements, ending in his acquiring the fee-simple. The system is obsolete, but many titles are still incomplete.

<hw>Dendrolagus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Australian marsupials called Tree-Kangaroos (q.v.). (Grk. dendron, a tree, and lagows, a hare.) Unlike the other kangaroos, their fore limbs are nearly as long as the hinder pair, and thus adapted for arboreal life. There are five species, three belong to New Guinea and two to Queensland; they are the Queensland Tree-Kangaroo, Dendrolagus lumholtzi; Bennett's T.-k., D. bennettianus; Black T.-k., D. ursinus : Brown T.-k., D. inustus; Doria's T.-k., D. dorianus. See Kangaroo.

<hw>Derry</hw>, n. slang. The phrase "to have a down on" (see Down) is often varied to "have a derry on." The connection is probably the comic-song refrain, "Hey derry down derry."

"Mr. Croker: Certainly. We will tender it as evidence.
(To the witness.) Have you any particular `derry' upon this
Wendouree?—No; not at all. There are worse vessels knocking
about than the Wendouree."

"`Dervener.'—An expression used in continental Australia for a man from the Derwent in Tasmania. Common up till 1850 at least.—David Blair."

"With respect to `dervener,' the word was in use while the blue shirt race existed [sc. convicts], and these people did not become extinct until after 1860.—Cymro-Victoria."

<hw>Derwenter</hw>, n. a released convict from Hobart Town, Tasmania, which is on the River Derwent.

"An odd pair of sawyers, generally `Derwenters,' as the
Tasmanian expirees were called."

<hw>Desert Lemon</hw>, n. called also Native Kumquat, Atalantia glauca, Hook., N.O. Rutacea.

"The native kumquat or desert lemon. The fruit is globular, and about half an inch in diameter. It produces an agreeable beverage from its acid juice."

<hw>Desert-Oak</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Casuarina decaisneana, F. v. M. See Casuarina and Oak.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 49:

"We had now amongst these sandhills come into the region of the `Desert Oak' (Casuarina Decaisneana). Some of the trees reach a height of forty or fifty feet, and growing either singly or in clumps form a striking feature amongst the thin sparse scrub. . . . The younger ones resemble nothing so much as large funeral plumes. Their outlines seen under a blazing sun are indistinct, and they give to the whole scene a curious effect of being `out of focus.'"

<hw>Devil, Tasmanian</hw>, n. an animal, Sarcophilus ursinus, Harris. Formerly, but erroneously, referred to the genus Dasyurus (q.v.), which includes the Native Cat (see under Cat): described in the quotations.

"The devil, or as naturalists term it, Dasyurus ursinus, is very properly named."

"The devil (Dasyurus ursinus, Geoff.), about the size of a bull terrier, is an exceedingly fierce and disgusting-looking animal, of a black colour, usually having one white band across the chest, and another across the back, near the tail. It is a perfect glutton, and most indiscriminate in its feeding."

"Dasyurus ursinus—a carnivorous marsupial. Colonists in Tasmania, where only it exists . . . called it the `devil,' from the havoc it made among their sheep and poultry."

"In the next division is a pair of Tasmanian devils (Dasyurus ursinus); these unprepossessing-looking brutes are hated by every one in Tasmania, their habitat, owing to their destructiveness amongst poultry, and even sheep. They are black in colour, having only a white band across the chest, and possess great strength in proportion to their size."

<hw>Devil's Guts</hw>, n. The name is given in Australia to the Dodder-Laurel (see Laurel), Cassytha filiformis, Linn., N.O. Lauraceae. In Tasmania the name is applied to Lyonsia straminea, R. Br., N.O. Apocyneae.

"Lyonsia (Lyonsia straminea, Br.). Fibres of the bark fine and strong. The lyonsia is met with, rather sparingly, in dense thickets, with its stems hanging like ropes among the trees."

"This and other species of Cassythia are called `dodder-laurel.' The emphatic name of `devil's guts' is largely used. It frequently connects bushes and trees by cords, and becomes a nuisance to the traveller." [This plant is used by the Brahmins of Southern India for seasoning their buttermilk. (`Treasury of Botany.')]

<hw>Devil-on-the-Coals</hw>, n. a Bushman's name for a small and quickly-baked damper.

"Instead of damper we occasionally made what is colonially known as `devils on the coals.' . . . They are convenient when there is not time to make damper, as only a minute or so is required to bake them. They are made about the size of a captain's biscuit, and as thin as possible, thrown on the embers and turned quickly with the hand."

<hw>Diamond Bird</hw>, n. a bird-name. In the time of Gould this name was only applied to Pardalotus punctatus, Temm. Since that time it has been extended to all the species of the genus Pardalotus (q.v.). The broken colour of the plumage suggested a sparkling jewel.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 238:

"We are informed by Mr. Caley that this species is called diamond bird by the settlers, from the spots on its body. By them it is reckoned as valuable on account of its skin."

<hw>Diamond Snake</hw>, n. In Queensland and New South Wales, Pythonon spilotes, Lacep.; in Tasmania, Hoplocephalus superhus, Gray, venomous. See under Snake.

<hw>Digger</hw>, n. a gold-miner. The earliest mines were alluvial. Of course the word is used elsewhere, but in Australia it has this special meaning.

"Murray's Guide to the Gold Diggings.—The Australian Gold
Diggings; where they are, and how to get at them; with letters
from Settlers and Diggers telling how to work them. London:
Stewart & Murray) 1852."

1853. Valiant, `Letter to Council,' given in McCombie's `History of Victoria' (1853), c. xvi. p. 248:

"Buckland River, January 29th, 1854. The diggers here are a very quiet and civil race, at the same time that they are a most active and laborious one. . . . The principal part of the diggers here are from the Ovens."

"His Father's Mate had always been a general favourite with the diggers and fossickers, from the days when he used to slip out first thing in the morning and take a run across the frosty flat in his shirt."

<hw>Digger's Delight</hw>, n. a flower, Veronica perfoliata, R. Br., N.O. Scrophularaneae, described in quotations.

"Digger's Delight, Veronica perfoliata, N.O. Scrophularineae. A pretty, blue-flowering shrub, with smooth stem-clasping leaves; found in the mountainous districts of Victoria and New South Wales, and deriving its common name from a supposition that its presence indicated auriferous country. It is plentiful in the elevated cold regions of Australia."

"Such native flowers as the wild violet, the shepherd's purse, or the blue-flowered `digger's delight.' This latter has come, perhaps, with the seeds from some miner's holding amongst the iron-barks in the gold country, and was once supposed to grow only on auriferous soils. When no one would think of digging for gold in this field, the presence of the flower is, perhaps, as reliable an indication of a golconda underneath as the reports and information on the strength of which many mining companies are floated."

"The digger marching off, followed by his diggeress, a tall, slim young woman, who strode on like a trooper. . . . Open carriages driving about, crowded with diggers and their diggeresses."

<hw>Diggings</hw>, n. a place where gold-mining is carried on. The word is generally regarded as singular. Though common in Australia, it is very old, even in the sense of a place where digging for gold is carried on.

"King Henry VIII. was induced to dig for Gold. He was disappointed, but the Diggings are visible at this Day."

1852. J. Morgan, `Life and Adventures of William Buckley' (published at Hobart), p. 183 [quoting from the `Victoria Commercial Review,' published at Melbourne, by Messrs. Westgarth, Ross, & Co., under date September 1, 1851]:

"The existence of a `goldfield' was not ascertained until May last. . . . Numbers of persons are daily `prospecting' throughout this Colony and New South Wales in search of gold. . . .In Victoria, as well as in New South Wales, regular `diggings' are now established."

1852. Murray, `The Australian Gold Diggings: where they are and how to get at them,' p. 1;

"It cannot but be acceptable to the crowds of intending colonists and gold seekers, to present them with a picture of the `Progress of the Diggins,' [sic] drawn by the diggers."

<hw>Dilli</hw>, later <hw>Dilly-bag</hw>, n. an aboriginal word, coming from Queensland, for a bag made either of grasses or of fur twisted into cord. Dhilla is the term for hair in Kabi dialect, Mary River, Queensland. Dirrang and jirra are corresponding words in the east of New South Wales. The aboriginal word dilli has been tautologically increased to dilly-bag, and the word is used by bushmen for a little bag for odds-and-ends, even though made of calico or holland.

<hw>Dingle-bird</hw>, n. a poetical name for the Australian Bell-bird (q.v.).

<hw>Dingo</hw>, n. the native dog of Australia, Canis dingo. "The aborigines, before they obtained dogs from Europeans, kept the dingo for hunting, as is still done by coast tribes in Queensland. Name probably not used further south than Shoalhaven, where the wild dog is called Mirigang." (A. W. Howitt.)

[A dingo or dog of New South Wales. Plate. Description by J. Hunter.] "It is capable of barking, although not so readily as the European dogs; is very ill-natured and vicious, and snarls, howls, and moans, like dogs in common. Whether this is the only dog in New South Wales, and whether they have it in a wild state, is not mentioned; but I should be inclined to believe they had no other; in which case it will constitute the wolf of that country; and that which is domesticated is only the wild dog tamed, without having yet produced a variety, as in some parts of America."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocab.]:

"The native dog also, which is a species of the wolf, was proved to be fully equal in this respect [sport] to the fox; but as the pack was not sufficiently numerous to kill these animals at once, they always suffered so severely from their bite that at last the members of the hunt were shy in allowing the dogs to follow them."

"I have heard that the dingo, warragal or native dog, does not hunt in packs like the wolf and jackal."

"The English hart is so greatly superior, as an animal of chase, to that cunning poultry thief the fox, that I trust Mister Reynard will never be allowed to become an Australian immigrant, and that when the last of the dingoes shall have shared the fate of the last English wolf, Australian Nimrods will resuscitate, at the antipodes of England, the sterling old national sport of hart hunting, conjointly with that of African boks, gazelles, and antelopes, and leave the fox to their English cousins, who cannot have Australian choice."

"In the neighbourhood of Brisbane and other large towns where they have packs, they run the dingoes as you do foxes at home."

"The arms of the Wimmera should be rabbit and dingo, `rampant,' supporting a sun, `or, inflamed.'"

"Dingoes, the Australian name for the wild dogs so destructive to sheep. They were . . . neither more nor less than wolves, but more cowardly and not so ferocious, seldom going in large packs. They hunted kangaroos when in numbers, or driven to it by hunger; but usually preferred smaller and more easily obtained prey, as rats, bandicoots, and 'possums."

"On the large stations a man is kept whose sole work it is to lay out poison for the dingo. The black variety with white breast generally appears in Western Queensland along with the red."

"The dingo of northern Australia can be distinguished from his brother of the south by his somewhat smaller size and courageous bearing. He always carries his tail curled over his back, and is ever ready to attack any one or anything; whilst the southern dingo carries his tail low, slinks along like a fox, and is easily frightened. The pure dingo, which is now exceedingly rare in a wild state, partly through the agency of poison, but still more from the admixture of foreign breeds, is unable to bark, and can only express its feelings in long-drawn weird howls."

"Why is the first call of a dingo always apparently miles away, and the answer to it—another quavering note slightly more shrill—so close at hand? Is it delusion or distance?"

<hw>Dinornis</hw>, n. the scientific name given by Professor Owen to the genus of huge struthious birds of the post-Pliocene period, in New Zealand, which survive in the traditions of the Maoris under the name of Moa (q.v.). From the Greek deinos, terrible, and 'ornis, bird.

"The specimens [fossil-bones] transmitted . . . were confided to the learned Professor [Owen] for determination; and these materials, scanty as they were, enabled him to define the generic characters of Dinornis, as afforded by the bones of the hind extremity."

"Professor Owen had well-nigh exhausted the vocabulary of terms expressive of largeness by naming his successive discoveries ingens, giganteus, crassus, robustus, and elephantopus, when he had to employ the superlative Dinornis maximus to distinguish a species far exceeding in stature even the stately Dinornis giganteus. In this colossal bird . . . some of the cervical vertebrae almost equal in size the neck-bones of a horse! The skeleton in the British Museum . . . measures 11 feet in height, and . . . some of these feathered giants attained to a still greater stature."

<hw>Dipper</hw>, n. a vessel with a handle at the top of the side like a big tin mug. That with which one dips. The word is not Australian, but is of long standing in the United States, where it is used as a name for the constellation of the Great Bear.

"These answers have not the true colonial ring of the following, which purports to be the remark of the woman of Samaria: `Sir, the well is very deep, and you haven't got a dipper.'"

". . . Dr. Leichhardt gave the party a quantity of dough boys, or as we called them, dips. . ."

[p. 171]: "In this dilemma, Dr. Leichhardt ordered the cook to mix up a lot of flour, and treated us all to a feed of dips. These were made as follows:—a quantity of flour was mixed up with water, and stirred with a spoon to a certain consistency, and dropped into a pot of boiling water, a spoonful at a time. Five minutes boiling was sufficient, when they were eaten with the water in which they were boiled."

<hw>Dirt</hw>, n. In Australia, any alluvial deposit in which gold is found; properly Wash-dirt. The word is used in the United States. See quotation, 187.

"And after doing this several times, the `dirt,' of course, gradually diminishing, I was overjoyed to see a few bright specks."

"In California, `dirt' is the universal word to signify the substance dug; earth, clay, gravel, or loose slate. The miners talk of rich dirt and poor dirt, and of stripping off so many feet of `top dirt' before getting to `pay-dirt,' the latter meaning dirt with so much gold in it that it will pay to dig it up and wash it."

"Others to these the precious dirt convey,
Linger a moment till the panning's through."

"We were clean worked out . . . before many of our neighbours at Greenstone Gully, were half done with their dirt."

<hw>Dish</hw>, n. and adj. a small and rough vessel in which gold is washed. The word is used in the United States.

<hw>Dishwasher</hw>, n. an old English bird-name for the Water-Wagtail; applied in Australia to Seisura inquieta, Lath., the Restless Fly-catcher (q.v.). Seisura is from Grk. seiein (to shake), and 'oura (a tail), being thus equal in meaning to Wagtail. Also called Dishlick, Grinder, and Razor-grinder (q.v.).

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 250:

"This bird is called by the colonists Dishwasher. It is very curious in its actions. In alighting on the stump of a tree it makes several semi-circular motions, spreading out its tail, and making a loud noise somewhat like that caused by a razor-grinder when at work."

<hw>Distoechurus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the New Guinea Pentailed-Phalanger, or so-called Opossum-mouse (q.v.). It has a tail with the long hairs arranged in two opposite rows, like the vanes of a feather.(Grk. distoichos, with two rows, and 'oura, a tail.)

<hw>Diver</hw>, n. common bird-name used in Australia for a species of Grebe.

"Podiceps australis, Gould; Australian Tippet Grebe; Diver of the Colonists."

<hw>Doctor</hw>, n. word used in the South Australian bush for "the cook."

"`The doctor's in the kitchen, and the boss is in the shed;
   The overseer's out mustering on the plain;
  Sling your bluey down, old boy, for the clouds are overhead,
   You are welcome to a shelter from the rain.'"

<hw>Dog-fish</hw>, n. The name belongs to various fishes of distinct families, chiefly sharks. In Australia, it is used for the fish Scyllium lima, family Scylliidae. In New South Wales it is Scyllium maculatum, Bl. The Sprite Dog-fish of New Zealand is Acanthias maculatus, family Spinacidae. The Spotted Dog-fish of New South Wales is Scyllium anale. The Dusky Dogfish of New South Wales is Chiloscyllium modestum, Gunth., and there are others in Tasmania and Australia.

<hw>Dogleg</hw>, adj. applied to a primitive kind of fence made of rough timber. Crossed spars, which are the doglegs, placed at intervals, keep in place a low rail resting on short posts, and are themselves fixed by heavy saplings resting in the forks above.

". . . we made acquaintance with the `dog's leg' fence. This is formed of bare branches of the gum-tree laid obliquely, several side by side, and the ends overlapping, so that they have somewhat the appearance that might be presented by the stretched-out legs of a crowd of dogs running at full speed. An upright stick at intervals, with a fork at the top, on which some of the cross-branches rest, adds strength to the structure."

"While the primaeval `dog-leg' fence of the Victorian bush, or the latter-day `chock and log' are no impediments in the path of our foresters." [sc. kangaroos; see Forester.]

"As we rode up we could see a gunyah made out of boughs, and a longish wing of dog leg fence, made light but well put together."

<hw>Dog's Tongue</hw>, n. name given to the plant Cynoglossum suaveolens, R. Br., N.O. Asperifoliae.

<hw>Dogwood</hw>, n. various trees and their wood; none of them the same as those called dogwood in the Northern Hemisphere, but their woods are used for similar purposes, e.g. butchers' skewers, fine pegs, and small pointed wooden instruments. In Australia generally, Jacksonia scoparia, R. Br., also Myoporum platycarpum, R. Br. In Tasmania, Bedfordia salicina, De C., N.O. Compositae, which is also called Honeywood, and in New South Wales, Cottonwood (q.v.), and the two trees Pomaderris elliptica, Lab., and P. apetala, Lab., N.O. Rhamnaceae, which are called respectively Yellow and Bastard Dogwood. See also Coranderrk. In parts of Tasmania, Pomaderris apetala, Lab., N.O. Rhamn/ac?/eae, is also called Dogwood, or Bastard Dogwood.

"There is a secluded hollow of this kind near Kangaroo Bottom, near Hobart Town, where the common dogwood of the colony (pomaderris apetala) has sprung up so thick and tall, that Mr. Babington and myself having got into it unawares one day, had the greatest difficulty imaginable to get out after three or four hours' labour. Not one of the plants was more than six inches apart from the others, while they rose from 6 to 12 yards in height, with leaves at the top which almost wholly excluded the light of the sun."

"Iron-bark ridges here and there, with spotted gum, with dogwood (Jacksonia) on a sandy soil." (p. 20): "A second creek, with running water, which from the number of dogwood shrubs (Jacksonia), in the full glory of their golden blossoms, I called `Dogwood Creek.'"

<hw>Dogwood Poison-bush</hw>, n. a New South Wales name; the same as Ellangowan Poison-bush (q.v.).

<hw>Dollar-bird</hw>, n. name given to the Roller (q.v.). See quotations.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 202:

"Eurystomus Australis, Swains., Australian Roller. Dollar Bird of the Colonists. During flight the white spot in the centre of each wing, then widely expanded, shows very distinctly, and hence the name of Dollar Bird.'"

"The Dollar-bird derives its name from a round white spot the size of a dollar, on its wing. It is very handsome, and flies in rather a peculiar manner. It is the only bird which I have observed to perform regular migrations; and it is strange that in such a climate any one should do so. But it appears that the dollar-bird does not relish even an Australian winter. It is the harbinger of spring and genial weather."

<hw>Dollar-fish</hw> n. a name often given formerly to the John Dory (q.v.), from the mark on its side. See quotation, 1880. The name Dollar-fish is given on the American coasts to a different fish.

"The fishermen of Roman Catholic countries hold this fish in special respect, as they recognize in a black round spot on its side the mark left by the thumb of St. Peter, when he took the piece of money from its mouth."

"The dory has been long known, and when the currency of the colony was in Mexican coin it was called a `dollar-fish.'"

<hw>Dorcopsis</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of little Kangaroos with pretty gazelle-like faces. (Grk. dorkas, a gazelle, and 'opsis, appearance.) They are called Dorca-Kangaroos, and are confined to New Guinea, and form in some respects a connecting link between Macropus and the Tree-Kangaroo (q.v.). There are three species—the Brown Dorca Kangaroo, Dorcopsis muelleri; Grey D., D. luctuosa, Macleay's D., D. macleayi. See Kangaroo (e).

<hw>Dottrel</hw>, n. formerly Dotterel, common English bird-name, applied in Australia to Charadrius australis, Gould.

Red-capped Dottrel— Charadrius ruficapilla, Temm.; called also Sand-lark.

<hw>Dove</hw>, n. a well-known English bird-name, applied in Australia to the—

<hw>Dove-Petrel</hw>, n. a well-known English bird-name. The species in the-Southern Seas are—

<hw>Dover</hw>, n. a clasp knife, by a maker of that name, once much used in the colonies.

"In plates and knives scant is the shepherd's store,
`Dover' and pan are all, he wants no more."

"`So much a week and the use of my Dover' men used to say in making a contract of labour."

<hw>Down</hw>, n. a prejudice against, hostility to; a peculiarly Australian noun made out of the adverb.

". . . the bushranger had been in search of another squatter, on whom `he said he had a down'. . ."

"It was explained that Foley had a private `down' on them, as having stolen from him a favourite kangaroo dog."

"That old prejudice in the minds of many men to the effect that those who represented the churches or religious people had a regular down upon freedom of thought."

"Mr. M. said it was notorious in the department that one of the commissioners had had `a down' on him."

"`They have a down on you,' says Case. `Taboo a man because they have a down on him'' I cried. `I never heard the like.'"

<hw>Down</hw>, adv. "To come, or be down," is the phrase used in Australian Universities for to be "plucked," or "ploughed," or "spun," i.e., to fail in an examination. It has been in use for a few years, certainly not earlier than 1886. The metaphor is either taken from a fall from a horse, or perhaps from the prize-ring. The use has no connection with being "sent down," or "going down," at Oxford or Cambridge.

<hw>Draft</hw>, v. to separate and sort cattle. An adaptation of the meaning "to select and draw off for particular service," especially used of soldiers.

"There were those cattle to be drafted that had been brought from the Lost Waterhole."

"They behave better, though all the while keeping the drafters incessantly popping at the fence by truculent charges."

<hw>Drafting-gate</hw>, n. gate used in separating cattle and sheep into different classes or herds.

"They send their produce to the market . . . receiving supplies for home consumption on the return of their drays or carts from thence."

"A horse dray, as known in Australia, is by no means the enormous thing its name would signify, but simply an ordinary cart on two wheels without springs." [There are also spring-drays.]

"One told by camp fires when the station drays
Were housed and hidden, forty years ago."

<hw>Dromicia</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian Dormouse Phalangers, or little Opossum- or Flying-Mice, as they are locally called. See Opossum, Opossum-mouse, and Phalanger. They are not really the "Flying"-Mice or Flying-phalanger, as they have only an incipient parachute, but they are nearly related to the Pigmy Petaurists (q.v.) or small Flying-Phalangers. (Grk. dromikos, good at running, or swift.)

<hw>Drongo</hw>, n. This bird-name was "given by Le Vaillant in the form drongeur to a South African bird afterwards known as the Musical Drongo, Dicrurus musicus, then extended to numerous . . . fly-catching, crow-like birds." (`Century.') The name is applied in Australia to Chibia bracteata, Gould, which is called the Spangled Drongo.

1895. W. 0. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 448:

"There being but one member of the interesting Asiatic genus Drongo in Australia, it was thought best to characterize it simply as the Drongo without any qualifying term."

<hw>Drop</hw>, n. (Slang.) To "have the drop on" is to forestall, gain advantage over, especially by covering with a revolver.

It is curious that while an American magazine calls this phrase
Australian (see quotation), the `Dictionary of Slang'—one
editor of which is the distinguished American, Godfrey
C. Leland—says it is American. It is in common use in
Australia.

"His terrible wife, if we may borrow a phrase from Australia, `had the drop on him' in every particular."

"I don't know how you'd be able to get on without the `boys' to muster, track, and drove."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River' [Poem `In the Droving Days'], p. 95:

"For though lie scarcely a trot can raise,
He can take me back to the droving days."

"They all chaffed us about our swags, or donkeys, or drums, as a bundle of things wrapped in a blanket is indifferently called."

"The Swagman: bed and board upon his back—or, having humped his drum and set out on the wallaby . . ."

<hw>Drummer</hw>, n. a New South Wales name for the fish Girella elevata, Macl., of the same family as the Black-fish (q.v.).

"When water is not available, as unfortunately is the case at Coolgardie, `dry blowing' is resorted to. This is done by placing the pounded stuff in one dish, and pouring it slowly at a certain height into the other. If there is any wind blowing it will carry away the powdered stuff; if there is no wind the breath will have to be used. It is not a pleasant way of saving gold, but it is a case of Hobson's choice. The unhealthiness of the method is apparent."

<hw>Duboisine</hw>, n. an alkaloid derived from the plant Duboisia myoposides, N.O. Sofanaceae, a native of Queensland and New South Wales. It is used in medicine as an application to the eye for the purpose of causing the pupil to dilate, in the same way as atropine, an alkaloid obtained from the belladonna plant in Europe, has long been employed. Duboisine was discovered and introduced into therapeutics by a Brisbane physician.

<hw>Duck</hw>, n. the well-known English name of the birds of the Anatinae, Fuligulinae, and other series, of which there are about 125 species comprised in about 40 genera. The Australian genera and species are—-

Whistling D.—
D. vagans, Eyton. [Each species of the
Dendrocygna called also by sportsmen Tree-duck.]

The following is a table of the ducks as compiled by Gould nearly fifty years ago.

"There are eleven species of Native Ducks belonging to nine genera, all found elsewhere, except two—the little Flightless Duck of the Auckland Islands (genus Nesonetta) and the Blue Mountain Duck (Hymenolaemus). Among the most interesting of the non-endemic forms, are the Paradise Duck or Sheldrake (Casarca variegata), the Brown Duck (Anas chlorotis), the Shoveller or Spoonbill Duck (Rhynchaspis variegata), and the Scaup or Black Teal (Fuligula Novae-Zealandiae)."

<hw>Duckbill</hw>, n. See Platypus. Sometimes also called Duckmole.

1825. Barron Field, `First Fruits of Australian Poetry,' in `Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales,' p. 496:

In Melbourne, before the days of trams, the wagonette-cabs used to run by a time-table from fixed stations at so much (generally 3d.) a passenger. A cabman who did not wait his turn on the station rank, but touted for passengers up and down the street in the neighbourhood of the rank, was termed a Duck-shover.

"Duck-shoving is the term used by our Melbourne cabmen to express the unprofessional trick of breaking the rank, in order to push past the cabman on the stand for the purpose of picking up a stray passenger or so."

"The case was one of a series of cases of what was technically known as `duck shoving,' a process of getting passengers which operated unfairly against the cabmen who stayed on the licensed stand and obeyed the by-law."

<hw>Dudu</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a pigeon, fat-breasted, and very good eating.

"In the grassland, a sort of ground pigeon, called the dudu, a very handsome little bird, got up and went off like a partridge, strong and swift, re-alighting on the ground, and returning to cover."

"He said there was a `duffing paddock' somewhere on the Broken River, into which nobody but the owner had ever found an entrance, and out of which no cattle had ever found their way—at any rate, not to come into their owner's possession. . . . The man who owned the `duffing paddock' was said to have a knack of altering cattle brands . . ."

"I knew Redcap when he'd think more of duffing a red heifer than all the money in the country."

"As to the calves I'm a few short myself, as I think that half-caste chap of yours must have `duffed.'"

<hw>Duffer</hw>2, n. a claim on a mine which turns out unproductive, called also shicer (q.v.). [This is only a special application of the slang English, duffer, an incapable person, or a failure. Old English Daffe, a fool]

"It was a terrible duffer anyhow, every ounce of gold got from it cost L 20 I'll swear."

"Tho' duffers are so common
And golden gutters rare,
The mining sons of woman
Can much ill fortune bear."

"A shaft sunk without any produce from it is a duffer. . . . But of these excavations the majority were duffers. It is the duffering part of the business which makes it all so sad.So much work is done from which there is positively no return."

"The place is then declared to be a `duffer,' and abandoned, except by a few fanatics, who stick there for months and years."

"Another duffer! Rank as ever was bottomed! Seventy-five feet hard delving and not a colour!"

<hw>Duffer out</hw>, v. A mine is said to duffer out, when it has ceased to be productive.

"He then reported to the shareholders that the lode had `duffered out,' and that it was useless to continue working."

<hw>Dugong Oil</hw>, n. an oil obtained in Australia, from Halicore dugong, Gmel., by boiling the superficial fat. A substitute for cod-liver oil. The dugongs are a genus of marine mammals in the order Sirenia. H. dugong inhabits the waters of North and North-east Australia, the southern shores of Asia, and the east coast of Africa. The word is Malay.

<hw>Dug-out</hw>, n. a name imported into New Zealand from America, but the common name for an ordinary Maori canoe.

<hw>Dummy</hw>, n. (1) In Australia, when land was thrown open for selection (q.v.), the squatters who had previously the use of the land suffered. Each squatter exercised his own right of selection. Many a one also induced others to select nominally for themselves, really for the squatter. Such selector was called a dummy. The law then required the selector to swear that he was selecting the land for his own use and benefit. Some of the dummies did not hesitate to commit perjury. Dictionaries give "dummy, adj. fictitious or sham." The Australian noun is an extension of this idea. Webster gives "(drama) one who plays a merely nominal part in any action, sham character." This brings us near to the original dumby, from dumb, which is radically akin to German dumm, stupid.

"Since free selection was introduced, a good many of the squatters (they say, in self-defence) have, in turn, availed themselves of it, to secure `the eyes' or water-holes of the country, so far as they could by means of `dummies,' and other blinds."

"This was the, in the colony, well-known `dummy' system. Its nature may be explained in a moment. It was simply a swindling transaction between the squatter on the one hand and some wretched fellow on the other, often a labourer in the employment of the squatter, in which the former for a consideration induced the latter to personate the character of a free selector, to acquire from the State, for the purpose of transferring to himself, the land he most coveted out of that thrown open for selection adjoining his own property."

"By this device the squatter himself, all the members of the family, his servants, shepherds, boundary-riders, station-hands and rabbiters, each registered a section, the dummies duly handing their `selection' over to the original holder for a slight consideration."

(2) Colloquial name for the grip-car of the Melbourne trams. Originally the grip-car was not intended to carry passengers: hence the name.

"But on the tramcar, matters were much worse. The front seat of the dummy was occupied by a young Tasmanian lady and her cousin, and, while one portion of the cart struck her a terrible blow on the body, the shaft pinned her by the neck against the front stanchion of the dummy."

"Each partner in the run has purchased his ten thousand, and there have been many Mrs. Harrises. The Mrs. Harris system is generally called dummying—putting up a non-existent free-selector—and is illegal. But I believe no one will deny that it has been carried to a great extent."

"The verb `to dummy' and the noun `dummyism' are purely
Australian, quotations to illustrate the use of which can be
obtained from `Hansard,' the daily papers, and such works as
Epps' monograph on the `Land Tenure Systems of Australasia.'"

<hw>Dummyism</hw>, n. obtaining land by misrepresentation. See Dummy, n.

"`Larrikinism' was used as a synonym for `blackguardism,' and `dummyism' for perjury."

"Mr. Bent thought that a stop should be put to all selection and dummyism till a land law was introduced."

"This baneful and illegal system of land-grabbing is known throughout the colonies by the expressive name of `dummyism,' the persons professing to be genuine selectors, desirous of establishing themselves on the soil, being actually the agents or the `dummies of the adjoining squatters."

<hw>Dump</hw>, n. a small coin formerly used in Australia and Tasmania. Its history is given in the quotations. In England the word formerly meant a heavy leaden counter; hence the expression, "I don't care a dump." See Holy Dollar.

"Government Public Notice.—The Quarter Dollars, or `Dumps,'
struck from the centre of the Spanish Dollar, and issued by
His Excellency Governor Macquarie, in the year 1813, at One
Shilling and Threepence each, will be exchanged for Treasury
Bills at Par, or Sterling money."

"The small colonial coin denominated dumps have all been called in. If the dollar passes current for five shillings the dump lays claim to fifteen pence value still in silver money."

"He only solicits the loan of a `dump,' on pretence of treating his sick gin to a cup of tea."

"Tattered promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered about the colony; dumps, struck out from dollars, were imitated by a coin prepared without requiring much mechanical ingenuity."

"The Spanish dollar was much used. A circular piece was struck out of the centre about the size of a shilling, and it was called a `dump.'"

"The coin current in those days (1829) consisted of ring- dollars and dumps, the dump being the centre of the dollar punched out to represent a smaller currency."

"The metallic currency was then [1819-25] chiefly Spanish dollars, at that time and before and afterwards the most widely disseminated coin in the world, and they had the current value of 5s. But there were too few of them, and therefore the centre of them was cut out and circulated under the name of `dumps' at 1s. 3d. each, the remainder of the coin—called by way of a pun, `holy dollars'—still retaining its currency value of 5s."

<hw>Dump</hw>, v. to press closely; applied to wool. Bales are often marked "not to be dumped."

"The great object of packing so close is to save carriage through the country, for however well you may do it, it is always re-pressed, or `dumped,' as it is called, by hydraulic pressure on its arrival in port, the force being so great as to crush two bales into one."

"From the sorting-tables the fleeces are carried to the packing-shed; there, by the help of machinery, they are pressed into sacks, and the sacks are then themselves heavily pressed and bound with iron bands, till they become hard cubes. This process is called `dumping.'"

<hw>Dundathee</hw>, or <hw>Dundathu Pine</hw>, n. the Queensland species (Agathis robusta, Sal.) of the Kauri Pine (q.v.); and see Pine.

1852. Anon, `Settlers and Convicts; or, Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 11:

"The poor Australian settler (or, according to colonist phraseology, the Dungaree-settler; so called from their frequently clothing themselves, their wives, and children in that blue Indian manufacture of cotton known as Dungaree) sells his wheat crop."

<hw>Dunite</hw>, n. an ore in New Zealand, so called from Dun mountain, near Nelson.

"Chrome ore. This ore, which is a mixture of chromic iron and alumina, is chiefly associated with magnesian rock, resembling olivine in composition, named Dunite by Dr. Hochstetter."

<hw>Dwarf-box</hw>, n. Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M. See Box. This tree has also many other names. See Maiden's `Useful Native Plants,' p. 495.

<hw>Eagle</hw>, n. There are nine species of the true Eagle, all confined to the genus Haliaetus, such as the Baldheaded Eagle (H. leucocephalus), the national emblem of the United States. (`Century.') In Australia the name is assigned to—

<hw>Eaglehawk</hw>, n. an Australian name for the bird Uroaetus, or Aquila audax, Lath. The name was applied to the bird by the early colonists of New South Wales, and has persisted. In `O.E.D.' it is shown that the name was used in Griffith's translation (1829) of Cuvier's `Regne Animal' as a translation of the French aigle-autour, Cuvier's name for a South American bird of prey of the genus Morphnus, called Spizaetus by Vieillot; but it is added that the word never came into English use. See Eagle. There is a town in Victoria called Eaglehawk. The Bendigo cabmen make the name a monosyllable, "Glawk."

"Aquila Fucosa, Cuv., [now A. audax, Lath.] Wedge-tailed eagle. Eaglehawk, Colonists of New South Wales."

"The hair of a person is tied on the end of the throwing-stick, together with the feathers of the eagle hawk."

"Since the destruction of native dogs and eagle-hawks by the squatters, who stocked the country with sheep, the kangaroos have not a single natural enemy left."

"On the New South Wales side of the river the eagle-hawk is sometimes so great a pest amongst the lambs that the settlers periodically burn him out by climbing close enough to the nest to put a fire-stick in contact with it."

<hw>Eagle-Ray</hw>, n. name belonging to any large Ray of the family Myliobatidae; the New Zealand species is Myliobatis nieuhofii.

<hw>Eastralia</hw>, n. recent colloquial name, fashioned on the model of Westralia (q.v.), used in West Australia for the Eastern Colonies. In Adelaide, its application seems confined to New South Wales.

<hw>Ebony</hw>, n. a timber. The name is applied in Australia to two species of Bauhinia, B. carronii, F. v. M., and B. hookeri, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae. Both are called Queensland or Mountain Ebony.

<hw>Echidna</hw>, n. a fossorial Monotreme, in general appearance resembling a Porcupine, and often called Spiny Ant-eater or Porcupine, or Porcupine Ant-eater. The body is covered with thick fur from which stiff spines protrude; the muzzle is in the form of a long toothless beak; and the tongue is very long and extensile, and used largely for licking up ants; the feet are short, with strong claws adapted for burrowing. Like the Marsupials, the Echidna is provided with a pouch, but the animal is oviparous, usually laying two eggs at a time, which are carried about in the pouch until the young ones are hatched, when they are fed by a secretion from mammary glands, which do not, however, as in other mammals, open on to a nipple. The five-toed Echidnas (genus Echidna) are found in New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania, while the three-toed Echidnas (genus Proechidna) are confined to New Guinea. The species are—Common E., Echidna aculeata, Shaw; Bruijn's E., Proechidna bruijni, Peters and Doria; Black-spined E., Proechidna nigro-aculeata, Rothschild. The name is from Grk. 'echidna, an adder or viper, from the shape of the long tongue.

"The Porcupine of this land, Echidna hystrix, is a squat species of ant-eater, with short quills among its hair: it conceals itself in the day time among dead timber in the hilly forests."

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 178:

"Mr. Milligan mentioned that one of the Aborigines of Tasmania reports having often discovered the nest of the Echidna Setosa, porcupine or ant eater, of the colony; that on several occasions one egg had been found in it, and never more: this egg has always been found to contain a foetus or chick, and is said to be round, considerably less than a tennis ball, and without a shell. The mother is said to sit continuously (for a period not ascertained) in the manner of the common fowl over the eggs; she does not leave the young for a considerable time after having hatched it; at length, detaching it from the small teat, she moves out hurriedly and at long intervals in quest of food, the young one becoming, at each successive return, attached to the nipple. . . The Platypus (Ornithorhyncus paradoxus) is said to lay two eggs, having the same external membranous covering, but of an oblong shape."

"The Porcupine Ant-eater of Australia (Echidna hystrix) (the native Porcupine or Hedgehog of the colonists), and the Ornithorhynchus, to which it is allied in internal organization, form the only two genera of the order Monotremata."

"Among the gigantic boulders near the top he may capture the burrowing ant-eating porcupine, though if perchance he place it for a moment in the stoniest ground, it will tax all his strength to drag it from the instantaneous burrow in which it will defiantly embed itself."

"The echidna is an animal about a foot or 18 inches long, covered with spines like a hedgehog. It lives chiefly upon ants. With its bill, which is like a duck's but narrower, it burrows into an ant's-hill, and then with its long, whip-like, sticky tongue, draws the ants into its mouth by hundreds."

"In order to enable them to procure with facility their food of ants and their larvae, echidnas are provided with very large glands, discharging into the mouth the viscid secretion which causes the ants to adhere to the long worm-like tongue when thrust into a mass of these insects, after being exposed by the digging powers of the claws of the echidna's limbs. . . . When attacked they roll themselves into a ball similar to the hedgehog."

<hw>Echu</hw>, n. the name of an Australian bird which has not been identified. The word does not occur in the ornithological lists.

"`Yeldina' (Rochester) writes—While I was on the Murray, a few days before Christmas last, some miles below Echuca, my attention was attracted to the melancholy note, as of a bird which had lost its mate, calling ee-k-o-o, e-e-koo, which was repeated several times, after which a pause, then ee-koo, ee-ko, coolie, coolie, ee-koo. This happened in the scrub at sunset, and came, I think, from a bird smaller than the Australian minah, and of a greenish yellowish hue, larger, but similar to the members of the feathered tribe known to young city `knights of the catapult' as greenies. It was while returning to camp from fishing that I noticed this bird, which appeared of solitary habits."

"`Crossbolt' (Kew) writes—The echu is probably identical with a handsome little bird whose peculiar cry `e-e-choo' is familiar to many bush ramblers. It is the size of a small wood-swallow; black head, back, wings, and tail more or less blue-black; white throat; neck and breast light to rich brown. The female is much plainer, and would scarcely be recognized as the mate of the former. The melodious `e-e-choo' is usually answered from a distance, whether by the female or a rival I cannot say, and is followed by a prolonged warbling."

Conger E.—
Conger labiatus, Castin., and
Gonorhynchus grayi, Richards.

Silver E.—
Muroenesox cinereus, Forsk.; also called the Sea-eel
(New South Wales).
Conger wilsoni, Castln. (Melbourne).

The Sand Eel does not belong to the Eel family, and is only called an Eel from its habits.

<hw>Eel-fish</hw>, n. Plotosus tandanus, Mitchell. Called also Catfish (q.v.), and Tandan (q.v.).

<hw>Egret</hw>, n. an English bird-name. The following species are present in Australia, some being European and others exclusively Australian—

<hw>Elderberry, Native</hw>, n. The two Australian species of the Elder are Sambucus gaudichaudiana, De C., and S. xanthocarpa, F. v. M., N.O. Caprifoliaceae.

"Native elderberry. The fruit of these two native elders is fleshy and sweetish, and is used by the aborigines for food."

<hw>Elephant-fish</hw>, n. a fish of New Zealand, South Australian, and Tasmanian waters, Callorhynchus antarcticus, Lacep., family Chimaeridae. "It has a cartilaginous prominence of the snout, ending in a cutaneous flap" (Gunth.), suggesting a comparison with an elephant's trunk. Called also King of the Herrings (q.v.).

"The sea affords a much greater plenty, and at least as great a variety as the land; of these the elephant fish were very palatable food."

<hw>Ellangowan Poison-bush</hw>, n. a Queensland name for Myoporum deserti, Cunn., N.O. Myoporinae,; called "Dogwood Poison-bush" in New South Wales. Ellangowan is on the Darling Downs in Queensland. Poisonous to sheep, but only when in fruit.

<hw>Emancipatist</hw>, and <hw>Emancipist</hw>, n. (the latter, the commoner), an ex-convict who has served out his sentence. The words are never used now except historically.

"Emigrants who have come out free from England, and emancipists, who have arrived here as convicts, and have either been pardoned or completed their term of servitude."

"Men who had formerly been convicts, but who, after their period of servitude had expired, were called `emancipists.'"

"The author begs leave to record his protest against the abuse of language to the misapplication of the terms emancipists and absentees to two portions of the colonial felonry. An emancipist could not be understood to mean the emancipated but the emancipator. Mr. Wilberforce may be honoured with the title of emancipist; but it is as absurd to give the same appellation to the emancipated felons of New South Wales as it would be to bestow it upon the emancipated negroes of the West Indies."

"The same emancipist will, however, besides private charity, be among the first and greatest contributors to a new church."

"The convict obtained his ticket-of-leave . . . became an emancipist . . . and found transportation no punishment."

<hw>Emu</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Dromaius novae-hollandiae, Lath. There is a second species, Spotted Emu, Dromaius irroratus, Bartlett. An earlier, but now unusual, spelling is Emeu. Emeus is the scientific name of a New Zealand genus of extinct struthious birds. The word Emu is not Australian, but from the Portuguese Ema, the name first of the Crane, afterwards of the Ostrich. Formerly the word Emu was used in English for the Cassowary, and even for the American Ostrich. Since 1885 an Emu has been the design on the twopenny postage stamp of New South Wales.

1774. Oliver Goldsmith, `Natural History,' vol. iii. p. 69, Book III. c. v. [Heading]

"A bird of the ostrich genus, but of a species very different from any other in the known world, was killed and brought in. Its length was between seven and eight feet; its flesh was good and thought to resemble beef. It has obtained the name of the New South Wales Emu."

"The bird which principally claims attention is a species of ostrich, approaching nearer to the emu of South America than any other we know of."

"Some were of opinion that it was the emew, which I think is particularly described by Dr. Goldsmith from Linneus: others imagined it to be the cassowary, but it far exceeds that bird in size . . . two distinct feathers grew out from every quill."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 307:

"These birds have been pronounced by Sir Joseph Banks, of whose judgment none can entertain a doubt, to come nearer to what is known of the American ostrich than to either the emu of India or the ostrich of Africa."

1804. `Rev. R. Knopwood's Diary' (J. J. Shillinglaw— `Historical Records of Port Phillip,' 1879), p. 115:

[At the Derwent] 26 March, 1804—"They caught six young emews [sic], about the size of a turkey, and shot the old mother."

"The face of the emu bears a most remarkable likeness to that of the aborigines of New South Wales."

"They will pick up anything, thimbles, reels of cotton, nails, bullets indiscriminately: and thus the proverb of `having the digestion of an emu' has its origin."

"Dromaius Novae Hollandiae. The Emu. New Holland Cassowary.—'Governor Phillips' Voyage, 1789.'"

"The emu strides with such rapidity over the plains as to render its capture very difficult even by the swiftest greyhound."

"A couple of grave-looking emus. These wobble away at an ungainly but rapid pace directly they sight us, most probably vainly pursued by the dray dogs which join us farther on, weary and unsuccessful—indeed the swiftest dog finds an emu as much as he can manage."

". . . points out two emus to John. . . . They resemble ostriches, but are not so large, and the tail droops more. . . . John can distinguish every point about them, from their black cast-iron looking legs, to the bare neck and small head, with its bright eye and strong flat beak."

"Emu. [Close Season.] From the 14th day of June to the 20th day of December following in each year."

"The chief in size is the egg of the cassowary, exactly like that of the emu except that the colour is pale moss green instead of the dark green of the emu."

<hw>Emu-Bush</hw>, n. an Australian shrub, Eremophila longifolia, F. v. M., N.O. Myoporineae.

"Emu-tree. A small Tasmanian tree; found on low marshy ground used for turners' work."

"Emu-bush. Owing to emus feeding on the seeds of this and other species. Heterodendron oleaefolium, Desf."

"Stipituras Malachurus, Less. Emu Wren. The decomposed or loose structure of these [tail] feathers, much resembling those of the emu, has suggested the colonial name of Emu-Wren for this species, an appellation singularly appropriate, inasmuch as it at once indicates the kind of plumage with which the bird is clothed, and the Wren-like nature of its habits."

1865. Lady Barker (letter from `Melbourne), `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 8:

"Then there is the emu-wren, all sad-coloured, but quaint, with the tail-feathers sticking up on end, and exactly like those of an emu, on the very smallest scale, even to the peculiarity of two feathers growing out of the same little quill."

<hw>Eopsaltria</hw>, n. scientific name for the genus of Australian birds called Shrike-Robins (q.v.). (Grk. 'aeows, dawn, and psaltria, a female harper.)

<hw>Epacris</hw>, n. scientific name of the typical genus of the order Epacrideae, a heath-like flower of which there are twenty- five species, mostly Australian. From Greek 'epi, upon, and 'akron, top (the flowers grow in spikes at the top of the plant). In Australia they are frequently confused with and called Ericas.

<hw>Ephthianura</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of very small Australian birds, anglicized as Ephthianure. For species see quotation, 1848. A fourth species has been discovered since Gould's day, E. crocea, Castln. and Ramsay, which inhabits Northern Australia. The name was first given by Gould, in the `Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 1837,' p. 148, as a genus novum. The origin of the word is not certain, but as the tail is unusually small, it is suggested that the name is from the Greek 'oura, tail, and Homeric imperfect 3rd person sing. 'ephthien, wasted away, from phthiow (= phthinow). [The word occurs Iliad xviii. 446.] //phthio is ONLY in Homer!! Iliad AND Odyssey GJC//

"Ephthianura Albifrons, White-fronted Ephthianura," pl. 65. "Aurifrons, Gould, Orange-fronted E.," pl. 66. "Tricolor, Gould, Tricoloured E.'"

<hw>Escapee</hw>, n. one who has escaped. Especially used of French convicts who escape from New Caledonia. The word is formed on the model of absentee, refugee, etc., and is manifestly influenced by Fr. e/chappe/. Escaper is the historical English form. (See Bible, 2 Kings ix. 15, margin.) //He means, of course, the so-called Authorised Version" which reads, ftn. 5: "let no escaper go, etc." Even though the Revised Version was published in 1885. GJC//

"The ten New Caledonia escapees . . . are to be handed over to the French consul."

<hw>Eucalyn</hw>, n. a sugar obtained, together with laevulose, by fermentation of melitose (q.v.) with yeast, or by boiling it with dilute acids.

<hw>Eucalypt</hw>, n. shortened English form of Eucalyptus used especially in the plural, Eucalypts. Eucalypti sounds pedantic.

"Stems of the soaring eucalypts that rise
Four hundred friendly feet to glad the skies."

"There is no unmixed good, it is said, on this mundane sphere, and the evil that has accompanied the extensive settlement of Gipps Land during recent years is to be found in the widespread destruction of the forests, resulting in a disturbance of the atmospheric conditions and the banishment of an ever-active agent in the preservation of health, for these eucalypts, or gum-trees, as they are generally called, possess the peculiar property of arresting fever-germs and poisonous exhalations. They have been transplanted for this especial purpose to some of the malaria-infested districts of Europe and America, and with pronounced success. Australia, to which they are indigenous, has mercilessly hewn them down in the past, but is now repenting of its folly in that respect, and is replanting them at every seasonable opportunity."

"Throughout the whole of Australia the prevailing trees are eucalypts, known generally as gum-trees on account of the gum which they secrete, and which may be seen standing like big translucent beads on their trunks and branches."

<hw>Eucalyptene</hw>, n. the name given by Cloez to a hydrocarbon obtained by subjecting Eucalyptol (q.v.) to dehydration by phosphorus pentoxide. The same name has also been given by other chemists to a hydrocarbon believed to occur in eucalyptus oil.

"Gnarl'd, knotted trunks Eucalyptian
Seemed carved, like weird columns Egyptian,
With curious device—quaint inscription
And hieroglyph strange."

<hw>Eucalyptol</hw>, n. a volatile oil of camphor-like smell, extracted from the oil of Eucalyptus globulus, Labill., E. amygdalina, Labill., etc. Chemically identical with cineol, got from other sources.

<hw>Eucalyptus</hw>, n. the gum tree. There are 120 species, as set forth in Baron von Mueller's `Eucalyptographia, a Descriptive Atlas of the Eucalypts of Australia.' The name was first given in scientific Latin by the French botanist L'Heritier, in his Sertum Anglicum, published in 1788. From the Greek 'eu, well, and kaluptein, to cover. See quotation, 1848. N.O. Myrtaceae. The French now say Eucalyptus; earlier they called it l'acajou de la nouvelle Hollande. The Germans call it Schoenmutze. See Gum.

"A London thief, clothed in Kangaroo's skins, lodged under the bark of the dwarf eucalyptus, and keeping sheep, fourteen thousand miles from Piccadilly, with a crook bent into the shape of a picklock, is not an uninteresting picture."

"The scientific term Eucalyptus has been derived from the Greek, in allusion to a lid or covering over the blossom, which falls off when the flower expands, exposing a four-celled capsule or seed-vessel."

"The sombre eucalypti . . . interspersed here and there by their dead companions."

"At intervals the bush remained untouched, but the universal eucalyptus, which I had expected to find grey and monotonous, was a Proteus it shape and colour, now branching like an oak or a cork tree, now feathered like a birch, or glowing like an arbutus with an endless variety of hue—green, orange, and brown."

"A lofty eucalyptus . . . lay with its bared roots sheer athwart a tiny watercourse."

<hw>Euro</hw>, n. one of the aboriginal names for a Kangaroo (q.v.); spelt also Yuro.

"Above and below . . . were beetling cliffs, with ledges and crannies that afforded foothold only to yuros and rock-wallabies."

". . . one subdivision of the emigrant class alluded to, is termed the exclusionist party, from their strict exclusion of the emancipists from their society."

"A gentleman who was at this time engaged in pastoral pursuits in New South Wales, and was therefore a supporter of exileism.'"

"The cargoes of criminals were no longer to be known as `convicts,' but (such is the virtue in a name!) as `exiles.' It was, as Earl Grey explained in his despatch of Sept 3, 1847, `a scheme of reformatory discipline.'"

"The convict system ceased in New South Wales in 1839; but `exiles' as they were termed, i.e. men who had passed their probation at home, were forwarded till 1843."

"Very many of their servants, being old hands or expiree convicts from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, are thoroughly unprincipled men."

"Hiring men in Melbourne in 1841 was not by any means an agreeable job, as wages were high, and labourers (almost all old gaol-birds and expiree convicts) exceedingly independent and rowdy."

"On the south-eastern portion of this county is the world-famed Burra Burra copper mine. . . . Some of the cuttings are through solid blocks of ore, which brilliantly glitter as you pass with a lighted candle, while others are formed in veins of malachite, and from their rich variegated green appearance are not inaptly called by the miners `Fairy gardens.'"

<hw>Fake-mucker</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Dusky Robin (Petroica vittata). See Robin.

<hw>Fantail</hw>, n. bird-name applied in England to a pigeon; in Australia and New Zealand, to the little birds of the genus Rhipidura (q.v.). It is a fly-catcher. The Australian species are—

Black-and-White Fantail (called also the Wagtail,
q.v.)—
R. tricolor, Vieill.

In Tasmania, the R. diemenensis is called the Cranky Fantail, because of its antics.

"The Red Fantail, ever flitting about with broadly expanded tail, and performing all manner of fantastic evolutions, in its diligent pursuit of gnats and flies, is one of the most pleasing and attractive objects in the New Zealand forest. It is very tame and familiar."

<hw>Farinaceous City</hw>, or <hw>Village</hw>, n. a playful name for Adelaide. The allusion is to wheat being the leading export of South Australia.

"[Adelaide] has also been nicknamed the Farinaceous City. A little gentle ridicule is no doubt intended to be conveyed by the word."

<hw>Fat-cake</hw>, n. ridiculous name sometimes applied to Eucalyptus leucoxylon, F. v. M., according to Maiden (`Useful Native Plants,' p. 471).

<hw>Fat-hen</hw>, n. a kind of wild spinach. In England the name is applied to various plants of thick foliage.

"Another wild vegetable brew in the sandy beds of the rivers and creeks, called `fat-hen.' It was exactly like spinach, and not only most agreeable but also an excellent anti-scorbutic, a useful property, for scurvy is not an unknown thing in the bush by any means."

"Chenopodium murale, Linn., Australian spinach. Bentham considers this may have been introduced."

"The author has ventured to coin the word felonry, as the appellative of an order or class of persons in New South Wales—an order which happily exists in no other country in the world. A legitimate member of the tribe of appellatives . . . as peasantry, tenantry, yeomanry, gentry."

<hw>Ferns</hw>. The following list of Australian ferns is taken from `The Fern World of Australia,' by F. M. Bailey of Brisbane (1881), omitting from his list all ferns of which the vernacular and scientific names coincide with the names of ferns elsewhere.

Parsley F.—
Cheilanthes tenuifolia, Sw. (Name Parsley applied to a
different Fern elsewhere.)

Other ferns not in this list appear elsewhere. See also Ferntree. ____ * Elsewhere the name is applied to a different species. ——

<hw>Fern-bird</hw>, n. a New Zealand bird of the genus Sphenoecus. Also called Grass-bird, and New Zealand Pipit. There are three species—

"The peculiar chirp of the fern bird is yet to be heard among the tall fern."

"Fern-bird. The peculiar chirp of this lively little bird is yet to be heard among the tall fern, though it is not so plentiful as in days gone by."

"Fern Bird . . . This recluse little species is one of our commonest birds, but is oftener heard than seen. It frequents the dense fern of the open country and the beds of Raupo."

<hw>Fern-tree</hw>, n. Name applied to various species of ferns which grow to a large size, the stem in the fully grown plant reaching often a height of many feet before the leaves are given off. Such Tree-ferns clothe the sides of deep and shady gullies amongst the hills, and give rise to what are known as Fern-tree gullies, which form a very characteristic feature of the moister coastal Ranges of many parts of Australia. The principal Fern-trees or Tree-ferns, as they are indiscriminately called, of Australia and Tasmania are—

Dicksonia antarctica, Lab.; Alsophila australis, R. Br.; Todea africana, Willd.; Cyathea cunninghami, J. Hook.; Alsophila excelsa, R. Br.;

"We entered a beautiful fern-tree grove, that also concealed the heavens from view, spreading like a plantation or cocoa-nut tree orchard, but with far more elegance and effect."

"Tree-ferns thrive luxuriantly in Van Diemen's Land (lat. 45 degrees), and I measured one trunk no less than six feet in circumference. An arborescent fern was found by Forster in New Zealand in 46 degrees, where orchideous plants are parasitical on the trees. In the Auckland Islands, ferns, according to Dr. Dieffenbach, have trunks so thick and high that they may be almost called tree-ferns."

"With these they [i.e. the Tasmanian Aborigines] mingled the core or pith of the fern trees, Cibotium Bollardieri and Alsophila Australis (of which the former is rather astringent and dry for a European palate, and the latter, though more tolerable, is yet scarcely equal to a Swedish turnip.)"

"Where the feet of the mountains are bathed by cool fountains,
The green, drooping fern trees are seen."

1878. William Sharp, `Australian Ballads,' `Canterbury Poets'
(Scott, 1888), pp. 180-81:

"The feathery fern-trees make a screen,
Where through the sun-glare cannot pass—
Fern, gum, and lofty sassafras."

"There were mossy fern-trees near me,
With their graceful feathered fronds,
Which they slowly waved above me,
Like hoar magicians' wands."

"Here are graceful palms rising to 70 or even 100 feet; the Indian fig with its tortuous branches clothed with a drapery of curious parasites; while graceful tree ferns, 30 feet high, flourish in the damp atmosphere of the sheltered dells."

<hw>Fibrous Grass</hw>, n. a Tasmanian grass (see Grass), Stipa semiibarbata, R. Br., N.O. Gramineae.

"Fibrous grass (Stipa semibarbata, Br.). After the seed has ripened the upper part of the stem breaks up into fibre, which curls loosely and hangs down waving in the wind."

<hw>Fiddle-back</hw>, n. name given in Australia to the beetle, Schizorrhina australasiae.

<hw>Fiddler</hw>, n. a New South Wales and Victorian name for a species of Ray, Trygonorhina fasciata, Mull. and Heule, family Rhinobatidae.

<hw>Fig-bird</hw>, n. a bird-name. Sphecotheres maxillaris, Lath.; Yellow bellied, S. flaviventris, Gould. S. maxillaris is also called Mulberry-bird (q.v.).

<hw>Fig-tree</hw>, n. The name is applied in Australia to the following species:—

Moreton Bay F.—
P. macrophylla, Desf., N.O. Urticaciae //sic. check//.

Purple F., or White F., or Rough-leaved F., or Flooded F.
[Clarence River]—
Ficus scabra, G. Forst., N.O. Urticaciae.

Rusty F., or Narrow-leaved F. [or Port Jackson]— F. rubiginosa, Desf., N.O. Urticaciae; called also Native Banyan.

"Moreton Bay fig. This noble-looking tree has a wood which is sometimes used, though it is very difficult to season."

[It is a handsome evergreen with dark leaves, larger than those of a horse-chestnut, much used as an ornament in street and gardens, especially in Sydney and Adelaide. The fig is not edible.]

"The . . . venerable church with its alleys of araucaria and Moreton Bay fig-trees."

<hw>File-fish</hw>, n. name given in New Zealand to the fish Monacanthus rudis, Richards, family Sclerodermi; in New South Wales to species of the genus Balistes. The first of the spines of the dorsal fin is roughened in front like a file. Balistes maculatus is the "Spotted File-fish" of Sydney. It is closely allied to the genus Monacanthus, called Leather-jacket (q.v.), which is much more numerously represented in Australasia.

<hw>Finch</hw>, n. a bird-name, first applied in
Australia, in 1848, by Gould, to the genus Poephila
(Grass-lover), and since extended to other genera of birds.
The species are—

<hw>Fire-stick</hw>, n. name given to the lighted stick which the Australian natives frequently carry about, when moving from camp to camp, so as to be able to light a fire always without the necessity of producing it by friction. The fire-stick may be carried in a smouldering condition for long distances, and when traversing open grass country, such as the porcupine-grass covered districts of the interior, the stick is used for setting fire to the grass, partly to destroy this and partly to drive out the game which is hiding amongst it. The fire-stick (see quotations) is also used as emblematic of the camp-fire in certain ceremonies.

"When their fire-stick has been extinguished, as is sometimes the case, for their jins or vestal virgins, who have charge of the fire, are not always sufficiently vigilant."

1896. F. J. Gillen, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Anthropology, pt. iv. p. 170:

"Carrying fire-sticks, they place rings, woven of fur and vegetable down, round the boy's neck and arms and sometimes over and under the shoulders; the fire-sticks are then handed to him, the lubras saying: Take care of the fire; keep to your own camp.'"

<hw>Firetail</hw>, n. name applied in Victoria to the bird AEgintha temporalis, Lath.; and in Tasmania to Zonaeginthus (Estrelda) bellus, Lath. In New South Wales, AE. temporalis is known as the Red-head.

"Estrelda Bella, Fire-tailed finch. Fire-tail, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Fire-tree</hw>, n. a tree of New Zealand; another name for Pohutukawa (q.v.). For Queensland Fire-tree, see Tulip-tree.

<hw>Fireweed</hw>, n. a name given to several weeds, such as Senecio lautus, Sol., N.O. Compositae; so called because they spring up in great luxuriance where the forest has been burned off.

<hw>Fish-hawk</hw>, n. English name applied to Pandion leucocephalus, Gould; called also the Osprey.

"Pandion Leucocephalus, Gould, White-headed osprey. Little fish hawk, Colonists of New South Wales. Fish-hawk, Colonists of Swan River.''

<hw>Fist</hw>, v. to use the hands. The word is not unknown in English in the sense of to grip. (Shakspeare, `Cor.' IV. v. 124)

"`Fist it,' a colonial expression, which may convey to the uninitiated the idea that knives, forks, plates, etc., are unknown in the bush; such was formerly the case, but the march of improvement has banished this peculiar simplicity."

<hw>Five-corners</hw>, n. name given to the fruit of an Australian tree and to the tree itself, Syphelia triflora, Andr., N.O. Epacrideae. There are many species of Styphelia (q.v.), the fruit of several being edible.

"Five-corners. These fruits have a sweetish pulp with a large stone. They form part of the food of the aboriginals, and are much appreciated by school boys. When from a robust plant they are of the size of a large pea, and not at all bad eating."

"Still I see in my fancy the dark-green and blue
Of the box-covered hills where the five-corners grew."

<hw>Flame-tree</hw>, n. The name is given in India and elsewhere to several trees with bright scarlet, or crimson, flowers. In Australia, two different trees are called Flame-trees—

(1) A tree of Eastern Australia, with profuse bright coral-like flowers, Brachychiton acerifolium, F. v. M., N.O. Sterculiaceae.

(2) A tree of Western Australia, with brilliant orange-coloured flowers, Nuytsia floribunda, N.O. Loranthaceae; which is also called Tree Mistletoe, and, locally, a Cabbage-tree.

<hw>Flannel Flower</hw>, n. an Australian flower, Actinotus helianthi, Labill., N.O. Compositae. It ranges from Gippsland to Southern Queensland, but is particularly abundant in New South Wales. Sometimes called the Australian Edelweiss. For the reason of the name see quotation.

"We only know one truly local name for this plant, and that is the `Flannel Flower'—a rather unpoetical designation, but a really descriptive one, and one universally accepted. It is, of course, in allusion to the involucre, which looks as if it were snipped out of white flannel. It is also known to a few by the name of Australian Edelweiss."

<hw>Flathead</hw>, n. name given to several Australian marine fishes, Platycephalus fuscus, Cuv. and Val., and other species of Platycephalus, family Cottidae. The Red Flathead is P. bassensis, Cuv.and Val., and the Rock F. is P. laevigatus, Cuv.and Val. See also Tupong and Maori-chief.

"The market of Hobart Town is supplied with small rock cod, flatheads, and a fish called the perch."

<hw>Flat Pea</hw>, n. a genus of Australian flowering plants, Platylobium, N.O. Leguminosae.

"P. formosum. Orange flat-pea . . . A figure of this . . . will soon be given in the work I have undertaken on the botany of New Holland."

[The figure referred to will be found at p. 17 of the `Specimen of the Botany of New Holland.']

<hw>Flax, Native</hw>, n. The European flax is Linum usitatissimum, N.O. Liniae. There is a species in Australia, Linum marginale, Cunn., N.O. Linaceae, called Native Flax. In New Zealand, the Phormium is called Native Flax. See next word.

"`Native flax.' Although a smaller plant than the true flax, this plant yields fibre of excellent quality. It is used by the blacks for making fishing-nets and cordage."

<hw>Flax, New Zealand</hw>, n. Phormium tenax, N.O. Liliaceae. A plant yielding a strong fibre. Called also, in New Zealand, Native Flax, and Flax Lily.

"The plant is called Phormium tenax by naturalists. The general native name for the plant, we are told, is `korari,' but each sort, and there are ten or twelve, has its distinctive name. Any portion of the leaf, when gathered, becomes here `kie kie,' or literally, `tying stuff.' The operation of scraping is called `kayo,' the fibre when prepared, `muka.'" [Mr. Tregear says that Wakefield's statements are mistaken.]

"The native flax (Phormium tenax) is found in all parts of New Zealand; it grows to the height of about nine feet."

"And the louder flax-bushes
With their crowding and crossing
Black stems, darkly studded
With blossoms red-blooded."

<hw>Flax-flower</hw>, n. the flower of the New Zealand Flax (q.v.).

<hw>Flax-lily</hw>, n. (1) An Australian fibre plant, Dianella laevis, var. aspera, R. Br., N.O. Liliaceae. (2) Phormium tenax. See Flax, New Zealand.

"Flax-lily. The fibre is strong, and of a silky texture.
The aboriginals formerly used it for making baskets, etc.
All the colonies except Western Australia."

<hw>Flindosa</hw>, and <hw>Flindosy</hw>, n. two trees called Beech (q.v.).

<hw>Flintwood</hw>, n. another name for Blackbutt (q.v.), Eucalyptus pillularis.

In Sydney, Pseudorhombus russelli, Gray; in Melbourne, Rhombosolea victoriae, Castln.; in New Zealand and Tasmania, R. monopus, Gunth. Maori name, Patiki; family Pleuronectidae. They are all excellent eating.

1876. P. Thomson, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. art. lxvii., p. 487:

<hw>Flower-pecker</hw>, n. bird-name used elsewhere, but in Australia assigned to Dicaeum hirundinaceum, Lath.

<hw>Flowering Rush</hw>, n. name given to the rush or reed, Xyris operculata, Lab., N.O. Xyrideae.

<hw>Flute-bird</hw>, n. another name for the bird Gymnorrhina tibicen, Lath. Called also Magpie (q.v.).

<hw>Fly-catcher</hw>, n. bird-name used elsewhere. The Australian species are—

Restless F.—
Seisura inquieta, Lath. [called also Razor-
grinder, q.v., and Dishwasher, q.v.]

Satin F.—
Myiagra nitida, Gould [called Satin-robin, q.v.,
in Tasmania]

"We this day caught a yellow-eared fly-catcher (see annexed plate). This bird is a native of New Holland." [Description follows.]

Fly-eater, n. the new vernacular name for the Australian birds of the genus Gerygone (q.v.), and see Warbler. The species are—

1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science `(Brisbane), p. 447:

"[The habits and habitats of the genus as] applied to Gerygone suggested the term Fly-eater, as distinguished from Fly-catcher, for this aberrant and peculiarly Australasian form of small Fly-catchers, which not only capture their food somewhat after the manner of Fly-catchers, but also seek for it arboreally."

"I may here state that the settlers designate the old kangaroos as `old men' and `old women,' the full-grown animals are named `flyers,' and are swifter than the British hare."

<hw>Flying-Fox</hw>, n. a gigantic Australian bat, Pteropus poliocephalus, Temm. It has a fetid odour and does great damage to fruits, and is especially abundant in New South Wales, though often met with in Victoria. Described, not named, in first extract.

"The head of this bat strongly resembles that of a fox, and the wings of many of them extend three feet ten inches. . . . [Description of one domesticated.] . . . They are very fat, and are reckoned by the natives excellent food. . . . It was supposed more than twenty thousand of them were seen within the space of one mile."

"One flying fox is an immense bat, of such a horrific appearance, that no wonder one of Cook's honest tars should take it for the devil when encountering it in the woods."

". . . a flying fox, which one of them held in his hand. It was, in fact, a large kind of bat, with the nose resembling in colour and shape that of a fox, and in scent it was exactly similar to it. The wing was that of a common English bat, and as long as that of a crow, to which it was about equal in the length and circumference of its body."

"Some of the aborigines feed on a large bat popularly called `the flying fox.' . . We found the filthy creatures, hanging by the heels in thousands, from the higher branches of the trees."

"The food on which the `Foxes' principally live when garden fruit is not in season, consists of honey-bearing blossoms and the small native figs abounding in the coast-range scrubs. . . . These bats are found on the east coast only, but during very dry seasons they occur as far west as the neighbourhood of Melbourne."

"A little further on they came to a camp of flying foxes. The huge trees on both sides of the river are actually black with them. The great bats hang by their hooked wings to every available branch and twig, squealing and quarrelling. The smell is dreadful. The camp extends for a length of three miles. There must be millions upon millions of them."

<hw>Flying-Mouse</hw>, n. See Opossum-mouse and Flying-Phalanger.

<hw>Flying-Phalanger</hw>, n. included in the class of Phalanger (q.v.). The "flying" Phalangers "have developed large parachute-like expansions of skin from the sides of the body, by means of which they are able to take long flying leaps from bough to bough, and thus from tree to tree. While the great majority of the members of the family are purely vegetable feeders, . . . a few feed entirely or partly on insects, while others have taken to a diet of flesh." (R. Lydekker.)

They include the so-called Flying-Squirrel, Flying-Mouse, etc. There are three genera—

Acrobates (q.v.), called the Flying-Mouse,
and Opossum-Mouse (q.v.).

Petauroides commonly called the Taguan, or
Taguan Flying-Squirrel.

Papuan Pigmy F.-Ph.—
Acrobates pulchellus (confined to Northern Dutch New
Guinea).

<hw>Flying-Squirrel</hw>, n. popular name for a Flying-Phalanger, Petaurus sciureus, Shaw, a marsupial with a parachute-like fold of skin along the sides by which he skims and floats through the air. The name is applied to entirely different animals in Europe and America.

"The flying squirrels are of a beautiful slate colour, with a fur so fine that, although a small animal, the hatters here give a quarter dollar for every skin."

1850. R. C. Gunn, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 253:

"In the year 1845 I drew the attention of the Tasmanian Society to the interesting fact that the Petaurus sciureus, or Flying Squirrel, of Port Phillip, was becoming naturalized in Van Diemen's Land. . . . No species of Petaurus is indigenous to Tasmania. . . . It does not appear from all that I can learn, that any living specimens of the Petaurus schireus were imported into Van Diemen's Land prior to 1834; but immediately after the settlement of Port Phillip, in that year, considerable numbers of the flying squirrel were, from their beauty, brought over as pets by the early visitors."

"The flying squirrel, another of the opossum species of the marsupial order, is a beautiful little creature, and disposed over the whole of the interior of New South Wales: its fur is of a finer texture than that of the opossum."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 70:

"The common flying squirrel (Petaurus sciureus) is very plentiful in the large gum trees near the banks of a creek or river, and appears to entertain a peculiar aversion to the high lands."

<hw>Fly-Orchis</hw>, n. name applied in Tasmania to the orchid, Prasophyllum patens, R. Br.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol i. p. 71 [Footnote]:

"A `forest' means in New South Wales an open wood with grass. The common `bush' or `scrubb' consists of trees and saplings, where little grass is to be found."

<hw>Forester</hw>, n. the largest Kangaroo, Macropus giganteus, Zimm.

"There are three or four varieties of kangaroos; those most common are denominated the forester and brush kangaroo."

"I called this river the `Red Kangaroo River,' for in approaching it we first saw the red forester of Port Essington."

"We have never had one of the largest kind—the Forester Kangaroo (Macropus gigantes)—tame, for they have been so hunted and destroyed that there are very few left in Tasmania, and those are in private preserves, or very remote out-of-the-way places, and rarely seen. . . . The aborigines called the old father of a flock a Boomer. These were often very large: about five feet high in their usual position, but when standing quite up, they were fully six feet . . . and weighing 150 or 200 pounds."

"The dogs . . . made for them as if they had been a brace of stray foresters from the adjacent ranges."

Forget-me-not, n. The species of this familiar flower is Myosotis australis, R. Br., N.O. Asperifoliae.

<hw>Fortescue</hw>, or <hw>40-skewer</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Pentaroge marmorata, Cuv. and Val., family Scorpaenidae; called also the Scorpion, and the Cobbler. All its names allude to the thorny spines of its fins. The name Fortescue is an adaptation of Forty-skewer by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

"Of this fish Mr. Hill says: The scorpion or Fortescue, as these fish are popularly termed by fishermen, have been known for a long time, and bear that name no doubt in memory of the pain they have hitherto inflicted; and for its number and array of prickles it enjoys in this country the alias `Forty-skewer' or `Fortescure.' "

"Fortescue is a terrible pest, lurking among the debris in the nets and all but invisible, its spines standing erect in readiness for the unwary finger. And so intense is the pain inflicted by a stab, that I have seen a strong man roll on the ground crying out like a madman."

<hw>Forty-legs</hw>, n. name given to a millipede, Cermatia smithii.

<hw>Forty-spot</hw>, n. name for a bird, a Pardalote (q.v.). Pardalote itself means spotted "like the pard." See also Diamond-bird.

"Pardalotus quadragintus, Gould, Forty-spotted pardalote. Forty-spot, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

"`Lyre bird' is obvious; so, too, is `forty-spot'; only one wonders why the number 40 was pitched upon. Was it a guess? Or did the namer first shoot the bird and count?"

<hw>Fossick</hw>, v. intrans. to dig, but with special meanings. Derived, like fosse, a ditch, and fossil, through French from Lat. fossus, perfect part. of fodere, to dig. Fossicking as pres. part., or as verbal noun, is commoner than the other parts of the verb.

"Or fossicking (picking out the nuggets from the interstices of the slate formation) with knives and trowels."

"They'll find it not quite so `welly good'
As their fossicking freak at the Buckland."

"Here we found about a dozen Chinamen `fossicking' after gold amidst the dirt of the river, which had already been washed by the first gold-seekers."

"He commenced working along with several companions at surface digging and fossicking."

"The easiest and simplest of all methods is `fossicking.' An old diggings is the place for this work, because there you will learn the kind of country, formation, and spots to look for gold when you want to break new ground. `Fossicking' means going over old workings, turning up boulders, and taking the clay from beneath them, exploring fissures in the rock, and scraping out the stuff with your table knife, using your pick to help matters. Pulling up of trees, and clearing all soil from the roots, scraping the bottoms of deserted holes, and generally keeping your eye about for little bits of ground left between workings by earlier miners who were in too great a hurry looking after the big fish to attend much to small fry."

"A number of idle and disorderly fellows had introduced a practice which was termed `fossicking.' . . . In the dead hours of midnight they issued forth, provided with wax tapers, and, entering upon the ground, stole the auriferous earth."

"He ran from the flat with an awful shout
Without waiting to fossick the coffin lid out."

<hw>Fossicker</hw>, n. one who fossicks, sc. works among the tailings of old gold-mines for what may be left.

1853. C. Rudston Read, `What I heard, saw, and did at the Australian Gold Fields,' p. 150:

"The man was what they called a night fossicker, who slept, or did nothing during the day, and then went round at night to where he knew the claims to be rich, and stole the stuff by candle-light."

"I can at once recognize the experienced `fossickers,' who know well how to go to work with every chance in their favour."

"Steady old fossickers often get more
Than the first who open'd the ground."

"A fossicker is to the miner as is the gleaner to the reaper; he picks the crevices and pockets of the rocks."

"We had heard that, on this same field, years after its total abandonment, a two hundred ounce nugget had been found by a solitary fossicker in a pillar left in an old claim."

"The fossickers sluiced and cradled with wonderful cradles of their own building."

<hw>Free-select</hw>, v. to take up land under the Land Laws. See Free-selector. This composite verb, derived from the noun, is very unusual. The word generally used is to select.

"Everything which he could have needed had he proceeded to free-select an uninhabited island."

<hw>Free-selection</hw>, n. (1) The process of selecting or choosing land under the Land Laws, or the right to choose. Abbreviated often into Selection. See Free-selector.

"He was told that the areas open for selection were not on the Geelong side, and one of the obliging officials placed a plan before him, showing the lands on which he was free to choose a future home. The selector looked vacantly at the map, but at length became attracted by a bright green allotment, which at once won his capricious fancy, indicating as it did such luxurious herbage; but, much to his disgust, he found that `the green lot' had already been selected. At length he fixed on a yellow section, and declared his intention of resting satisfied with the choice. The description and area of land chosen were called out, and he was requested t0 move further over and pay his money. `Pay?' queried the fuddled but startled bona fide, `I got no money (hic), old `un, thought it was free selection, you know.'"

"A man can now go and make his free selection before survey of any quantity of land not less than 40 nor more than 320 acres, at twenty shillings an acre."

"You may go to nine stations out of ten now without hearing any talk but `bullock and free-selection.'"

"His intention . . . was to take up a small piece of land under the system of `free-selection.'"

(2) Used for the land itself, but generally in the abbreviated form, Selection.

"I've only seen three females on my selection since I took it up four years last November."

<hw>Free-selector</hw>, n. (abbreviated often to Selector), one who takes up a block of Crown land under the Land Laws and by annual payments acquires the freehold. [320 acres to Victoria, 640 in New South Wales.]

"The very law which the free selector puts in force against the squatter, the squatter puts in force against him; he selected upon the squatter's run, and the squatter selects upon his grazing right."

"Men who select small portions of the Crown lands by means of land orders or by gradual purchase, and who become freeholders and then permanently wedded to the colony."

"The condition of the free-selector—that of ownership of a piece of land to be tilled by the owner—is the one which the best class of immigrants desire."

"A burly free selector pitched his tent in my Home-Station paddock and turned my dam into a wash."

"No, no; I've kept free-selectors out all these years, and as long as I live here I'll do so still."

<hw>Freezer</hw>, n. a sheep bred and raised in order that its mutton may be frozen and exported.

"In the breeding of what are in New Zealand known as `freezers' there lies a ready means of largely increasing the returns from our land."

<hw>Fresh-water Herring</hw>, n. In Sydney, the fish is Clupea richmondia, Macl. Elsewhere in Australia, and in Tasmania, it is another name for the Grayling (q.v.).

<hw>Fresh-water Perch</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Microperca tasmaniae.

<hw>Friar-bird</hw>, n. an Australian bird, of the genus called Philemon, but originally named Tropidorhynchus (q.v.). It is a honey-eater, and is also called Poor Soldier and other names; see quotation, 1848. The species are—

Friar-Bird—
Philemon corniculatus, Lath. [Called also
Leather-head, q.v.]

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 615 (Vocab.):

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 324:

"Friar,—a very common bird about Paramatta, called by the natives `coldong:' It repeats the words `poor soldier' and `four o'clock' very distinctly."

"The cheerful sedge-wren and the bald-head friar,
The merry forest-pie with joyous song."

"From the fancied resemblance of its notes to those words, it has obtained from the Colonists the various names of `Poor Soldier,' `Pimlico,' `Four o'clock,' etc. Its bare head and neck have also suggested the names of `Friar Bird,' `Monk,' `Leather Head,' etc."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 64:

"The Tropidorhynchus corniculatus is well known to the colonists by the names `poor soldier,' `leather-headed jackass,' `friar-bird,' etc. This curious bird, in common with several other varieties of honey-eaters, is remarkable on account of its extreme liveliness and the singular resemblance of its notes to the human voice."

"Notes on the Chlamydosaurus or frilled-lizard of
Queensland (C. Kingii.) "

<hw>Frogsmouth</hw>, n. an Australian bird; genus Podargus, commonly called Mopoke (q.v.). The mouth and expression of the face resemble the appearance of a frog. The species are—

1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the
Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 447:

"The term `Frogsmouth' is used in order to get rid of that very objectionable name Podargus, and as being allied to the other genera Batrachostomus and Otothrix of the family Steatorninae in India. It is a name well suited to the singular structure of the mouth, and presumably better than the mythical title of `Goatsucker.' `Night-hawk,' sometimes applied to the Caprimulginae, does not accord with the mode of flight of the genus Podargus."

<hw>Frontage</hw>, n. land along a river or creek, of great importance to a station. A use common in Australia, not peculiar to it.

"Jack was piloted by Mr. Hawkesbury through the `frontage' and a considerable portion of the `back' regions of Gondaree."

<hw>Frost-fish</hw>, n. name given in Australia and New Zealand to the European Scabbard-fish, Lepidopus caudatus, White. The name is said to be derived from the circumstance that the fish is found alive on New Zealand sea-beaches on frosty nights. It is called the Scabbard-fish in Europe, because it is like the shining white metal sheath of a long sword. Lepidopus belongs to the family Trichiuridae, it reaches a length of five or six feet, but is so thin that it hardly weighs as many pounds. It is considered a delicacy in New Zealand.

"The frost-fish . . . the most delicately flavoured of all New Zealand fishes, is an inhabitant of deep water, and on frosty nights, owing probably to its air-bladders becoming choked, it is cast up by the surf on the ocean-beach."

<hw>Fruit-Pigeon</hw>, n. The name is given to numerous pigeons of the genera Ptilinopus and Carpophaga. In Australia it is assigned to the following birds:—

And in New Zealand to Carpophaga novae-zealandiae, Gmel.
(Maori name, Kereru Kuku, or Kukupa.)

<hw>Fryingpan-Brand</hw>, n. a large brand used by cattle-stealers to cover the owner's brand. See Duffer and Cattle-Duffer.

". . . This person was an `old hand,' and got into some trouble on the other side (i.e. the Bathurst side) by using a `frying-pan brand.' He was stock-keeping in that quarter, and was rather given to `gulley-raking.' One fine day it appears he ran in three bullocks belonging to a neighbouring squatter, and clapt his brand on the top of the other so as to efface it."

<hw>Fuchsia, Native</hw>, n. The name is applied to several native plants.

(1) In Australia and Tasmania, to various species of Correa (q.v.), especially to Correa speciosa, And., N.O. Rutaceae.

(2) In Queensland, to Eremophila maculata, F. v. M., N.O. Myoporineae.

(3) In New Zealand, to Fuchsia excorticata, Linn., N.O. Onagrariae. (Maori name, Kotukutuktu, q.v.). See also Tooky-took and Konini.

"The Correa virens, with its pretty pendulous blossoms (from which it has been named the `Native Fuchsia'), and the Scarlet Grevillea (G. coccinea) are gay amidst the bush flowers."

"I see some pretty red correa and lilac."
[Footnote]: "Correa speciosa—native fuchsia of Colonies."

"E. maculata. A . . . shrub called native fuchsia, and by some considered poisonous, by others a good fodder bush."

"A species of native fuchsia that is coming greatly into favour is called [Fuchsia] Procumbens. It is a lovely pot plant, with large pink fruit and upright flowers."

<hw>Full up of</hw>, adj. (slang), sick and tired of. "Full on," and "full of," are other forms.

"She was `full up' of the Oxley, which was a rowdy, disagreeable goldfield as ever she was on."

<hw>Furze, Native</hw>, n. a shrub, Hakea ulcina, R. Br. See Hakea.

<hw>Futtah</hw>, n. a settlers' corruption of the Maori word Whata (q.v.).

"These stores were called by the Europeans futters,—but the Maori name was Whata."

"`Futtah is familiar as `household words.' There were always rats in New Zealand—that is, since any traditions of its fauna existed. The original ones were good to eat. They were black and smooth in the hair as the mole of the Old Country, and were esteemed delicacies. They were always mischievous, but the Norway rat that came with the white man was worse. He began by killing and eating his aboriginal congener, and then made it more difficult than ever to keep anything eatable out of reach of his teeth. Human ingenuity, however, is superior to that of most of the lower animals, and so the `futtah' came to be—a storehouse on four posts, each of them so bevelled as to render it impossible for the cleverest rat to climb them. The same expedient is to-day in use on Stewart Island and the West Coast —in fact, wherever properly constructed buildings are not available for the storage of things eatable or destructible by the rodents in question."

<hw>Galah</hw>, n. a bird.(The accent is now placed on the second syllable.) Aboriginal name for the Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill., the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. See Cockatoo. With the first syllable compare last syllable of Budgerigar (q.v.)

"They can afford to screech and be merry, as also the grey, pink-crested galahs, which tint with the colours of the evening sky a spot of grass in the distance."

"The galahs, with their delicate grey and rose-pink plumage, are the prettiest parrots."

"A shrieking flock of galahs, on their final flight before they settled to roost, passed over and around him, and lifting up his head, he saw how all their grey feathers were flushed with the sunset light, their coloured breasts deepening into darkest ruby, they seemed like loosed spirits."

<hw>Gallows</hw>, n. Explained in quotation. Common at all stations, where of course the butchering is done on the premises.

"The gallows, a high wooden frame from which the carcases of the butchered sheep dangle."

<hw>Gang-gang</hw>, or <hw>Gan-gan</hw>, n. the aboriginal word for the bird Callocephalon galeatum, Lath., so called from its note; a kind of cockatoo, grey with a red head, called also Gang-gang Cockatoo. See Cockatoo.

"Upon the branches the satin-bird, the gangan, and various kinds of pigeons were feeding."

"Callocephalon Galeatum, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Gannet</hw>, n. the English name for the Solan Goose and its tribe. The Australian species are—

The species in New Zealand is Dysporus serrator, Grey;
Maori name, Takapu.

<hw>Garfish</hw>, n. In England the name is applied to any fish of the family Belonidae. The name was originally used for the common European Belone vulgaris. In Melbourne the Garfish is a true one, Belone ferox, Gunth., called in Sydney "Long Tom." In Sydney, Tasmania, and New Zealand it is Hemirhamphus intermedius, Cantor.; and in New South Wales, generally, it is the river-fish H. regularis, Gunth., family Sombresocidae. Some say that the name was originally "Guard-fish," and it is still sometimes so spelt. But the word is derived from xGar, in Anglo-Saxon, which meant spear, dart, javelin, and the allusion is to the long spear-like projection of the fish's jaws. Called by the Sydney fishermen Ballahoo, and in Auckland the Piper (q.v.).

"Of the garfishes we have four species known to be found on our coasts. One, Hemirhamphus regularis, is the favourite breakfast fish of the citizens of Sydney. H. melanochir, or `river garfish,' is a still better fish, but has become very scarce. H. argentcus, the common Brisbane species . . . and H. commersoni."

<hw>Gastrolobium</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of Australian shrubs, N.O. Leguminosae, commonly known as Poison Bushes (q.v.). The species are—

Gastrolobium bilobum, R. Br. G. callistachys, Meissn. G. calycium, Benth. G. obovatum, Benth. G. oxylobioides, Benth. G. spinosum, Benth. G. trilobum, Benth.

All of which are confined to Western Australia. The species Gastrolobium grandiflorum, F. v. M. (also called Wall-flower), is the only species found out of Western Australia, and extends across Central Australia to Queensland. All the species have pretty yellow and purple flowers. The name is from the Greek gastaer, gastros, the belly, and lobion, dim. of lobos, "the capsule or pod of leguminous plants." (`L. & S.')

<hw>Geebung</hw>, or <hw>Geebong</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the fruit of various species of the tree Persoonia, and also for the tree itself, N.O. Proteaceae.

"The jibbong is another tasteless fruit, as well as the five corners, much relished by children."

"We gathered and ate a great quantity of gibong (the ripe fruit of Persoonia falcata)."

"We gathered the wild raspberries, and mingling them with geebongs and scrub berries, set forth a dessert."

"A `geebung' (the name given to the fruits of Persoonias, and hence to the trees themselves)."

<hw>Gerygone</hw>, n. scientific and vernacular name of a genus of small warblers of Australia and New Zealand; the new name for them is Fly-eater (q.v.). In New Zealand they are called Bush-warblers, Grey-warblers, etc., and they also go there by their Maori name of Riro-riro. For the species, see Fly-eater and Warbler. The name is from the Greek gerugonae, "born of sound," a word used by Theocritus.

1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 447:

"[The habits and habitats of the genus] Gerygone suggested the term Fly-eater, as distinguished from Fly-catcher, for this aberrant and peculiarly Australasian form of small Fly-catchers, which not only capture their food somewhat after the manner of Fly-catchers, but also seek for it arboreally."

<hw>Ghilgai</hw>, n. an aboriginal word used by white men in the neighbourhood of Bourke, New South Wales, to denote a saucer-shaped depression in the ground which forms a natural reservoir for rainwater. Ghilgais vary from 20 to 100 yards in diameter, and are from five to ten feet deep. They differ from Claypans (q.v.), in being more regular in outline and deeper towards the centre, whereas Claypans are generally flat-bottomed. Their formation is probably due to subsidence.

<hw>Gibber</hw>, n. an aboriginal word for a stone. Used both of loose stones and of rocks. The G is hard.

[Pace Mr. Threlkeld, the word is aboriginal, though not of the dialect of the Hunter District, of which he is speaking.]

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 159:

"Of a rainy night like this he did not object to stow himself by the fireside of any house he might be near, or under the `gibbers' (overhanging rocks) of the river. . . ."

"At first and for more than a hundred miles [from Oodnadatta northwards], our track led across what is called the gibber country, where the plains are covered with a thin layer of stones—the gibbers—of various sizes, derived from the breaking down of a hard rock which forms the top of endless low, table-topped hills belonging to the desert sandstone formation."

<hw>Gibber-gunyah</hw>, n. an aboriginal cave-dwelling. See Gibber and Gunyah, also Rock-shelter.

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or, Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 211:

"I coincided in his opinion that it would be best for us to camp for the night in one of the ghibber-gunyahs. These are the hollows under overhanging rocks."

"Our home is the gibber-gunyah,
Where hill joins hill on high,
Where the turrama and berrambo
Like sleeping serpents lie."

1891. R. Etheridge, jun., `Records of the Australian Museum,' vol. i. no. viii. p. 171:

<hw>Giddea</hw>, <hw>Gidya</hw>, or <hw>Gidgee</hw>, adj. aboriginal word of New South Wales and Queensland for—

(1) a species of Acacia, A. homalophylla, Cunn. The original meaning is probably small, cf. gidju, Warrego, Queensland, and kutyo, Adelaide, both meaning small.

1878. `Catalogue of Objects of Ethno-typical Art in National Gallery, Melbourne,' p. 46:

"Gid-jee. Hardwood spear, with fragments of quartz set in gum on two sides and grass-tree stem. Total length, 7 feet 8 inches."

"A. homalophylla. A `Spearwood.' Called `Myall' in Victoria. . . . Aboriginal names are . . . Gidya, Gidia, or Gidgee (with other spellings in New South Wales and Queensland). This is the commonest colonial name . . . much sought after for turner's work on account of its solidity and fragrance. . . . The smell of the tree when in flower is abominable, and just before rain almost unbearable."

"Kind of scrub, called by the colonists gydya-scrub, which manifests itself even at a distance by a very characteristic, but not agreeable odour, being especially pungent after rain."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Home Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 22:

"We camped beside a water-pool on the Adminga Creek, which is bordered for the main part by a belt of the stinking acacia, or giddea (A. homalophylla). When the branches are freshly cut it well deserves the former name, as they have a most objectionable smell."

<hw>Gill-bird</hw>, n. an occasional name for the Wattle-bird (q.v.).

<hw>Gin</hw>, n. a native word for an aboriginal woman, and used, though rarely, even for a female kangaroo. See quotation 1833. The form gun (see quotation 1865) looks as if it had been altered to meet gunae, and of course generate is not derived from gunae, though it may be a distant relative. In `Collins's Vocabulary' occurs "din, a woman." If such a phonetic spelling as djin had been adopted, as it well might have been, to express the native sound, where would the gunae theory have been?

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' Vocabulary, p. 612:

"The flying gin (gin is the native word for woman or female) is a boomall, and will leave behind every description of dog."

"Gin, the term applied to the native female blacks; not from any attachment to the spirit of that name, but from some (to me) unknown derivation."

"Though very anxious to . . . carry off one of their `gins,' or wives . . . he yet evidently holds these north men in great dread."

"When their fire-stick has been extinguished, as is sometimes the case, for their jins or vestal virgins, who have charge of the fire, are not always sufficiently vigilant."

"The females would be comely looking gins,
Were not their limbs so much like rolling-pins."

"Gin or gun, a woman. Greek gunae and derivative words in English, such as generate, generation, and the like."

"The gins are captives of their bow and spear, and are brought home before the captor on his saddle. This seems the orthodox way of wooing the coy forest maidens. . . . All blacks are cruel to their gins."

"Certain stout young gins or lubras, set apart for the purpose, were sacrificed."

<hw>Ginger, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Alpinia caerulea, Benth., N.O. Scitamineae. The globular fruit is eaten by the natives.

"Fresh green leaves, especially of the so-called native ginger (Alpinia caerulea)."

<hw>Give Best</hw>, v. Australian slang, meaning to acknowledge superiority, or to give up trying at anything.

"But then—the fact had better be confessed, I went to work and gave the schooling best."

<hw>Globe-fish</hw>, n. name given to the fish Tetrodon hamiltoni, Richards., family Gymnodontes. The Spiny Globe-fish is Diodon. These are also called Toad-fish (q.v.), and Porcupine-fish (q.v.). The name is applied to other fish elsewhere.

<hw>Glucking-bird</hw>, n. a bird so named by Leichhardt, but not identified. Probably the Boobook (q.v.), and see its quotation 1827; see also under Mopoke quotation, Owl, 1846.

"The musical note of an unknown bird, sounding like `gluck gluck' frequently repeated, and ending in a shake . . . are heard from the neighbourhood of the scrub."

"The glucking bird—by which name, in consequence of its note, the bird may be distinguished—was heard through the night."

"The glucking-bird and the barking owl were heard throughout the moonlight nights."

"During the night, we heard the well-known note of what we called the `Glucking bird,' when we first met with it in the Cypress-pine country at the early part of our expedition. Its re-appearance with the Cypress-pine corroborated my supposition, that the bird lived on the seeds of that tree."

<hw>Glue-pot</hw>, n. part of a road so bad that the coach or buggy sticks in it.

"The Bishop of Manchester [Dr. Moorhouse, formerly Bishop of Melbourne], whose authority on missionary subjects will not be disputed, assures us that no one can possibly understand the difficulties and the troubles attendant upon the work of a Colonial bishop or clergyman until he has driven across almost pathless wastes or through almost inaccessible forests, has struggled through what they used to call `glue-pots,' until he has been shaken to pieces by `corduroy roads,' and has been in the midst of forests with the branches of trees falling around on all sides, knowing full well that if one fell upon him he would be killed."

<hw>Goai</hw>, n. common name in southern island of New Zealand for Kowhai (q.v.), of which it is a corruption. It is especially used of the timber of this tree, which is valuable for fencing. The change from K to G also took place in the name Otago, formerly spelt Otakou.

"The land of the goai tree, mapu, and pine,
The stately totara, and blooming wild vine."

<hw>Goanna</hw>, <hw>Guana</hw>, and <hw>Guano</hw>, n. popular corruptions for Iguana, the large Lace-lizard (q.v.), Varanus varius, Shaw. In New Zealand, the word Guano is applied to the lizard-like reptile Sphenodon punctatum. See Tuatara. In Tasmania, the name is given to Taliqua schincoides, White, and throughout Australia any lizard of a large size is popularly called a Guana, or in the bush, more commonly, a Goanna. See also Lace-lizard.

"At length an animal called a guana (a very large species of lizard) jumped out of the grass, and with amazing rapidity ran, as they always do when disturbed, up a high tree."

<hw>Go-ashore</hw>, n. an iron pot or cauldron, with three iron feet, and two ears, from which it was suspended by a wire handle over the fire. It is a corruption of the Maori word Kohua (q.v.), by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

"Engaged in the superintendence of a Maori oven, or a huge gipsy-looking cauldron, called a `go-ashore.'"

"A large go-ashore, or three-legged pot, of the size and shape of the cauldron usually introduced in the witch scene in Macbeth."

"There was another pot, called by the euphonious name of a
`Go-ashore,' which used to hang by a chain over the fire.
This was used for boiling."

<hw>Goborro</hw>, n. aboriginal name for Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M. See Dwarf-box, under Box.

<hw>Goburra</hw>, and <hw>Gogobera</hw>, n. variants of Kookaburra (q.v.).

<hw>Godwit</hw>, n. the English name for birds of the genus Limosa. The Australian species are—

<hw>Gogobera</hw>, and <hw>Goburra</hw>, n. variants of Kookaburra (q.v.).

<hw>Gold</hw>-. The following words and phrases compounded with "gold" are Australian in use, though probably some are used elsewhere.

<hw>Gold-fever</hw>, n. the desire to obtain gold by digging. The word is more especially applied to the period between 1851 and 1857, the early Australian discovery of gold. The term had been previously applied in a similar way to the Californian excitement in 1848-49. Called also Yellow fever.

"Edward Hargreaves, the discoverer of the Australian goldfields . . . received L15,000 as his reward."

<hw>Gold-founded</hw>, part. adj. founded as the result of the discovery of gold.

"I rode up the narrow street, serpentine in construction, as in all gold-founded townships."

"I was not as one of the reckless gold-hunters with which the camp was thronged."

"The great gold-seeking multitude had swelled . . . to the population of a province."

<hw>Golden Bell-Frog</hw>, n. name applied to a large gold and green frog, Hyla aurea, Less., which, unlike the great majority of the family Hylidae to which it belongs, is terrestrial and not arboreal in its habits, being found in and about water-holes in many parts of Australia.

"So completely alike was the sound of the Bell-frogs in an adjoining pond at night to the noise of the men by day."

<hw>Golden-eye</hw>, n. the bird Certhia lunulatu, Shaw; now called Melithreptus lunulatus, Shaw, and classed as White-naped Honey-eater (q.v.).

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 315:

"`This bird,' Mr. Caley says, `is called Golden-eye by the settlers. I shot it at Iron Cove, seven miles from Sydney, on the Paramatta road.'"

<hw>Golden-Perch</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish of Australia, Ctenolates ambiguus, Richards., family Percidae, and C. christyi, Castln.; also called the Yellow-belly. C. ambiguus is common in the rivers and lagoons of the Murray system.

"Many persons who had been lured into gathering armfuls of early wattle had cause to regret their devotion to the Australian national bloom, for the golden wattle blossoms produced unpleasant associations in the minds of the wearers of the green, and there were blows and curses in plenty. In political botany the wattle and blackthorn cannot grow side by side."

"The last two weeks have been alive with signs and tokens, saying `Spring is coming, Spring is here.' And though this may not be the `merry month of May,' yet it is the time of glorious Golden Wattle,—wattle waving by the river's bank, nodding aloft its soft plumes of yellow and its gleaming golden oriflamme, or bending low to kiss its own image in the brown waters which it loves."

<hw>Goodenia</hw>, n. the scientific and popular name of a genus of Australian plants, closely resembling the Gentians; there are many species. The name was given by Sir James Smith, president of the Linnaean Society, in 1793. See quotation.

"I [Smith] have given to this . . . genus the name of Goodenia, in honour of . . . Rev. Dr. Goodenough, treasurer of this Society, of whose botanical merits . . . example of Tournefort, who formed Gundelia from Gundelscheimer."

[Dr. Goodenough became Bishop of Carlisle; he was the grandfather of Commodore Goodenough.]

"A species of Goodenia is supposed to be used by the native gins to cause their children to sleep on long journeys, but it is not clear which is used."

<hw>Goodletite</hw>, n. scientific name for a matrix in which rubies are found. So named by Professor Black of Dunedin, in honour of his assistant, William Goodlet, who was the first to discover the rubies in the matrix, on the west coast.

"Several sapphires of good size and colour have been found, also rubies in the matrix—Goodletite."

<hw>Goondie</hw>, n. a native hut. Gundai = a shelter in the Wiradhuri dialect. It is the same word as Gunyah (q.v.).

"There were a dozen `goondies' to be visited, and the inmates started to their work."

Cape Barren Goose—
Cereopsis novae-hollandiae, Lath. [Gould (`Birds of
Australia,' vol. vii. pl. 1) calls it the Cereopsis Goose, or
Cape Barren Goose of the Colonists.]

Pied G.—
Anseranus melanoleuca, Lath.
Called also Magpie-Goose and Swan-Goose.

"Five pelicans and some Cape Barren Geese were upon the beach of Preservation Island [Bass Strait]."

<hw>Goose-teal</hw>, n. the English name for a very small goose of the genus Nettapus. The Australian species are—

<hw>Gooseberry-tree</hw>, Little, n. name given to the Australian tree Buchanania mangoides, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiaceae.

"My companions had, for several days past, gathered the unripe fruits of Coniogeton arborescens, R. Br., which, when boiled, imparted an agreeable acidity to the water. . . . When ripe, they became sweet and pulpy, like gooseberries. . . . This resemblance induced us to call the tree `the little gooseberry-tree.' "

<hw>Gouty-stem</hw>, n. the Australian Baobab-tree (q.v.), Adansonia gregori, F. v. M. According to Maiden (p. 60), Sterculia rupestris, Benth., is also called Gouty-stem, on account of the extraordinary shape of the trunk. Other names of this tree are the Sour-gourd, and the Cream-of-tartar tree.

"The gouty-stem tree . . . bears a very fragrant white flower, not unlike the jasmine." [Illustration given at p. 116.]

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 2S9 [Note]:

"This tree is distinguished by the extraordinary swollen appearance of the stem, which looks as though the tree were diseased or the result of a freak of nature. The youngest as well as the oldest trees have the same deformed appearance, and inside the bark is a soft juicy pulp instead of wood, which is said to be serviceable as an article of food. The stem of the largest tree at Careening Bay was twenty-nine feet in girth; it is named the Adansonia digitata. A species is found in Africa. In Australia it occurs only on the north coast."

<hw>Government</hw>, n. a not unusual contraction of "Government service," used by contractors and working men.

<hw>Government men</hw>, n. an obsolete euphemistic name for convicts, especially for assigned servants (q.v.).

<hw>Government stroke</hw>, n. a lazy style of doing work, explained in quotations. The phrase is not dead.

"Government labourers, at ten shillings a-day, were breaking stones with what is called `the Government stroke,' which is a slow-going, anti-sweating kind of motion. . . ."

"In colonial parlance the government stroke is that light and easy mode of labour—perhaps that semblance of labour—which no other master will endure, though government is forced to put up with it."

"Like the poor the unemployed are always with us, but they have a penchant for public works in Melbourne, with a good daily pay and the `Government stroke' combined."

<hw>Grab-all</hw>, n. a kind of net used for marine fishing near the shore. It is moored to a piece of floating wood, and by the Tasmanian Government regulations must have a mesh of 2 1/4 inches.

1883. Edward O. Cotton, `Evidence before Royal Commission on the Fisheries of Tasmania,' p. 82:

"Put a graball down where you will in `bell-rope' kelp, more silver trumpeter will get in than any other fish."

<hw>Grammatophore</hw>, n. scientific name for "an Australian agamoid lizard, genus Grammatophora." (`Standard.')

<hw>Grape, Gippsland</hw>, n. called also Native
Grape. An Australian fruit tree, Vitis hypoglauca,
F. v. M., N.O. Viniferae; called Gippsland Grape in
Victoria.

"Native grape; Gippsland grape. This evergreen climber yields black edible fruits of the size of cherries. This grape would perhaps be greatly improved by culture. (Mueller.)"

<hw>Grape, Macquarie Harbour</hw>, or <hw>Macquarie Harbour Vine</hw> (q.v.), n. name given to the climbing shrub Muehlenbeckia adpressra, Meissn. N.O. Polygonaceae. Called Native Ivy in Australia. See under Ivy.

<hw>Grape-eater</hw>, n. a bird, called formerly Fig-eater, now known as the Green-backed White-eye (q.v.), Zosterops gouldi, Bp.

"Zosterops chloronotus, Gould, Green-backed Z.; Grape and Fig-eater, Colonists of Swan River."

<hw>Grass</hw>, n. In Australia, as elsewhere, the name Grass is sometimes given to plants which are not of the natural order Gramineae, yet everywhere it is chiefly to this natural order that the name is applied. A fair proportion of the true Grasses common to many other countries in the world, or confined, on the one hand to temperate zones, or on the other to tropical or sub-tropical regions, are also indigenous to Australia, or Tasmania, or New Zealand, or sometimes to all three countries. In most cases such grasses retain their Old World names, as, for instance, Barnyard- or Cock-spur Grass (Panicum crus-galli, Linn.); in others they receive new Australian names, as Ditch Millet (Paspalum scrobitulatum, F. v. M.), the `Koda Millet' of India; and still again certain grasses named in Latin by scientific botanists have been distinguished by a vernacular English name for the first time in Australia, as Kangaroo Grass (Anhistiria ciliata, Linn.), which was "long known before Australia became colonized, in South Asia and all Africa" (von Muller), but not by the name of the Kangaroo.

Beyond these considerations, the settlers of Australia, whose wealth depends chiefly on its pastoral occupation, have introduced many of the best Old-World pasture grasses (chiefly of the genera Poa and Festuca), and many thousands of acres are said to be "laid down with English grass." Some of these are now so wide-spread in their acclimatization, that the botanists are at variance as to whether they are indigenous to Australia or not; the Couch Grass, for instance (Cynodon dactylon, Pers.), or Indian Doub Grass, is generally considered to be an introduced grass, yet Maiden regards it as indigenous.

There remain, "from the vast assemblage of our grasses, even some hundred indigenous to Australia" (von Muller), and a like number indigenous to New Zealand, the greater proportion of which are endemic. Many of these, accurately named in Latin and described by the botanists, have not yet found their vernacular equivalents; for the bushman and the settler do not draw fine botanical distinctions. Maiden has classified and fully described 158 species as "Forage Plants," of which over ninety have never been christened in English. Mr. John Buchanan, the botanist and draughtsman to the Geographical Survey of New Zealand, has prepared for his Government a `Manual of the Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand,' which enumerates eighty species, many of them unnamed in English, and many of them common also to Australia and Tasmania. These two descriptive works, with the assistance of Guilfoyle's Botany and Travellers' notes, have been made the basis of the following list of all the common Australian names applied to the true Grasses of the N.O. Gramineae. Some of them of very special Australian character appear also elsewhere in the Dictionary in their alphabetical places, while a few other plants, which are grasses by name and not by nature, stand in such alphabetical place alone, and not in this list. For facility of comparison and reference the range and habitat of each species is indicated in brackets after its name; the more minute limitation of such ranges is not within the scope of this work. The species of Grass present in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are—

3. Bamboo G.—
Glyceria ramigera, F. v. M. (A.)
Called also Cane Grass.
Stipa verticillata, Nees.(A.)

4. Barcoo G. (of Queensland)—
Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl. (A.)
Called also Landsborough Grass.

5. Barnyard G.—
Panicum crus-galli, Linn. (A., not endemic.)
Called also Cockspur Grass.

6. Bayonet G.—
 Aciphylla colensoi.(N.Z.)
 Called also Spear-Grass (see 112), and
 Spaniard (q.v.).

7. Bent G.—Alpine—
Agrostis muellerii, Benth. (A., N.Z., not endemic.)
Deyeuxia setifolia, Hook. f. (N.Z.)

16. Bent G.—Spiked— Deyeuxia quadriseta, R. Br. (A., T., N.Z.) Called also Reed Grass.

20. Blue G.—
Andropogon annulatus, Forst. (A.)
A. pertusus, Willd. (A.)
A. sericeus, R. Br. (A.)

21. Brome G.—Seaside.—
8romus arenarius, Labill. (A., N.Z.)
Called also Wild Oats.

26. Couch G.—
Cynodon dactylon, Pers. (A., not endemic.)
Called also Indian Doub Grass.

30. Fescue G.—Hard—
Festuca duriuscula, Linn. (Australasia, not endemic.)

32. Fescue G.—Sandhill—
F. littoralis, R. Br., var. triticoides,
Benth. (A., T., N.Z.)

34. Finger G.—Cocksfoot—
Panicum sanguinale, Linn. (A., not endemic.)
Called also Hairy Finger Grass, and Reddish Panic
Grass.

39. Hair G.—Turfy—
Deschampia caespitosa, Beavo. (N.Z., not endemic.)

40. Holy G.—
Hierochloe alpina, Roem. & Schult. (Australasia, not
endemic.)

42. Kangaroo G. (A., T., not endemic)—
Andropogon refractus, R. Br.
Anthistiria avenacea, F. v. M. (Called also Oat
Grass.)
A. ciliata, Linn. (Common K.G.)
A. frondosa, R. Br. (Broad-leaved K.G.)

43. Knee-jointed Fox-tail G.— Alopecurus geniculatus, Linn. (Australasia, not endemic.)

47. Millet—Australian—
Panicum decompositum, R. Br. (A., not endemic.)
Called also Umbrella Grass.

48. Millet—Ditch—
Paspalum scrobitulatum, F. v. M. (A., N.Z., not endemic.)
The Koda Millet of India.

49. Millet—Equal-glumed—
Isachne australis, R. Br. (A., N.Z., not endemic.)

50. Millet-Seaside—
Paspalum distichum, Burmann. (A., N.Z., not endemic.)
Called also Silt Grass, and Water Couch Grass.

51. Mitchell G.—
Astrebla elymoides, F. v. M. (A., True Mitchell
Grass.)
A. pectinata, F. v. M. (A.)
A. tritzcoides, F. v. M. (A.)

53. Mulga G.—
Danthonia racemosa, R. Br. (A.)
Neurachnea Mitchelliana, Nees. (A.)

54. New Zealand Wind G.—
Apera arundinacea, Palisot. (N.Z., not endemic.)

55. Oat G.—
Anthistiria avenacea, F. v. M. (Called also Kangaroo
Grass. See 41.)

56. Oat G.—Alpine—
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Br., var. alpina.
(N.Z.)

65. Oat G.—Sheep—
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Br., var. gracilis.(N.Z.)

66. Oat G.—Spiked—
Trisetum subspicatum, Beauv. (Australasia, not
endemic.)

68. Oat G.—Wiry-leaved—
D. raoulii, Steud, var. Australis, Buchanan. (N.Z.)

71. Panic G.—Slender—
Oplismenus salarius, var. Roem. and Schult. (A., N.Z.,
not endemic.)

72. Paper G.—Native—
Poa caespitosa, Forst. (A., T., N.Z.)
 Called also Wiry Grass, Weeping Polly,
 and Tussock Poa Grass; and, in New Zealand,
 Snow Grass.

73. Plume G.—Long-haired—
Dichelachne crinita, Hook. f. (A., T., N.Z.)

75. Poa G.—Auckland Island—
Poa foliosa, Hook. f., var. a. (N.Z.)

79. Poa G.—Common Field—
P. anceps, Forst., var. b, foliosa, Hook. f.
(N.Z.)

80. Pea G.—Dense-flowered
P. anceps, Forst., var. d, densiflora,
Hook. f. (N.Z.)

82. Pea G.—Hard short-stemmed—
P. anceps, Forst., var. c, brevicalmis,
Hook. f. (N.Z.)

84. Poa G.—Large-flowered—
P. foliosa, Hook. f., var. B. (N.Z.)

88. Pea G.—Nodding Plumed—
P. anceps, Forst., var. A, elata,
Hook. f. (N.Z.)

91. Poa G.—Slender—
P. anceps, Forst., var. E, debilis, Kirk,
Ms. (N.Z.)

97. Rat-tailed G.—
Sporobulus indicus, R. Br. (A., N.Z., not endemic.)
Called also Chilian Grass.
Ischaeum laxum, R. Br. (A.)

102. Rice G.—Meadow—
M. stipoides, R. Br. (A.,T., N.Z.)
Called also Weeping Grass.

105. Sacred G.—
Hierochloe redolens, R. Br. (Australasia, not endemic.)
Called also Scented Grass, and Sweet-scented
Grass.

111. Spear G. (q.v.)—
Aciphylla colensoi. (N.Z.)
Called also Spaniard (q.v.).
Heteropogon contortus, Roem. and Shult. (N.Z.),
and all species of Stipa (A., T.).

113. Spinifex G. (q.v.)—
Spinifex hirsutus, Labill. (A., T., N.Z., not endemic.)
Called also Spiny Rolling Grass.

121. Traveller's G. (N.O. Aroideae).—
(i.q. Settlers' Twine, q.v.)

123. Tussock G.— Broad-leaved Oat—
Danthonia flavescens, Hook. f. (N.Z.)

124. Tussock G.—Erect Plumed—
Arundo fulvida, Buchanan. (N.Z.) Maori name,
Tot-toi (q.v.).

126. Tussock G.—Plumed— Arundo conspicua, A. Cunn. (N.Z.) Maori name, Toi-toi (q.v.).

127. Tussock G.—Small-flowered Oat—
Danthonia cunninghamii, Hook. f. (N.Z.)

128. Petrie's Stipa G.—
Stipa petriei (new species). See 101. /?111?/ (N.Z.)

134. Wheat G.—Short-awned—
Triticum multiflorum, Banks and Sol. (N.Z.)

137. Wire G.—
Ehrharta juncea, Sprengel; a rush-like grass of hilly
 country. (A., T., N.Z.)
Cynodon dactylum, Pers.; so called from its knotted,
 creeping, wiry roots, so difficult to eradicate in gardens
 and other cultivated land. (Not endemic.) See 26.

<hw>Grass-bird</hw>, n. In New Zealand, Sphenoeacus //sic. otherwhere Sphenaeacus GJC// punctatus, Gray, the same as Fern-bird (q.v.); in Australia, Megalurus (Sphenaeacus) gramineus, Gould.

<hw>Grass-leaved Fern</hw>, n. Vittaria elongata, Swartz, N.O. Filices.

"Grass-leaved fern. . . . Frond varying in length from a few inches to several feet, and with a breadth of from one to five lines. . . . This curious grass-like fern may be frequently seen fringing the stems of the trees in the scrubs of tropical Queensland, in which situation the fronds are usually very long."

<hw>Grass-Parrakeet</hw>, n. a bird of the genus Euphema. The Australian species are—

See also Rock-Parrakeet (Euphema petrophila, Gould), which is sometimes classed as a Grass-Parrakeet.

<hw>Grass-tree</hw>, n. (2) The name applied to trees of the genus Xanthorrhoea, N.O. Liliaceae, of which thirteen species are known in Australia. See also Richea.

(2) In New Zealand Pseudopanax crassifolium, Seemann, N.O. Araleaceae. When young, this is the same as Umbrella-tree, so called from its appearance like the ribs of an umbrella. When older, it grows more straight and is called Lancewood (q.v.).

(3) In Tasmania, besides two species of Xanthorrhoea the Grass-tree of the mainland, the Richea dracophylla, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae, found on Mount Wellington, near Hobart, is also known by that name, whilst the Richea pandanifolia, Hook., found in the South-west forests, is called the Giant Grass-tree. Both these are peculiar to the island.

(4) An obsolete name for Cordyline australis, Hook., N.O. Liliaceae, now more usually called Cabbage- tree (q.v.).

"Yielding frequently a very weak and sour kind of grass, interspersed with a species of bulrush called grass-trees, which are universal signs of poverty.":

"We approached a range of barren hills of clay slate, on which grew the grass-tree (Xanthorhoea) and stunted eucalypti."

"Here and there, in moist places, arises isolated the `grass-tree' or `cabbage-tree' (Ti of the natives; Cordyline Australis)."

"The grass-trees in front, blame my eyes,
Seemed like plumes on the top of a hearse."

"How strikingly different the external features of plants may be, though floral structure may draw them into congruity, is well demonstrated by our so-called grass-trees, which pertain truly to the liliaceous order. These scientifically defined as Xanthorhoeas from the exudation of yellowish sap, which indurates into resinous masses, have all the essential notes of the order, so far as structure of flowers and fruits is concerned, but their palm-like habit, together with cylindric spikes on long and simple stalks, is quite peculiar, and impresses on landscapes, when these plants in masses are occuring, a singular feature."

"The grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) are a peculiar feature to the Australian landscape. From a rugged stem, varying from two to ten or twelve feet in height, springs a tuft of drooping wiry foliage, from the centre of which rises a spike not unlike a huge bulrush. When it flowers in winter, this spike becomes covered with white stars, and a heath covered with grass trees then has an appearance at once singular and beautiful."

"The root of the grass-tree is pleasant enough to eat, and tastes something like the meat of the almond-tree; but being unaccustomed to the kind of fare, and probably owing to the empty state of our stomachs, we suffered severely from diarrhoea."

"Grass-trees are most comical-looking objects. They have a black bare stem, from one to eight feet high, surmounted by a tuft of half rushes and half grass, out of which, again, grows a long thing exactly like a huge bullrush. A lot of them always grow together, and a little way off they are not unlike the illustrations of Red-Indian chiefs in Fenimore Cooper's novels."

"It [Pseudopanax crassifolium, the Horoeka] is commonly called lance-wood by the settlers in the North Island, and grass-tree by those in the South. This species was discovered during Cook's first voyage, and it need cause no surprise to learn that the remarkable difference between the young and mature states led so able a botanist as Dr. Solander to consider them distinct plants."

1896. Baldwin Spencer. `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 98:

"As soon as the came upon the Plains we found ourselves in a belt of grass trees belonging to a species not hitherto described (X. Thorntoni). . . . The larger specimens have a stem some five or six feet high, with a crown of long wiry leaves and a flowering stalk, the top of which is fully twelve feet above the ground."

<hw>Grayling</hw>, n. The Australian fish of that name is Prototroctes maroena, Gunth. It is called also the Fresh-water Herring, Yarra Herring (in Melbourne), Cucumber-Fish, and Cucumber-Mullet. The last two names are given to it from its smell. It closely resembles the English Grayling.

"These must be the long-looked-for cucumber mullet, or fresh- water herring. . . . `The cucumber mullet,' I explain, `I have long suspected to be a grayling.'"

"Though not a fish of New South Wales, it may be as well to mention here the Australian grayling, which in character, habits, and the manner of its capture is almost identical with the English fish of that name. In shape there is some difference between the two fish. . . . A newly caught fish smells exactly like a dish of fresh-sliced cucumber. It is widely distributed in Victoria, and very abundant in all the fresh-water streams of Tasmania. . . . In Melbourne it goes by the name of the Yarra herring. There is another species in New Zealand."

"The river abounds in delicious grayling or cucumber fish, rather absurdly designated the `herring' in this [Deloraine] and some other parts of the colony [Tasmania]."

<hw>Grebe</hw>, n. common English bird-name, of the genus Podiceps. The species known in Australia are—

But Buller sees no reason for separating P. cristatus from the well-known P. cristatus of Europe. Some of the Grebes are sometimes called Dabchicks (q.v.).

<hw>Greenhide</hw>, n. See quotation. Greenhide is an English tannery term for the hide with the hair on before scouring.

"Drivers, who walked beside their teams carrying over their shoulders a long-handled whip with thong of raw salted hide, called in the colony `greenhide.'"

<hw>Greenie</hw>, n. a school-boys' name for Ptilotis penicillata, Gould, the White-plumed Honey-eater.

"A bird smaller than the Australian minah, and of a greenish yellowish hue, larger, but similar to the members of the feathered tribe known to young city `knights of the catapult' as greenies."

"Every schoolboy about Melbourne knows what the `greenie' is—the white-plumed honey-eater (P. penicillata). The upper-surface is yellowish-grey, and the under-surface brownish in tone. The white-plumed honey-eater is common in Victoria, where it appears to be one of the few native birds that is not driven back by civilisation. In fact, its numbers have increased in the parks and gardens in the vicinity of Melbourne."

"Polytelis Barrabandi, Wagl., Barraband's Parrakeet; Green-leek of the colonists of New South Wales."

"We observed m the hollow trees several nests of the little green paroquet,—here, from its colour, called the leek."

<hw>Green Lizard</hw>, n. sometimes called the Spotted Green Lizard, a New Zealand reptile, Naultinus elegans, Gray.

<hw>Green Oyster</hw>, n. name given in Queensland to the sea-weed Ulva lactuca, Linn., N.O. Algae. From being frequently found attached to oysters, this is sometimes called "Green Oyster." (Bailey.) See Oyster.

<hw>Greenstone</hw>, n. popular name of Nephrite (q.v.). Maori name, Pounamu (q.v.).

"The greenstone composing these implements of war is called nephrite by mineralogists, and is found in the Middle Island of New Zealand, in the Hartz, Corsica, China and Egypt. The most valuable kind is clear as glass with a slight green tinge."

"This valued stone—pounamu of the natives—nephrite, is found on the west coast of the South Island. Indeed, on Captain Cook's chart this island is called `T'Avai Poenammoo'—Te wai pounamu, the water of the greenstone."

1892. F. R. Chapman, `The Working of Greenstone by the Maoris' (New Zealand Institute), p. 4:

"In the title of this paper the word `greenstone' occurs, and this word is used throughout the text. I am quite conscious that the term is not geologically or mineralogically correct; but the stone of which I am writing is known by that name throughout New Zealand, and, though here as elsewhere the scientific man employs that word to describe a totally different class of rock, I should run the risk of being misunderstood were I to use any other word for what is under that name an article of commerce and manufacture in New Zealand. It is called `pounamu' or `poenamu' by the Maoris, and `jade,' `jadeite,' or `nephrite' by various writers, while old books refer to the `green talc' of the Maoris."

<hw>Green-tops</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the Orchid, Pterostylis pedunculata, R. Br.

"It was at the lower part of the Lynd that we first saw the green-tree ant; which seemed to live in small societies in rude nests between the green leaves of shady trees."

<hw>Grevillea</hw>, n. a large genus of trees of Australia and Tasmania, N.O. Proteaceae, named in honour of the Right Hon. Charles Francis Greville, Vice-President of the Royal Society of London. The name was given by Robert Brown in 1809. The `Century' Dictionary gives Professor Greville as the origin of the name but "Professor Robert K. Greville of Edinburgh was born on the 14th Dec., 1794, he was therefore only just fourteen years old when the genus Grevillea was established." (`Private letter from Baron F. von Mueller.')

"Whether Dryandra, Grevillea, Hakea, or the other Proteaceae, all may take part in the same glee—

"Graceful grevilleas, which in the spring are gorgeous with orange-coloured blossoms."

<hw>Grey-jumper</hw>, n. name given to an Australian genus of sparrow-like birds, of which the only species is Struthidea cinerea, Gould; also called Brachystoma and Brachyporus.

<hw>Grey Nurse</hw>, n. a New South Wales name for a species of Shark, Odontaspis americanus, Mitchell, family Lamnidae, which is not confined to Australasia.

<hw>Gridironing</hw>, v</i. a term used in the province of Canterbury, New Zealand. A man purchased land in the shape of a gridiron, knowing that nobody would take the intermediate strips, which later he could purchase at his leisure. In other provinces free-selection (q.v.) was only allowed after survey.

<hw>Groper</hw>, n. a fish. In Queensland, Oligorus terrae-reginae, Ramsay; in New Zealand, O. gigas, "called by the Maoris and colonists `Hapuku,'" (Guenther)—a large marine species. Oligorus is a genus of the family Percidae, and the Murray-Cod (q.v.) and Murray Perch (q.v.) belong to it. There is a fish called the Grouper or Groper of warm seas quite distinct from this one. See Cod, Perch, Blue-Groper and Hapuku.

<hw>Ground-bird</hw>, n. name given in Australia to any bird of the genus Cinclosoma. The species are—

Spotted G.-b.—
C. punctatum, Lath., called by Gould Ground-Dove
(q.v.).

<hw>Ground-Dove</hw>, n. (1) Tasmanian name for the Spotted Ground-bird (q.v.).

"Cinclosoma punctatum, Vig. and Horsf., Spotted Ground-thrush. In Hobart Town it is frequently exposed for sale in the markets with bronze-wing pigeons and wattle-birds, where it is known by the name of ground-dove . . . very delicate eating."

<hw>Ground-Lark</hw>, n. (1) In New Zealand, a bird also called by the Maori names, Pihoihoi and Hioi.

"Anthus Novae Zelandiae, Gray, New Zealand Pipit; Ground-Lark of the Colonists."

(2) In Australia, the Australian Pipit (Anthus australis) is also called a Ground-lark.

"Anthus Australis, Vig. and Horsf., Australian Pipit. The Pipits, like many other of the Australian birds, are exceedingly perplexing."

<hw>Ground-Parrot</hw>, n. (1) The bird Psittacus pulchellus, Shaw. For the Ground Parrot of New Zealand, see Kakapo.

"Long-tailed green Parrot, spotted with black and yellow,. . . the Ground Parrot."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 278:

"What is called the ground-parrot at Sydney inhabits the scrub in that neighbourhood."

"The ground-parrot, green, with mottlings of gold and black, rose like a partridge from the heather, and flew low."

<hw>Ground-Thrush</hw>, n. name of birds found all over the world. The Australian species are—

<hw>Grub</hw>, v. to clear (ground) of the roots. To grub has long been English for to dig up by the roots. It is Australian to apply the word not to the tree but to the land.

"Employed with others in `grubbing' a piece of new land which was heavily timbered."

<hw>Gudgeon</hw>, n. The name is given in New South Wales to the fish Eleotris coxii, Krefft, of the family of the Gobies.

<hw>Guitar Plant</hw>, a Tasmanian shrub, Lomatia tinctoria, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae.

<hw>Gull</hw>, n. common English name for a sea-bird. The Australian species are—

<hw>Gully</hw>, n. a narrow valley. The word is very common in Australia, and is frequently used as a place name. It is not, however, Australian. Dr.Skeat (`Etymological Dictionary') says, "a channel worn by water." Curiously enough, his first quotation is from `Capt. Cook's Third Voyage,' b. iv. c. 4. Skeat adds, "formerly written gullet: `It meeteth afterward with another gullet,' i.e. small stream. Holinshed, `Description of Britain,' c. 11: F. goulet, `a gullet . . . a narrow brook or deep gutter of water.' (Cotgrave.) Thus the word is the same as gullet." F. goulet is from Latin gula. Gulch is the word used in the Pacific States, especially in California.

1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 532—Captain Cook's First Voyage, May 30, 1770:

"A man, in crossing a gully between Sydney and Parramatta, was, in attempting to ford it, carried away by the violence of the torrent, and drowned."

"The terrible blasts that rushed down the narrow gully, as if through a funnel."

"The driver appealing occasionally to some bullock or other by name, following up his admonition by a sweeping cut of his `gully-raker,' and a report like a musket-shot."

<hw>Gum</hw>, or <hw>Gum-tree</hw>, n. the popular name for any tree of the various species of Eucalyptus. The word Gum is also used in its ordinary English sense of exuded sap of certain trees and shrubs, as e.g. Wattle-gum (q.v.) in Australia, and Kauri-gum (q.v.) in New Zealand. In America, the gum-tree usually means "the Liquidambar styraciflua, favourite haunt of the opossum and the racoon, whence the proverbial possum up a gum-tree." (`Current Americanisms,' s.v. Gum)

Bastard White G.—
E. gunnii, Hook. (South Australia);
E. radiata (Tasmania).

Black-butted G.—
E. pillularis, Smith (Victoria);
E. regnans, F. v. M. (New South Wales).
See Blackbutt.

Blue G. [see also Blue-Gum] E. botryoides, Smith (New South Wales); E. diversicolor, F. v. M. [Karri]; E. globulus, Labill.; E. goniocalyx, F. v. M.; E. leucoxylon, F. v. M. (South Australia) [Ironbark]; E. saligna, Smith; E. tereticornis, Smith; E. viminalis, Labill. (West New South Wales).

Desert G.—
E. eudesmoides, F. v. M. (Central Australia);
E. gracilis, F. v. M.

Drooping G.—
E. pauciflora, Sieb. (Drooping Gum in Tasmania is
E. risdoni, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae; the tree is
peculiar to Tasmania);
E. viminalis, Labill. (New South Wales).

Flood, or Flooded G.—
E. gunnii, Hook. (Bombala, New South Wales);
E. microtheca, F. v. M. (Carpentaria and Central
Australia);
E. rostrata, Schlecht;
E. saligna, Smith;
E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales).

Grey G.—
E. crebra, F. v. M.;
E. goniocalyx, F. v. M. (New South Wales, east of
Dividing range);
E. punctata, De C. (South Coast of New South Wales);
E. raveretiana, F.v.M;
E. resinifera, Smith;
E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales);
E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales);
E. viminalis, Labill (Sydney);

Red G.—
E. amygdalina, Labill. (Victoria);
E. calophylla, R. Br.;
E. gunnii, Hook. (Bombala);
E. melliodora, Cunn. (Victoria);
E. odorata, Behr (South Australia);
E. punctata, De C.;
E. resinifera, Smith;
E. rostrata, Schlecht;
E. stuartiana, F. v. M. (Tasmania);
E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales).

Ribbon G.—
E. amygdalina, Labill. Ribbony G.
E. viminalis, Labill.

River G.—
E. rostrata, Schlecht (New South Wales, Queensland,
and Central Australia).

Slaty G.—
E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales);
E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales and
Queensland);
E. largiflorens, F. v. M.

Spotted G.—
E. capitellata, Smith (New England);
E. goniocalyx, F. v. M.;
E. haemastonza, Smith;
E. maculata, Hook.

Swamp G.—
E. gunnii, Hook.;
E. microtheca, F. v. M.;
E. pauciflora, Sieb.;
E. viminalis, Labill. (Tasmania).

Weeping G.—
E. pauciflora, Sieb. (Tasmania);
E. viminalis, Labill. (New South Wales).

White G.—
E. amygdalina, Labill.;
E. gomphocephala, De C. (Western Australia);
E. goniocalyx, F. v. M. ; E. haemastoma, Smith;
E. hemiphloia, F. v. M. (Sydney);
E. leucoxylon, F. v. M. (South Australia);
E. pauciflora, Sieb.;
E. populifolia, Hook. (Queensland);
E. radiata (New South Wales);
E. redunca, Schau. (Western Australia);
E. robusta, Schlecht. (South Australia);
E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales);
E. stellulata, Cunn.;
E. stuartiana, F. v. M. (Victoria);
E. viminalis, Labill.

This list has been compiled by collating many authorities. But the following note on Eucalyptus amygdalina (from Maiden's `Useful Native Plants,' p. 429) will illustrate the difficulty of assigning the vernacular names with absolute accuracy to the multitudinous species of Eucalyptus—

"Eucalyptus amygdalina, Labill., Syn. E. fissilis, F. v. M.; E. radiata, Sieb.; E. elata, Dehn.; E. tenuiramis, Miq.; E. nitida, Hook, f.; E. longifolia, Lindl. ; E. Lindleyana, DC.; and perhaps E. Risdoni, Hook, f.; E. dives, Schauer.—This Eucalypt has even more vernacular names than botanical synonyms. It is one of the `Peppermint Trees' (and variously `Narrow-leaved Peppermint,' `Brown Peppermint,' `White Peppermint,' and sometimes `Dandenong Peppermint'), and `Mountain Ashes' of the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, and also of Tasmania and Southern New South Wales. It is also called `Giant Gum' and `White Gum.' In Victoria it is one of the `Red Gums.' It is one of the New South Wales `Stringybarks,' and a `Manna Gum.' Because it is allied to, or associated with, `Stringybark,' it is also known by the name of `Messmate.' . . . A variety of this gum (E. radiata) is called in New South Wales `White Gum' or `River White Gum.' . . . A variety of E. amygdalina growing in the south coast district of New South Wales, goes by the name of `Ribbon Gum,' in allusion to the very thin, easily detachable, smooth bark. This is also E. radiata probably. A further New South Wales variety goes by the name of `Cut-tail' in the Braidwood district. The author has been unable to ascertain the meaning of this absurd designation. These varieties are, several of them, quite different in leaves, bark, and timber, and there is no species better than the present one to illustrate the danger in attempting to fit botanical names on Eucalypts when only the vernacular names are known."

Various other trees not of the genus Eucalyptus are also sometimes popularly called Gums, such as, for instance—

Water G.—
Callistemon lanceolatus, DeC.
Tristania laurina, R. Br.
T. neriifolia, R. Br.

In addition to this, poets and descriptive writers sometimes apply epithets, chiefly denoting colour or other outward appearance, which are not names of distinct species, such as Cinnamon, Morrell, Salmon, Cable, Silver, etc. [See quotation under Silver Gum.]

1642. Abel Tasman, `Journal of the Voyage to the Unknown Southland' (Translation by J. B. Walker in `Abel J. Tasman: His Life, etc.' 1896)

[Under date Dec. 2, 1642, after describing the trees at Fredrik Hendrik's Bay (now Blackman's Bay, Forestier's Peninsula, Tasmania) 2 to 21/2 fathoms thick, 60 to 65 feet to the first branch, and with steps 5 feet apart cut in them, Tasman says that they found] "a little gum, fine in appearance, which drops out of the trees, and has a resemblance to gum lac (gomma lacca)."

"May 1st.—We found two sorts of gum, one sort of which is like gum dragon, and is the same, I suppose, Tasman took for gum lac; it is extracted from the largest tree in the woods.

"May 6th.—The biggest trees are as large or larger than our oaks in England, and grow a good deal like them, and yield a reddish gum; the wood itself is heavy, hard, and black like Lignum vitae."

1788. Governor Phillip (Despatch, May 15) in `Historical Records of New South Wales', vol. i. pt. ii. p. 128:

"What seeds could be collected are sent to Sir Joseph Banks, as likewise the red gum taken from the large gum-tree by tapping, and the yellow gum which is found on the dwarf palm-tree."

1789. Captain Watkin Tench, `Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay,' p. 119:

"The species of trees are few, and . . . the wood universally of so bad a grain, as almost to preclude the possibility of using it. . . . These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum (not unlike the Sanguis draconis)."

"The red gum-tree, Eucalyptus resinifera. This is a very large and lofty tree, much exceeding the English oak in size."

"I have likewise seen trees bearing three different kinds of leaves, and frequently have found others, bearing the leaf of the gum-tree, with the gum exuding from it, and covered with bark of a very different kind."

"Full-sized gums and iron barks, alongside of which the loftiest trees in this country would appear as pigmies, with the beefwood tree, or, as it is generally termed, the forest oak, which is of much humbler growth, are the usual timber."

"The gum-trees are so designated as a body from producing a gummy resinous matter, while the peculiarities of the bark usually fix the particular names of the species—thus the blue, spotted, black-butted, and woolly gums are so nominated from the corresponding appearance of their respective barks; the red and white gums, from their wood; and the flooded gums from growing in flooded land."

"The eternal gum-tree has become to me an Australian crest, giving evidence of Australian ugliness. The gum-tree is ubiquitous, and is not the loveliest, though neither is it by any means the ugliest, of trees."

"The vernacular name of gum-trees for the eucalypts is as unaptly given as that of most others of our native plants, on which popular appellations have been bestowed. Indeed our wattles might far more appropriately be called gum-trees than the eucalypts, because the former exude a real gum (in the chemical meaning of the word); whereas the main exudation from the stems and branches of all eucalypts hardens to a kino-like substance, contains a large proportion of a particular tannin (kino-tannic acid), and is to a great extent or entirely soluble in alcohol, thus very different from genuine gum."

"Golden, 'mid a sunlit forest,
  Stood the grand Titanic forms
  Of the conquerors of storms;
Stood the gums, as if inspired,
Every branch and leaflet fired
  With the glory of the sun,
In golden robes attired,
  A grand priesthood of the sun."

"Nearly all the eucalyptus species exude gum, which the natives utilise in the fabrication of their various weapons as Europeans do glue. The myall and mimosa also exude gum; these the natives prefer before all other kinds when obtainable, they being less brittle and more adhesive than any of the others."

"This is an exact representation of the camps which were scattered over the country not more than fifty years ago, and inhabited by the original lords of the soil. The beautiful she-oak and red-gum forest that used to clothe the slopes of Royal Park was a very favourite camping-ground of theirs, as the gum-tree was their most regular source of food supply. The hollows of this tree contained the sleek and sleepy opossum, waiting to be dragged forth to the light of day and despatched by a blow on the head. It was to the honey-laden blossoms of this tree that the noisy cockatoos and parrots used to flock. Let the kangaroo be wary and waterfowl shy, but whilst he had his beloved gum-tree, little cared the light-hearted black."

"The immense extent of gum-trees stretches indefinitely, blotting out the conception of anything but its own lightly-timbered pasture. It has not even the gloom and impressiveness which we associate in England with the name of forest land, for the trees are thinly scattered, their long leaves hang vertically from the branches, and sunlight filters through with sufficient force to promote the growth of the tussocked grass beneath. The whole would be indescribably commonplace, but that the vastness becomes at last by its own force impressive."

"Another Eucalyptus with a scaly butt . . . but with smooth upper trunk and cordate ovate leaves, which was also new to me; we called it the Apple-gum."

1851. James Mitchell, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' p. 125:

"The name blue gum appears to have been derived from the bluish gray colour of the whole plant in the earliest stages of its growth, which is occasioned by a covering of dust or bloom similar to that upon the sloe or damson."

"I love to see the blue gums stand Majestically tall;
The giants of our southern woods,
The loftiest of all."

"That species of eucalyptus called the cider tree, from its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling molasses. Streaks of it were to be seen dripping down the bark in various parts, which we tasted, and found very palatable. The natives have a method at the proper season of grinding holes in the tree, from which the sweet juice flows plentifully, and is collected in a hole at the root. We saw some of these covered up with a flat stone, doubtless to prevent the wild animals from coming to drink it. When allowed to remain some time, and to ferment, it settles into a coarse sort of wine or cider, rather intoxicating."

"A forest only fit for urban gnomes these twisted trunks. Here are no straight and lofty trees, but sprawling cinnamon gums, their skin an unpleasing livid red, pock-marked; saplings in white and chilly grey, bleeding gum in ruddy stains, and fire-black boles and stumps to throw the greenery into bright relief."

"The trees, which grew only in the valleys, were small kinds of banksia, wattles and drooping gums."

"Among the Eucalypti or gum-trees growing in New South Wales, a species named the lemon-scented gum-tree, Eucalyptus citriodora, is peculiar to the Wide Bay district, in the northern part of the colony."

"The red gum-tree. This is a very large and lofty tree, much exceeding the English oak in size."

"Red gum, a wood which has of late years been exported to England in great quantities; it has all the properties of mahogany."

"The range was openly timbered with white gum, spotted gum,
Iron-bark, rusty gum and the cypress pine."

"The chief descriptions are salmon, morrel and white gums, and gimlet-wood. The bark of the salmon gum approaches in colour to a rich golden brown, but the satin-like sheen on it has the effect of making it several shades lighter, and in the full glare of the sun it is sufficiently near a rich salmon tint to justify its name."

"When so many of our Australian trees were named `gums,' a distinguishing prefix for each variety was clearly necessary, and so the words red, blue, yellow, white and scarlet, as marking some particular trait in the tree, have come into everyday use. Had the pioneer bush botanist seen at least one of those trees at a certain stage in its growth, the term `silver gum' would have found expression."

"Ironbark ridges here and there with spotted gum . . . diversified the sameness."

1853. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. ii, p. 132 [James Mitchell, On the Strength of Timber, etc., read Nov.12, 1851]:

"The Swamp Gum grows to the largest size of any of this family in Van Diemen's Land. Its growth is nearly twice as rapid as that of the Blue Gum: the annular layers are sometimes very large; but the bark, and the whole tree indeed, is so like the Blue Gum, as not to be easily distinguished from it in outward appearance. It grows best in moist places, which may probably have given rise to its name. Some extraordinary dimensions have been recorded of trees of this species. I lately measured an apparently sound one, and found it 21 feet in circumference at 8 feet from the ground and 87 feet to the first branches. Another was 18 1/2 feet in circumference at 10 feet from the ground, and 213 feet to the highest branch or extreme top. A third reached the height of 251 feet to the highest branch: but I am told that these are pigmies compared to the giants of even the Blue Gum species found in the southern districts."

"Groups of native trees, including the black wattle, silver box, messmate, stringy bark, and the picturesque but less useful swamp gum."

"A kind of Eucalyptus, with long drooping leaves, called the `Weeping Gum,' is the most elegant of the family."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p, 278:

"The natives tell me that it [the ground-parrot] chiefly breeds in a stump of a small White Gum-tree."

"E. leucoxylon, F. v. M. The `blue or white gum' of South Australia and Victoria is a gum-tree with smooth bark and light-coloured wood (hence the specific name). The flowers and fruit of E. leucoxylon are very similar to those of E. sideroxylon, and in this way two trees have been placed under one name which are really quite distinct. Baron Mueller points out that there are two well-marked varieties of E. leucoxylon in Victoria. That known as `white-gum' has the greater portion of the stem pale and smooth through the outer layers of the bark falling off. The variety known chiefly as the `Victorian Ironbark,' retains the whole bark on the stem, thus becoming deeply fissured and furrowed, and very hard and dark coloured."

"We this day passed a small group of trees of the yellow gum, a species of eucalyptus growing only on the poor sandy soil near Botany Bay, and other parts of the sea-coast near Sydney."

"Make a bit of a shelter also. You can always do it with easily-got gum-boughs."

<hw>Gummy</hw>, n. name given to a shark of Victorian and Tasmanian waters, Mustelus antarcticus, Gunth., and called Hound (q.v.) in New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand. The word Gummy is said to come from the small numerous teeth, arranged like a pavement, so different from the sharp erect teeth of most other sharks. The word Hound is the Old World name for all the species of the genus Mustelus. This fish, says Hutton, is much eaten by the Maoris.

<hw>Gum-sucker</hw>, n. slang for Victorian-born, not now much used; but it is not always limited to Victorians.

"The acacias are the common wattles of this country; from their trunks and branches clear transparent beads of the purest Arabian gum are seen suspended in the dry spring weather, which our young currency bantlings eagerly search after and regale themselves with."

[The practice of `gum-sucking' is here noticed, though the word does not occur.]

"If he had not been too 'cute to be bitten twice by the over-'cute `gumsuckers,' as the native Victorians are called."

"Quiz will take good care that the innocent Australians are not fooled without a warning. Really L. and his accomplices must look upon gumsuckers as being pretty soft."

<hw>Gunyah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a black-fellow's hut, roughly constructed of boughs and bark; applied also to other forms of shelter. The spelling varies greatly: in Col. Mundy's book (1855) there are no fewer than four forms. See Humpy and Gibber. What Leichhardt saw (see quotation 1847) was very remarkable.

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' in an aboriginal vocabulary of Port Jackson, p. 610:

"A native encampment, consisting of eight or ten `gunyers.' This is the native term for small huts, which are supported by three forked sticks (about three feet long) brought together at the top in a triangular form: the two sides towards the wind are covered by long sheets of bark, the third is always left open to the wind."

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' c. ii. p. 35:

"Three huts, or gunyahs, consisted of a few green boughs, which had just been put up for shelter from the rain then falling."

"Their only habitation . . . is formed by two sheets of bark stripped from the nearest tree, at the first appearance of a storm, and joined together at an angle of 45 degrees. This, which they call a gunnya, is cut up for firewood when the storm has passed."

"We saw a very interesting camping place of the natives, containing several two-storied gunyas."

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or, Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 211:

"I coincided in his opinion that it would be best for us to camp for the night in one of the ghibber-gunyahs. These are the hollows under overhanging rocks."

"A sloping sheet of bark turned from the wind—in bush lingo, a break-weather—or in guneeahs of boughs thatched with grass." [p. 200]: "Guneah." [p. 558]: "Gunneah." [p. 606]: "Gunyah."

"The name given by the natives to the burrow or habitation of any animals is `guniar,' and the same word is applied to our houses."

"Where this beautiful building now stands, there were only the gunyahs or homes of the poor savages."

"One of the gunyahs on the hill. . . . The hut, which is exactly like all the others in the group,—and for the matter of that all within two or three hundred miles,—is built of sticks, which have been stuck into the ground at the radius of a common centre, and then bent over so as to form an egg-shaped cage, which is substantially thatched on top and sides with herbage and mud."

<hw>Gunyang</hw>, n. the aboriginal word for the Kangaroo Apple (q.v.), though the name is more strictly applied not to Solanum aviculare, but to S. vescum.

"The similarity of both [S. vescum and S. aviculare] to each other forbids to recommend the fruit of the Gunyang as edible."

"Kangaroo Apple, Solanum aviculare. . . . The Gunyang (Solanum vescum) is another variety found in Victoria."

"A couple of tiny streams trickle across the plains to the sea, a dwarfed ti-tree, clinging low about the ground, like the gunyang or kangaroo apple, borders the banks."

<hw>Gurnet</hw>, n. The species of Trigla found in British waters, called Gurnards are of the family of Cottidae. The word Gurnet is an obsolete or provincial form of Gurnard, revived in Australia, and applied to the fish Centropogon scorpoenoides, Guich., family Scorpoenidae. The original word Gurnard is retained in New Zealand, and applied to the new species Trigla kumu (kumu being the Maori name), family Cottidae. The Flying Gurnet is Trigla polyommata, Richards., found on all the Australian coasts from New South Wales to Western Australia, family Cottidae. It is a distinct species, not included in the British species. They have large pectoral fins, but are not known to possess the power of supporting themselves in the air like the "flying fish" which belong to other genera. Sir Fredk. McCoy says that Sebastes Percoides, Richards., is called Gurnet, or Garnet-perch, by the fishermen and dealers, as well as the more common Neosebastes scorpoenoides, Guich., and Scorpoena panda, Richards.

<hw>Gutter</hw>, n. in Australian goldmining, "the lower and auriferous part of the channel of an old river of the Tertiary period " (`Century'). "The lowest portion of a lead. A gutter is filled with auriferous drift or washdirt, which rests on the palaeozoic bed-rock." (Brough Smyth, `Glossary of Mining Terms.')

"Privations and hardships you all have to suffer
Ere you can expect to get on to the gutter."

"If we happened to drop right down on the `gutter' or main course of the lead, we were all right."

"Evidently both claims had been driving for a `gutter.' One of them had got to the end of its tether before reaching it."

<hw>Gutter-flags</hw>, n. Flags fixed on the surface to denote where the course of a gutter or lead underground has been discovered." (Brough Smyth, `Glossary of Mining Terms.')

<hw>Gweeon</hw>, n. a stone tomahawk of the aborigines. Gweh-un, in Mukthang language, Gippsland. Apparently a remnant of a term occurring along the east side of Australia; Burgoin, New South Wales; bulgoon and balgon, Burdekin River, Queensland; related to balgoungo, to chop.

<hw>Gymnobelideus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus confined to Australia of Squirrel Phalangers, or Squirrel Opossums, as they have been called. See Opossum. The name was given by Sir Frederick McCoy in 1867. Only two specimens have been found, and they are in the Melbourne Museum of Natural History. There is only one species, G. leadbeateri, M'Coy. In general form they resemble the so-called Australian Flying Squirrel (q.v.), save for the absence of the parachute. They have large naked ears. (Grk. gymnos, naked, and Latin, belideus, the Flying-Phalanger or Squirrel.)

<hw>Gymnorrhina</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian genus of Piping Crow-Shrikes, called locally by the vernacular name of Magpies (q.v.). They have the nostrils and beak unfeathered. (Grk. gymnos, naked, and rhis, nose.) For the species see under Magpie.

<hw>Haddock</hw>, n. The New Zealand Haddock is Gadus australis, Hutton, Pseudophycis barbatus, Gunth., and Merlucius gayi, Guich., or australis, Hutton, all belonging to the family Gadidae or Cod-fishes. The European species of Merlucius is known as the "Hake."

<hw>Haeremai</hw>, interj. Maori term of welcome, lit. come hither; haere is the verb. It has been colloquially adopted.

"When they came near enough to be heard, they waved their hands, and called out `Horomai.' These ceremonies we were told were certain signs of their friendly disposition."

1832. `Henry Williams' Journal,' in H. Carleton's `Life of Henry Williams,' p. 112:

"After breakfast we went to them all; they were very glad to see us, and gave us the usual welcome, `Haeremai! Haeremai!'"

"As I ascended the steep hill with my train, scarcely any greeting was addressed to me, no shouts of haeremai, so universal a welcome to the stranger, were to be heard."

"The boat nears the shore, and now arises from a hundred voices the call of welcome, `Haere mai! haere mai! hoe mai!' Mats, hands, and certain ragged petticoats all waving in the air in sign of welcome. Then a pause. Then, as the boat came nearer, another burst of haere mai! But unaccustomed as I was then to the Maori salute, I disliked the sound. There was a wailing, melancholy cadence that did not strike me as being the appropriate note of welcome."

"Rev. Mr. Chapman received me at his garden gate with a hearty welcome, the natives shouted their friendly `haeremai,' and ere long we were all in comfortable shelter beneath the missionary's roof."

<hw>Hair-trigger</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for any plant of genus Stylidium. Called also Trigger-plant, and Jack in a Box (q.v.).

"The Stylidium, or as we named it, the `Hair-trigger,' is common all over the colony."

"A haka was now performed by about one hundred and fifty men and women. They seated themselves in ranks in one of the courtyards of the pa, stripped to the waist. An old chieftainess, who moved along the ranks with regular steps, brandishing an ornamental spear in time to her movements, now recited the first verse of a song in a monotonous, dirge-like measure. This was joined in by the others, who also kept time by quivering their hands and arms, nodding their heads and bending their bodies in accordance with each emphasis and pause."

"I witnessed a national spectacle which was new to me—a sort of incantation performed by women alone—the haka, I think it is called."

"He also received a visit from three or four hostile natives, who, with blood-curdling yells, duly performed the indispensable haka."

<hw>Hakea</hw>, n. the scientific name given, in honour of Baron Hake of Hanover, to "a large Australian genus of plants belonging to the follicular section of the Proteaceae, tribe Grevilleae, and distinguished from Grevillea by its axillary inflorescence and samaroid seeds. The species, nearly 100 in number [Maiden's index to `Useful Native Plants' gives sixteen], are all evergreen shrubs, or small trees, with alternate coriaceous, variously lobed, often spiny leaves. They are ornamental in cultivation, and several have acquired special names—H. ulicina, Native Furze; H. laurina, Cushion-flower; H. acicularis (Lissosperma), Native Pear; H. flexilis, Twine-bush." (`Century.')

"Proteaceae are more extensively still represented in Victoria by the well known genera Grevillea and Hakea, the former dedicated to the Right Hon. C. F. Greville, of Paddington, the latter genus named in honour of Baron Hake, of Hanover, both having been alike patrons of horticulture at the end of the last century."

"Recently, according to `Nature,' Mr. G. M. Thomson, an eminent authority on New Zealand botany, has shown that one of the genera, namely Hakea, though absent at present from the islands [of New Zealand], formerly existed there. Plant remains were found at St. Bathans, in a bed of clay, which have been identified by him as Hakea. The question of the identification of fossil plants is always a difficult one, but as Mr. Thomson announces that he has obtained fruit capsules and leaves there can be but little doubt as to the correctness of his determinations. Hitherto the genus has been regarded as Australian only, and about 100 species are known, of which no less than 65 are West Australian. It would seem then that the Hakeas had obtained a footing in Eastern Australia before the connection with New Zealand had disappeared, and that probably the genus is a far older one than had been anticipated. Why, after finding its way to New Zealand, it should have died out there is a question to which no answer can as yet be supplied."

<hw>Hand-fish</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Brachionichthys hirsutus, Lacep., family Pediculati. The name is used in the northern hemisphere for a different fish, which is also called there the Frog-fish and Toad-fish. The name arises from a fancied resemblance of the profile of the fish to a human hand. It is also called Frog-fish and Tortoise-shell fish. Mrs. Meredith calls it Tortoise-shell Fish from its colour, when figuring it in `Tasmanian Friends and Foes' under its former scientific name of Cheironectes Politus. The surface of its skin is hirsute with minute spines, and the lobe at the end of the detached filament of the dorsal fin—called the fintacle—hangs loose. The scientific names of the genus are derived from Grk. brachiown, "the arm," and cheir, "the hand." The armlike pectoral fins are used for holding on to stones or seaweed.

1850. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' Jan. 9, vol. i. p. 268:

"A little spotted fish belonging to the genus Chironectes . . . Mr. Champ writes thus respecting the frog fish:— `It was found in the sea at Port Arthur by a person who was with me, and when caught had all the appearance of having four legs, from the position and shape of the fins; the two longest of which, from the sort of elbow in them, and the division into (rays) what resemble fingers, seem to form a connecting link between fins and legs or arms.'"

"It has fins like feet; one small pair where pectoral fins usually are, and a larger pair, with absolute elbows to them, and apparently shoulder-blades too, only those do not belong to the fore pair of feet! A very antipodean arrangement truly! The markings on the body and on the delicate pellucid fins are like tortoise-shell."

"The men who have been convicts are termed `old hands'; they are mostly rude, rough men, with no moral principle or religious feeling, and who have little sympathy for humanity."

"`Boshman' in the old-hand vernacular signifies a fiddler."
["Bosh in gypsy means music and also violin." -Barrere and
Leland.]

"In Melbourne there are posts sunk in the ground almost opposite every door. . . . Fastening your horse to one of these posts is called `hanging him up.'"

"The mail-boy is waiting impatiently in the verandah, with his horse `hung up' to one of the posts."

<hw>Hapalote</hw>, n. Anglicized form of Hapalotis (Grk. hapalos, soft, and 'ous, 'owtis) ear), a peculiar Australian genus of rodents of the mouse family. They are called Jumping Mice, and have soft ears, and enlarged hind limbs like the jerboa, but are not marsupial like the kangaroo. There are many species.

"The 70,000 semi-civilised natives now in New Zealand are divided into some dozen chief tribes, and into numerous sub-tribes and `harpu.'"

1873. `Appendix to Journals of House of Representatives,' vol. iii. G. 7, p. 87:

"Were not all your hapu present when the money was paid? My hapu, through whom the land Nvas claimed, were present: we filled the room."

1891. Rev. J. Stacks, `Report of Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' vol. iii. sect. G. p. 378:

"On arriving in New Zealand, or Ao-tea-roa, the crews of the colonizing fleet dispersed themselves over the length and breadth of these islands, and formed independent tribes or nations, each of which was divided into hapus and the hapus into families."

<hw>Hapuku</hw>, n. Maori name for a fish, Oligorus gigas, Gunth., called later Polyprion prognathus (see quotation, 1895), pronounced hapuka, frequently corrupted into habuka, the Groper (q.v.). It is variously called a Cod, a Perch and a Sea-Perch. See quotations.

1845 (about). `New Plymouth's National Song,' Hursthouse's `New Zealand,' p 217:

"Hapuku, or whapuku, commonly called the cod, but a much richer fish in flavour: externally it more resembles the salmon, and is known in New Holland as the dew or Jew-fish. It attains a large size and is considered the best fish of New Zealand."

1862. Anon., `From the Black Rocks on Friday,' `All the Year Round,' May 17, 1862, No. 160:

1878. P. Thomson, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. XI. art. lii. p. 383:

"The second (Oligorus gigas) is found in the sea, on the coast of New Zealand, and called by the Maoris and colonists `Hapuku' . . . Dr. Hector, who has had opportunities of examining it in a fresh state, has pointed out anatomical differences from the Murray Cod."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. XIII. art. ii. p. 46:

"The pakirikiri(Percis colias) is the fish to which settlers in the north of New Zealand generally give the name of whapuka."

"In New Zealand, a serranoid fish Polyprion prognathus, called by the Maories hapuku."

<hw>Hardhead</hw>, n, the English sportsman's name for the ruddy duck (Erismatura rubida). Applied by sportsmen in Australia to the White-eyed Duck, Nyroca australis, Gould. See Duck.

<hw>Hardwood</hw>, n. The name is applied to many Australian timbers something like teak, but especially to Backhousia bancroftii, F. v. M. and Bailey, N.O. Myrtaceae. In Tasmania, it means any gum-timber (Eucalyptus). It is in constant and universal use for building and fencing in Australia.

"A hardwood slab-door weighs a goodish deal, as any one may find out that has to hump it a hundred yards."

Hardyhead, n. name given in Sydney to the fish Atherina pinguis, Lacep., family Atherinidae.

<hw>Hare-Kangaroo</hw>, n. a small Kangaroo, resembling the British hare. Called also Hare-Wallaby. The scientific name is Lagorchestes (q.v.).

"The Hare-kangaroos, so called from their resemblance to that well known rodent, are the fleetest of the whole tribe, and though they do not exceed a common hare in bulk, they can make clear jumps of eight and ten feet high."

<hw>Hare-Wallaby</hw>, n. See Hare-Kangaroo, Wallaby, and Lagorchestes.

<hw>Harlequin-Pigeon</hw>, n. formerly referred to the genus Peristera, but now to the genus Phaps. It is commonly called in the interior the "flock" pigeon.

"Large flocks of Peristera histrionica (the harlequin- pigeon) were lying on the patches of burnt grass on the plains."

<hw>Harpagornis</hw>, n. a scientific name for a partly fossilised, huge raptorial bird of New Zealand. From Greek HARPA? harpax robbing, and 'ornis, a bird.

"There is a harpagornis, a bird of prey of stature sufficient to have made the largest dinornis its quarry."

<hw>Harrier</hw>, n. English bird-name (that which harries), assigned in New Zealand to Circus gouldii, Bonap. (also called Swamp-hawk), and in Australia to C. assimilis, Jard. and Selb., or C. approximans, Bonap., called Spotted Harrier.

"Lord! if I were Mr. Dyson Maddox, I'd never let it be said that a black hat had cut me out sweetheartin'."

<hw>Hatter</hw>. (1) A solitary miner—miner who works without a mate partner: sc. one who has everything under his own hat.

1869. Brough Smyth, `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 613 (`Glossary of Mining Terms'):

"One who works alone. He differs from the fossicker who rifles old workings, or spends his time in trying abandoned washdirt. The hatter leads an independent life, and nearly always holds a claim under the bye-laws."

"Oh, a regular rum old stick; . . . he mostly works a `hatter.' He has worked with mates at times, and leaves them when the claim is done, and comes up a `hatter' again. He's a regular old miser."

"Instead of having to take to fossicking like so many `hatters' —solitary miners."

"He had been a burglar of the kind known among the criminal classes as `a hatter.' That is to say, he burgled `on his own hook,' never in a gang. He had never, he told me, burgled with a companion."

<hw>Hatteria</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of reptiles containing a Lizard peculiar to New Zealand, the only living representative of the order Rhynchocephalinae. See Tuatara.

<hw>Hatting</hw>, quasi pres. partic., solitary mining. See Hatter.

<hw>Hat-tree</hw>, n. name given to a species of Sterculia, the Bottle-trees (q.v.).

<hw>Hau-hau</hw>, n. a Maori superstition. This superstition arose in Taranaki in 1864, through the crazy fancies of the chief Te Ua, who communed with angels and interpreted the Bible. The meaning of the word is obscure, but it probably referred to the wind which wafted the angels to the worshippers whilst dancing round an erect pole. Pai Marire was another name for the superstition, and signifies "good and peaceful." (See Gudgeon's `War in New Zealand,' p. 23 sq.; also Colenso's pamphlet on `Kereopa,' p. 4.)

<hw>Hawk</hw>, n. This common English bird-name is applied in Australia to many species—

Eagle-H.—
Another name for Wedge-tailed Eagle. (See Eagle
and Eagle-hawk.)

Striped Brown-H.—
Hieracidea berigora, V. and H. [See Berigora.]

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 206:
[A complete description.]

"Of the three species recognized, two, the quail-hawk (Harpa Novae Zealandiae) and the bush-hawk (H. ferox) [or sparrow-hawk], belong to a genus peculiar to New Zealand." [The third is the New Zealand harrier, Circus Gouldi, also found in Australia.]

<hw>Hazel</hw>, n. name applied in Victoria to the tree Pomaderris apetala, Labill., N.O. Rhamnaceae.

"Called `hazel' in `Victoria. A tall shrub, or small tree. The wood is excellent, of a beautiful satiny texture, and adapted for carvers' and turners' work. [Grows in] all the colonies except Western Australia and Queensland."

"Forty additional heads will be shortly added to the crushing power, bringing the battery up to sixty heads."

<hw>Head-Station</hw>, n. the principal buildings, including the owner's or manager's house, the hut, store, etc., of a sheep or cattle run.

<hw>Heath</hw>, n. In Tasmania, where the Epacris is of very beautiful colour, this name is popularly used for Epacris impressa, Labill., N.O. Epacrideae. See Epacris.

<hw>Hedgehog-Fruit</hw>, n. Popular name applied to the fruit of Echinocarpus australis, Benth., N.O. Tiliaceae. The tree is also called Maiden's Blush (q.v.).

<hw>Hedge-Laurel</hw>, n. a name given to the tree Mapau (q.v.), an evergreen shrub of New Zealand, of the genus Pittosporum (q.v.). It has dark glossy foliage and handsome flowers, and is planted and cultivated in the form of tall garden hedges. See also Laurel.

<hw>Hei-tiki</hw>, n. Maori name for a neck ornament made of greenstone (q.v.).

"The latter idea [that they are representatives of gods] was conceived from the hei-tiki being taken off the neck, laid down . . . and then wept and sung over."

"Hei means ornament for the neck. Tiki was the creator of man, and these are the representations of him. By a sort of license, they are occasionally taken to represent some renowned ancestor of the possessor; but wooden Tikis, some of immense size, usually represented the ancestors, and were supposed to be visited by their spirits. These might be erected in various parts of a pa, or to mark boundaries, etc. The Maories cling to them as sacred heirlooms of past generations, and with some superstitious reverence."

<hw>Helmet-Orchis</hw>, n. This English name is applied in Australia to the orchid Pterostylis cucullata, R. Br.

"I also found three varieties of a singular green orchis, of a helmet shape, growing singly, on rather tall slender footstalks."

<hw>Hemp, Queensland</hw>, n. name given to the common tropical weed Sida rhombifolia, Linn., N.O. Malvaceae. Called also Paddy Lucerne, and in other colonies Native Lucerne, and Jelly Leaf. It is not endemic in Australia.

<hw>Hemp-bush, n.</hw> the plant Plagianthus pulchellus, A. Gray, N.O. Halvaceae, native of Australia and New Zealand. Though not true hemp (cannabis), it yields a fibre commercially resembling it.

Heron, n. common English bird-name. The species present in Australia are—

<hw>Herring</hw>, n. Various species of Clupeidae, to which the European Herring belongs, are known by this name in Australasia, and the word is also applied to an entirely different fish, Prototroctes maraena, Gunth., the Yarra Herring, Freshwater Herring, Grayling (q.v.), or Cucumber-Mullet, found in the rivers of Victoria or Tasmania. The Clupeidae are Clupea sagax (called also Maray, q.v., and Pilchard), C. sundaica, C. hypselosoma Bleek., C. novae-hollandiae, Cuv, and Val., C. vittata, Castln, (called the Smelt, q.v.), and others. In Western Australia Chatoessus erebi, Richards., is called the Perth Herring. See also Picton Herring, Aua, and Sardine.

<hw>Herring-cale</hw>, n. name given in New South Wales to the fish Olistherops brunneus, Macl., family Labridae, or Wrasses.

<hw>Hickory</hw>, n. The name Hickory is originally American, and is derived from the North-American Indian; its earliest form was Pohickery. The tree belongs to the genus Carya. The wood is excellent for gig-shafts, carriage-poles, fishing-rods, etc. The name is applied in Australia to various trees whose wood is suitable for similar purposes. In Tasmania, the name Hickory is given to Eriostemon squameus, Labill., N.O. Rutacea. Native Hickory, or Hickory-Acacia, is Acacia leprosa, Sieb., N.O. Leguminosae, and in the southern part of New South Wales, Acacia melanoxylon. (Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 358.)

"The beautiful umbrageous blackwood, or native hickory, one of the handsomest trees in Australia."

<hw>Hickory-Eucalypt</hw>, n. one of the names for the tree Eucalyptus punctata, DeC., N.O. Myrtaceae. Called also Leather-jacket (q.v.).

<hw>Hickory-Wattle</hw>, n. a Queensland name for Acacia aulacocarpa, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae; called Hickory about Brisbane.

<hw>Hielaman</hw>, n. a word of Sydney and neighbourhood. The initial h, now frequently used by the natives, is not found in the earliest forms. The termination man is also English. Elimang (Hunter), e-lee-mong (Collins), hilaman (Ridley). A narrow shield of an aboriginal, made of bark or wood. Notice Mr. Grant's remarkable plural (1881 quotation).

"As an initial, h occurs in only a few words, such as hilaman, a `shield.'"

[A barbarism means with Mr. Threlkeld little more than "not belonging to the Hunter district."]

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. ii. p. 349:

"There is much originality in the shield or hieleman of these people. It is merely a piece of wood, of little thickness, and two feet, eight inches long, tapering to each end, cut to an edge outwards, and having a handle or hole in the middle, behind the thickest part."

"The hieleman or shield is a piece of wood, about two and a half feet long, tapering to the ends, with a bevelled face not more than four inches wide at the broadest part, behind which the left hand passing through a hole is perfectly guarded."

"Hieleman, a shield. Saxon, heilan; English, helm or helmet (a little shield for the head)."

[This is a remarkable contribution to philological lore. In no dictionary is the Saxon "heilan" to be found, and a misprint may charitably be suspected. There is no doubt that the h is an English Cockney addition to the aboriginal word. It would need an ingenious fancy to connect "e-leemong" with "helm."]

"No faint far hearing of the waddies banging
Of club and heelaman together clanging,
War shouts and universal boomeranging."

"Nullah-nullahs, paddy-melon sticks, boomerangs, tomahawks, and heelimen or shields lay about in every direction."

<hw>Hielaman-tree</hw>, n. another name for the Bats-wing Coral (q.v.), Erythrina vespertilio, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae.

"`Heilaman [sic] tree.' The wood is soft, and used by the aborigines for making their `heilamans' or shields."

<hw>Hinau</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand tree, Elaeocarpus dentatus, Vahl., N.O. Tiliaceae.

"Another export was much talked of. This was the bark of the hinau, a large forest tree which abounds all over the country near Cook's Strait. The natives extract from this bark the black dye for their mats."

"The natives produce the black dye for their flax-work, for which purpose the bark is first bruised and boiled for a short time. When cold the flax is put into the mixture . . . it is then steeped thoroughly for two days in red swamp mud, rich in peroxide of iron."

"Hinau, a small tree about fifty feet high and eighteen inches thick in stem, with brown bark which yields a permanent blue-black dye, used for tanning . . . used by Maoris for colouring mats and baskets. Wood a yellowish brown colour and close-grained; very durable for fencing and piles."

<hw>Hoki</hw>, n. a New Zealand fish, Coryphaenoides novae-zelandiae. Coryphaenoides belongs to the family Macruridae, which are deep-sea Gadoids. See Tasmanian Whip-tail.

<hw>Holly, Native</hw>, n. name given in Australia to the tree Lomatia ilicifolia, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae, and in Tasmania to Coprosma hirtella, Labill., N.O. Rubiaceae; called also Coffee Plant.

<hw>Holly, Smooth</hw>, n. name given to the tree Hedycarya angustifolia, A. Cunn., N.O. Monimiaceae; called also Native Mulberry.

<hw>Hollyhock-tree</hw>, n. name given to Hibiscus splendens, Fraser, N.O. Malvaceae.

<hw>Holy City</hw>, n. a nickname for Adelaide. See Farinaceous City.

". . . including so many churches that we are at a loss to understand why Adelaide should, in virtue of her supposed superabundance, be nicknamed by her neighbours the Holy City."

<hw>Holy-Dollar</hw>, n. punning name for a dollar out of which a Dump (q.v.) had been punched.

1822. `Hobart Town Gazette,' Aug. 10 [Proclamation by Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales and its dependencies, then including Van Diemen's Land]

"Whereas in the Year of our Lord 1813, it was deemed expedient to send a Quantity of Spanish Dollars to the Colony. . . . And whereas His Excellency, the then Governor, thought proper to direct, that every such Dollar, with a small circular Piece of Silver, struck out of its Centre, should be current within this Territory, and every part thereof, for the Sum of Five Shillings."

[These were called holy (holey) dollars, or ring dollars, though the name does not occur in the above quotation.]

"We were more particularly struck with the character and various kinds of currency [in Tasmania in 1833]. Our first change for a pound consisted of two dumps, two holy dollars, one Spanish dollar, one French coin, one half-crown, one shilling, and one sixpence."

<hw>Honey-Ant</hw>, n. name given to various species of Ants, in which the body of certain individuals becomes enormously distended by sweet food with which they are fed by the worker ants, for whom this store of honey serves as a food supply. When the side of the distended abdomen is tapped, the ant passes the `honey' out of its mouth, and it is then eaten. Three species are known in Australia, Camponotus inflatus, Lubbock; C. cowlei, Froggatt; and C. midas, Froggatt. The aboriginal name of the first is `Yarumpa.'

"Our Australian honey ants belong to the genus Camponotus, members of which are found to all parts of the world, and are known as `sugar-ants,' from their fondness for all kinds of sweets."

<hw>Honey-eater</hw>, n. an Australian bird, with a tongue specially adapted for being formed into a tube for the absorption of honey from flowers. The name is applied to the following species—

Strong-billed H.— Melithreptus validirostris, Gould. [See also Cherry picker.]

Warty-faced H.— Meliphaga phrygia, Lath. (Called also the Mock Regent-bird, q.v.)

Gould enumerated the species, nearly fifty years ago, in his `Birds of Australia' (vol. iv.) as follows:—

Meliphaga Novae-Hollandiae, Vig. and Horsf, New Holland Honey-eater … … … … 23

A. Carunculata, Wattled H. … … 55 [Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 106.]

[Note.—The Brush Wattle-birds, Friar-birds, Spine-bills, and the Yellow-throated Minah, are known as Honey-eaters, and the whole series are sometimes called Honey-birds.]

"The honey-eaters or meliphagous birds are a peculiar and striking feature in Australian ornithology. As Gould points out, they are to the fauna what the eucalypts, banksias, and melaleucas are to the flora of Australia. They are closely adapted to feeding on these trees. That great author asks:— `What can be more plain than that the brushlike tongue is especially formed for gathering the honey from the flower-cups of the eucalypti, or that their diminutive stomachs are especially formed for this kind of food, and the peculiar insects which constitute a portion of it?'"

<hw>Honey-flower</hw>, n. Lambertia formosa, Smith, N.O. Proteaceae.

"They . . . returned . . . dreadfully exhausted, having existed chiefly by sucking the wild honey-flower and shrubs."

"`Honey-flower' or `honeysuckle,' a plant as well known to small boys about Sydney as to birds and insects. It obtains its vernacular name on account of the large quantity of a clear honey-like liquid the flowers contain. After sucking some quantity the liquid generally produces nausea and headache."

<hw>Honey-plant</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to Richea scoparia Hook., N.O. Epacris.

<hw>Honeysuckle</hw>, n. name given to the Banksias (q.v.); also called Bottle-brush (q.v.). The species are—

"Some scattered honeysuckles, as they, are called, but which, being specimens of a ligneous evergreen shrub (Banksia Australis), my English reader will please not to assimilate in his mind's eye in any respect with the woodbine."

"The honeysuckle (Banksia integrifolia) will greatly disappoint those who, from its name, expect to see anything similar to the sweet-scented climbers of English hedges and gardens—this being a tree attaining to thirty or forty feet in height, with spiral yellow flowers. The blossoms at the proper seasons yield a great quantity of honey, which on a dewy morning may be observed dropping from the flowers."

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Goodman's `Church in Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 83:

"In the course of our journey today we passed through a thin wood of honeysuckle trees, for, I should think, about three miles. They take their name from the quantity of honey contained in the yellow cone-shaped flower, which is much prized and sucked by the natives—the aborigines, I mean."

"The honeysuckle-tree (Banksia latifolia) is so unreasonably named . . . so very unlike any sort or species of the sweet old flower whose name it so unfittingly bears. . . . The blossoms form cones, which when in full bloom, are much the size and shape of a large English teazel, and are of a greenish yellow. . . . The honeysuckle trees grow to about thirty feet in height."

"Banksia, spp., N.O. Proteaceae. The name `honeysuckle' was applied to this genus by the early settlers, from the fact that the flowers, when in full bloom, contain, in a greater or lesser quantity, a sweet, honey-like liquid, which is secreted in considerable quantities, especially after a dewy night, and is eagerly sucked out by the aborigines."

"It [banksia] is called the `honeysuckle' by the people of Australia, though it has no resemblance to an English honeysuckle. Many of the banksias grow into stately trees."

<hw>Honeywood</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the tree Bedfordia salicina, DeC., N.O. Compositae; also there called Dogwood (q.v.).

<hw>Hoop-Pine</hw>, n. another name for the tree Araucaria cunninghami or Moreton-Bay Pine. See Pine.

<hw>Hoot</hw>, n. slang term for compensation, payment, money; characteristic corruption of Maori Utu (q.v.)

"There are several specimens of bush slang transplanted from the Maori language. `Hoot' is a very frequent synonym for money or wage. I have heard a shearer at the Pastoralist Union office in Sydney when he sought to ascertain the scale of remuneration, enquire of the gilt-edged clerk behind the barrier, `What's the hoot, mate?' The Maori equivalent for money is utu, pronounced by the Ngapuhi and other northern tribes with the last syllable clipped, and the word is very largely used by the kauri-gum diggers and station hands in the North Island. The original meaning of utu in Maori is `revenge.' When the missionaries first settled in New Zealand, they found that the savage inhabitants had no conception of any recompense except the grim recompense of blood. Under Christianizing influences the natives were induced to forego the blood-revenge for injuries, on receiving a solatium in goods or land, and so utu came to have the double meaning of revenge and recompense, and eventually became recognized as the Maori word for money."

<hw>Hop-bush</hw>, n. "the name for all species of Dodonaea" (Maiden, p. 417), N.O. Sapindaceae.

"The capsules of many Dodonaeas are used for hops, and thus the shrubs are known as hop-bushes in Queensland."

"`Hop-bush,' called `switch-sorrel' in Jamaica, and according to Dr. Bennett, `apiri' in Tahiti. Found in all the colonies."

<hw>Hopping-fish</hw>, or <hw>Climbing-fish</hw>, n. a fish of the north of New South Wales and of Queensland, Periophthalmus australis, Castln., family Gobiidae. Called also Skipper.

"On the confines of the northern boundaries of New South Wales may be seen a very remarkable Goby called the `Hopping-fish.' The pectoral fins are developed into regular legs, with which the fish hops or leaps along the mud flats . . . The eyes are on the top of the head, and very prominent, and moreover they can be thrust very far out of their sockets, and moved independently of one another, thus the fish can see long distances around, and overtake the small crabs in spite of the long stalks to their optics. It is a tropical form, yet it is said to be found on the mud-flats of the Richmond River."

<hw>Hops, Native</hw>, or <hw>Wild</hw>, n. In Australia, the fruit of the Hop-bush (see above), Dodonaea spp. In Tasmania, Daviesia latifolia, R.Br., N.O. Leguminosae, and called also there Bitter-Leaf.

"`Native hops,' on account of the capsules bearing some resemblance to hops, both in appearance and taste. In the early days of settlement the fruits of these trees were extensively used, yeast and beer of excellent quality being prepared from them. They are still so used to a small extent. D. attenuata, A. Cunn., for instance, was largely used in the Western District. In times of drought cattle and sheep eat them."

"The wild-hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full
Of wombat-holes, and any slip was death."

<hw>Horizontal</hw>, n. a Tasmanian shrub, Anodopetalum biglandulosum, Cunn., N.O. Saxifrageae. Horizontal Scrub, peculiar to the island, occurs in the western forests; it derives its name from the direction of the growth of its lower stems, and constitutes a tedious obstacle to the progress of the traveller.

"The Horizontal is a tall shrub or tree. . . . Its peculiar habit—to which it owes its name and fame—is for the main stem to assume a horizontal and drooping position after attaining a considerable height, from which ascend secondary branches which in turn assume the same horizontal habit. From these spring tertiary branchlets, all of which interlock, and form . . . an almost impenetrable mass of vegetation."

1891. `The Australasian,' April 4: "That stuff as they calls horizontal, a mess of branches and root."

<hw>Hornerah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a throwing-stick; a dialectic variation of Woomera (q.v.). a nonce-use.

"I observed, too, that they used a stick, shaped thus __, \ called the hornerah (which assists them in throwing the spear)."

<hw>Horn-Ray</hw>, n. a New Zealand and Australian Ray, the fish Rhinobatus banksii, Mull and Heule. In this genus of Rays the cranial cartilage is produced into a long rostral process (Guenther): hence the name.

<hw>Horopito</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand shrub, Drimys axillaris, Forst., N.O. Magnoliaceae; called also Pepper-tree (q.v.).

1847. G. F. Angas, `Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 17:

A delicious fragrance, like that of hyacinth and jessamine mingled, filled the warm still air with its perfume. It arose from the petals of a straggling shrub, with bright green shining leaves resembling those of the nutmeg-tree; and a profusion of rich and delicate blossoms, looking like waxwork, and hanging in clusters of trumpet-shaped bells: I observed every shade of colour amongst them, from pinkish white to the deepest crimson, and the edges of the petals were irregularly jagged all round. The natives call this plant horopito."

"Horopito, pepper-tree, winter's bark. A small slender evergreen tree, very handsome. Whole plant aromatic and stimulant; used by the Maoris for various diseases. Wood very ornamental in cabinet-work."

"The Horopito, or pepper-tree of the settlers, is an ornamental shrub or small tree occurring in woods, on the margin of which it is sometimes found in great abundance."

<hw>Horse-Mackerel</hw>, n. The name is applied in Sydney to the fish Auxis ramsayi, Castln., family Scombridae. In New Zealand it is Caranx (or Trachurus) trachurus, Cuv. and Val., which is the same fish as the Horse-Mackerel of England. This is called Yellow-tail on the Australian coasts. See Trevally.

<hw>Horseradish-tree</hw>, n. name given to Codonocarpus cotinifolius, F. v. M., N.O. Phytolaceae.

"`Quinine-tree,' `medicine-tree' of the interior. Called also `horse-radish tree' owing to the taste of the leaves. The bark contains a peculiar bitter, and no doubt possesses medicinal properties. The taste is, however, quite distinct from quinine."

<hw>Horseshoe-Fern</hw>, n. name given in New Zealand to the fern Marattia fraxinia, Sm., called in Australia the Potato-Fern. See under Fern.

<hw>Hot Wind</hw>, n. an Australian meteorological phenomenon. See quotations, especially 1879, A. R. Wallace. The phrase is of course used elsewhere, but its Australian use is peculiar. The hot wind blows from the North. Mr. H. C. Russell, the Government Astronomer of New South Wales, writes—"The hot wind of Australia is a circulation of wind about the anticyclone in the rear of which, as it moves to the east, there is a strong force of wind from north to north- west, which blowing over the heated plains of the interior gathers up its excessive temperature and carries it to the southern colonies. They seldom last more than two or three days in Sydney, and the great heat by which they are remembered never lasts more than a few hours of one day, and is always a sign of the end, which is an inrush of southerly wind, the circulation forming the front of the new incoming anticyclone."

"These squalls generally succeed the hot winds that prevail at this season in South Australia, coming from the interior."

Footnote—"During the hot winds we observed the thermometer, in the direct rays of the sun, to be 135 degrees."

"A hot wind set in; . . . at one time the thermometer at the public offices [Adelaide] was 158 degrees."

"I sought shelter behind a large gum tree, but the blasts of heat were so terrific that I wondered the very grass did not take fire. . . . Everything, both animate and inanimate, gave way before it: the horses stood with their backs to the wind, and their noses to the ground, without the muscular strength to raise their heads; the birds were mute, and the leaves of the trees, under which we were sitting, fell like a snow shower around us. At noon I took a thermometer, graduated to 127 degrees, out of my box, and observed that the mercury was up to 125 degrees. Thinking that it had been unduly influenced, I put it in the fork of a tree close to me, sheltered alike from the wind and the sun. In this position I went to examine it about an hour afterwards, when I found that the mercury had risen to the top of the instrument, and that its further expansion had burst the bulb. . . . We had reached our destination, however, before the worst of the hot wind set in."

"The immediate cause of the hot winds has given rise to much speculation. . . . The favourite theory is that they are generated in the sandy plains of the interior, which becoming powerfully heated, pour their glowing breath upon the fertile regions of the south."

"They are evidently produced by the sinking down to the surface of that north-westerly current of heated air which . . . is always passing overhead. The exact causes which bring it down cannot be determined, though it evidently depends on the comparative pressure of the atmosphere on the coast and in the interior. Where from any causes the north-west wind becomes more extensive and more powerful, or the sea breezes diminish, the former will displace the latter and produce a hot wind till an equilibrium is restored. It is the same wind passing constantly overhead which prevents the condensation of vapour, and is the cause of the almost uninterrupted sunny skies of the Australian summer."

"Scientific men, however, tell us that those hot winds are just what make Australia so healthy a climate—that they act as scavengers, and without them the death-rate of the colonies would be alarmingly great."

<hw>Houhere</hw>, or <hw>Hohere</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Hoheria populnea, A. Cunn., N.O. Malvaceae; called also Lacebark (q.v.) and xeRibbonwood (q.v.).

"Houhere, ribbonwood of Dunedin. [The name is now more general.] An ornamental shrub-tree ten to thirty feet high. Bark fibrous and used for cordage, and affords a demulcent drink. Wood splits freely for shingles, but is not durable. . . . Bark used for making a tapa cloth by the Maoris in olden times."

"In one or other of its varied forms the `houhere' is found in nearly every district in N.Z. It is everywhere admired for its handsome foliage, and the beauty of its pure white flowers, which are produced in vast profusion during the early winter months. . . . The bark is capable of division into a number of layers. . . . By settlers all forms are termed `ribbonwood,' or less frequently `lace-bark'—names which are applied to other plants; they are also termed `thousand-jacket.'"

"The houhere is a small tree with beautiful white flowers, and the bark splits up into thin layers which look like delicate lace; hence the plant is called lace-bark or ribbon-wood by the colonists."

<hw>Houi</hw>, n. Maori name for New Zealand tree, Ribbonwood (q.v.), N.O. Malvaceae, kindred to Hoheria, Plagianthus Betulinus, sometimes called Howi. In Maori, the verb houwere means to tie, to bind: the outer bark was used for tying.

<hw>Hound</hw>, n. (sometimes <hw>Smooth Hound</hw>), the Old World name for all the sharks of the genus Mustelus ("the Hell-hound of the Deep"); applied specially in New South Wales and New Zealand to the species Mustelus antarcticus, Guenth., also called Gummy (q.v.).

<hw>Hovea</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of shrubs. "After Anthony Pantaleon Hove, a Polish botanist. A small genus of highly ornamental leguminous shrubs, from Australia, having blue or purple flowers in axillary clusters, or very short racemes, alternate simple leaves, and short turgid pods." (`Century.')

<hw>Huia</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand bird, like a starling, Heteralocha acutirostris, Gould, of limited occurrence, chiefly found in North Island; having beak straight and short in the male, long and curved in female. The tail feathers are highly prized for ornament by the Maoris.

"The huia is a black bird about as large as a thrush, with long thin legs and a slender semi-circular beak, which he uses in seeking in holes of trees for the insects on which he feeds. In the tail are four long black feathers tipt with white. These feathers are much valued by the natives as ornaments for the hair on great occasions. . . . The natives attracted the birds by imitating the peculiar whistle, from which it takes the name of huia."

<hw>Hump, to</hw>, v. to shoulder, carry on the back; especially, to hump the swag, or bluey, or drum. See Swag, Bluey, Drum.

"He `humped his swag,' in digger's phrase, that is, shouldered his pack and disappeared in the woods."

"A hardwood slab-door weighs a goodish deal, as any one may find out that has to hump it a hundred yards."

"I `humped my swag'—i.e. tied my worldly possessions, consisting of a blanket, a pannikin, and an odd pair of boots, upon my back-and `footed it' for the capital."

<hw>Humpy</hw>, n. (1) a native hut. The aboriginal word is Oompi; the initial h is a Cockney addition, and the word has been given an English look, the appearance of the huts suggesting the English word hump. [The forms himbing and yamba occur along the East coast of Australia. Probably it is kindred with koombar, bark, in Kabi dialect, Mary River, Queensland.] The old convict settlement in Moreton Bay, now broken up, was called Humpy Bong (see Bung), sc. Oompi Bong, a dead or deserted settlement. The aboriginal names for hut may be thus tabulated

"To dwell in the familiar old bark `humpy,' so full of happy memories. The roof was covered with sheets of bark held down by large wooden riders pegged in the form of a square to one another."

"Shon McGann was lying on a pile of buffalo robes in a mountain hut,—an Australian would call it a humpey."

<hw>Hungry Quartz</hw>, n. a miner's term for unpromising Quartz (q.v.)

<hw>Huon-Pine</hw>, n. a large Tasmanian evergreen tree, Dacrydium franklinii, Hook, N.O. Coniferae. The timber is prized in cabinet-work, being repellent to insects, durable, and fairly easy to work; certain pieces are beautifully marked, and resemble bird's-eye maple. The Huon is a river in the south of Tasmania, called after a French officer. See Pine.

1800. J. J. Labillardiere, `Voyage a la Recherche de la Perouse,' tom. i., Introd. p. xi:

"Ces deux flutes recurent des noms analogues au but de l'entreprise. Celle que montoit le general, Dentrecasteaux, fut nommee la Recherche, et l'autre, commandee par le major de vaisseau, Huon Kermadec, recut le nom de l'Esperance. . . . Bruny Dentrecasteaux [fut le] commandant de l'expedition, [et] Labillardiere [fut le] naturaliste."

[Of these gentlemen of France and their voyage the names Bruni
Island, D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Recherche Bay, Port Esperance,
Kermandie [sic] River, Huon Island, Huon River, perpetuate the
memory in Southern Tasmania, and the Kermadec Islands in the
Southern Ocean.]

1820. C. Jeffreys, R.N., `Geographical and Descriptive Delineations of the Island of Van Diemen's Land,' p. 28:

"On the banks of these newly discovered rivers, and the harbour, grows the Huon Pine (so called from the river of that name, where it was first found)."

"Knots of the beautiful Huon pine, finer than bird's-eye maple for ornamental furniture."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 71:

"The river was named the Huon, and has since become celebrated for the production which yields the pretty cabinet-wood known as Huon pine."

<hw>Hut</hw>, n. the cottage of a shepherd or a miner. The word is English but is especially common in Australia, and does not there connote squalor or meanness. The "Men's Hut" on a station is the building occupied by the male employees.

"If a slab or log hut was required to be erected . . . a cart-load of wool was pitchforked from the wasting heap, wherewith to caulk the crevices of the rough-hewn timber walls."

"Entering such a hut, as it is uniformly, but in no sense of contempt, termed—a hut being simply lower in the scale than a cottage—you will find there nothing to shock the eye or displease the taste."

"At this, as well as at every other station I have called at, a woman `hutkeeps,' while the husband is minding the sheep."

"`Did you go hut-keeping then?' `Wrong again. Did I go hut-keeping? Did you ever know a hut-keeper cook for sixty shearers?'"

"Old men, unfit for anything but to be hut-keepers who were to remain at home to prevent robbery, while the other inhabitants of the hut were at labour."

"My object was to obtain these heads, which the . . . hut-keeper instantly gave."

"The lowest industrial occupation in Australia, viz. a hut-keeper in the bush . . . a station from which many of the wealthiest flockmasters in Australia have risen."

<hw>Hyacinth, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian flower, Thelymitra longifolia, R. and G. Forst., N.O. Orchideae.

<hw>Hypsiprymnodon</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Australian animal called Musk Kangaroo. (Grk. hupsiprumnos, with a high stern.) A very small, rat-like, arboreal kangaroo, about ten inches long. The strong musky odour from which it takes its vernacular name is perceptible in both sexes.

"The third and last subfamily (Hypsiprymnodontidae) of the Macropodidae is represented solely by the remarkable creature known, from its strong scent, as the Musk-kangaroo."

<hw>Ibis</hw>, n. There are twenty-four species of this bird distributed over all the warmer parts of the globe. Those present in Australasia are—

"All they had for supper and breakfast were a straw-coloured ibis, a duck and a crow."

"Geronticus spinicollis, straw-necked ibis (pl. 45). This beautiful ibis has never yet been discovered out of Australia, over the whole of which immense country it is probably distributed."

"When the hoarse-voiced jackass mocked us, and the white-winged
ibis flew
Past lagoons and through the rushes, far away into the blue."

<hw>Ice-Plant</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for Tetragonia implexicoma, Hook., N.O. Ficoideae, B. Fl. Various species of Tetragonia are cultivated as Spinach (q.v.).

"Called `ice-plant' in Tasmania. Baron Mueller suggests that this plant be cultivated for spinach. [Found in] all the colonies except Queensland."

<hw>Identity, Old</hw>, n. phrase denoting a person well known in a place. a term invented in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1862, in a popular topical song, by Mr. R. Thatcher, an improvisator. In the song the "Old Identity," the former resident of Dunedin, was distinguished from the "New Iniquity," as the people were termed who came from Australia.

"It is permissible to wonder about the origin of the phrase `an old identity.' Surely no man, however old, can be an identity? An entity he is, or a nonentity; an individual, a centenarian, or an oldest inhabitant; but identity is a condition of sameness, of being identical with something. One can establish one's identity with that of some one who is being sought or sued, but once established it escapes us."

<hw>Inanga</hw> or <hw>Inaka</hw>, n. (the ng as in the word singer, not as in finger), a New Zealand fish, Galaxias attenuatus, or Retropinna richardsoni. It is often called the Whitebait and Minnow, and in Tasmania the larger variety is called Jolly-tail. The change from Inanga to Inaka is a dialectal Maori variation, answering exactly to the change from North Island Kainga to South Island Kaik (q.v.).

"This fish is called hinanga [sic.], and resembles Blackwall white-bait in size and flavour. Its colour is a pinkish white, spotted with black."

"About the same size as this fish [the cockabully] is the `inaka' much used for bait. Indeed, it is called the New Zealand whitebait. A friend from Victoria having used this bait, I asked him to spell the name of the fish, and he wanted to make it like the patriarch who `walked with God' —Enoch-a. The more correct shape of the Maori word is inanga; but in the South Island `k' often takes the place of that distinctive Maori letter `ng,' as `kainga' becomes kaik; ngaio, kaio."

<hw>Inchman</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Bull-dog Ant (q.v.), from its length, which is sometimes nearly an inch.

<hw>Indians</hw>, pl. n. early and now obsolete name for the Aboriginals in Australia and even for the Maoris.

"During this time, a few of the Indians who had not followed the boat remained on the rock opposite the ship, threatening and menacing with their pikes and swords."

"Some of the Indians have also seriously applied to be allowed convict labourers, as the settlers are, although they have not patience to remain in the huts which our Government has built for them, till the maize and cabbage that have been planted to their hands are fit to gather."

"It is the observation of some writers, that the system pursued in Australia for educating the children of the Indians is not attended with success. The black children will never do any good there, until some other plan is commenced . . ."

<hw>Indigo, Native</hw>, n. all the species of Swainsonia, N.O. Leguminosae, are called "Native Indigos." See Indigo-plant. In Tasmania, the Native Indigo is Indigofera australis, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae. The plants are also called Indigo-plant and Darling-pea (q.v.). Swainsonia belongs to the same N.O. as Indigofera tinctoria, which furnishes the Indigo of commerce.

"Indigo brushes are not very common; the timber in these is generally white or blackbutted gum; the ground beneath is covered with the native indigo, a very beautiful plant, with a light purple flower."

"The `darling-pea' or `indigo-plant' is a dreaded plant from the great amount of loss it has inflicted on stockowners. Its effect on sheep is well known; they separate from the flock, wander about listlessly, and are known to the shepherds as ` pea-eaters,' or `indigo-eaters.' When once a sheep takes to eating this plant it seldom or never fattens, and may be said to be lost to its owner. The late Mr. Charles Thorn, of Queensland, placed a lamb which had become an `indigo-eater' in a small paddock, where it refused to eat grass. It, however, ate the indigo plant greedily, and followed Mr. Thorn all over the paddock for some indigo he held in his hand."

"Public Notice. Secretary's Office, Sydney, July 21, 1810. A ship being daily expected to arrive here from England with female convicts, whom it is His Excellency the Governor's intention to distribute among the settlers, as indented servants. . . ."

<hw>Ink-plant</hw>, n. another name for the "toot," a New Zealand shrub, Coriaria thymifolia, N.O. Coriarieae. Called Ink-plant on account of its juice, which soon turns to black. There is also an European Ink-plant, Coriaria myrtifolia, so that this is only a different species.

<hw>Ironbark</hw>, n. Early settlers gave this name to several large Eucalypts, from the hardness of their bark, especially to E. leucoxylon, F. v. M., and E. resinifera, Smith. In Queensland it is applied to E. siderophloia, Benth. See also Leguminous Ironbark, and Lemon-scented Ironbark.

"A species of gum-tree, the bark of which on the trunk is that of the ironbark of Port Jackson."

"It was made out of a piece of bark from a tree called ironbark (nearly as hard when dry as an English elm-board)."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 45:

"But this gradually changed to an ironbark (Eucalyptus resinifera) and cypress-pine forest."

"The Ironbark-tree (Eucalyptus resinifera) is . . . widely spread over a large part of Australia. . . . A lofty forest tree of moderate circumference. . . . It is believed to have been named as above by some of the earliest Australian settlers on account of the extreme hardness of its bark; but it might with equal reason have been called ironwood. The wood is of a deep red colour, very hard, heavy, strong, extremely rigid, and rather difficult to work . . . used extensively in shipbuilding and engineering works in Australia; and in this country (England) it is employed in the mercantile navy for beams, keelsons, and . . . below the line of flotation."

"The ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon) became from its durability a synonym for toughness."

"Monday, 15th May.—Supply in one or more contracts of not less than 20 beams of 400 ironbark or box beams for cattle pits, delivered at any station. Particulars at the office of the Engineer for Existing Lines."

"The silver-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus pulverulentus) was here coming into blossom."

<hw>Iron hand</hw>, a term of Victorian politics. It was a new
Standing Order introducing what has since been called the
Closure, and was first moved in the Victorian Legislative
Assembly on Jan. 27, 1876.

"They [the Government] have dealt with the Opposition with a velvet glove; but the iron hand is beneath, and they shall feel it."

"The cloture, or the `iron hand,' as McCulloch's resolution was called, was adopted in Victoria, for one session."

<hw>Ironheart</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree, Metrosideros tomentosa, N.O. Myrtaceae; native name, Pohutukawa.

"It was the `downy ironheart'
That from the cliffs o'erhanging grew,
And o'er the alcove, every part,
Such beauteous leaves and blossoms threw."

"Note.—This most lovely tree is common about the northern coasts and cliffs of the North Island and the banks of Lake Tarawera."

<hw>Ironwood</hw>, n. The name is used of many hard-wooded trees in various parts of the world. The Australian varieties are—

Ironwood (Queensland)—
Acacia excelsa, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae;
Melaleuca genistifolia, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae.

Ironwood (North Queensland)—
Myrtus gonoclada, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Ironwood (North New South Wales)—
Olea paniculata, R.Br., N.O. Jasmineae.

Ironwood (Tasmania)—
Notelaea ligustrina, Vent., N.O. Jasmineae.

". . . they have a short club made of iron wood, called a waday, and a scimeter made of the same wood."

"`Ironwood' and `Heartwood' of Tasmania; `Spurious Olive,' `White Plum' of Gippsland. An exceedingly hard, close-grained wood, used for mallets, sheaves of blocks, turnery, etc. The heartwood yields a very peculiar figure ; it is a very fair substitute for lignum-vitae."

<hw>Irriakura</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for the tubers of Cyperus rotundus, Linn., N.O. Cyperaceae, adopted by white men in Central Australia.

1896. E. C. Stirling, `Home Expedition in Central Australia,' Anthropology, p. 60:

"Cyperus rotundus. In almost every camp we saw large quantities of the tunicated tubes of this plant, which are generally called `Erriakura' or `Irriakura' by the Arunta natives. . . Even raw they are pleasant to the taste, having an agreeable nutty flavour, which is much improved by the slight roasting."

<hw>Ivory-wood</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Siphonodon australe, Benth., N.O. Celastrinae.

<hw>Ivy</hw>, n. a child's name for the ivy-leaf geraniums, especially the double pink-flowered one called Madame Kruse. In Australia the warm climate makes these all evergreens, and they are trained over fences and walls, sometimes to the height of twenty or thirty feet, supplanting the English ivy in this use, and covered with masses of flowers.

<hw>Ivy, Native</hw>, an Australian plant, Muehlenbeckia adpressa, Meissn., N.O. Polygonaceae; called also Macquarie Harbour Vine, or Grape. The name is widely applied also to the acclimatised Cape Ivy, or German Ivy (Senecio scandens).

"`Native Ivy,' Macquarie Harbour Vine or Grape of Tasmania. The currant-like fruits are sub-acid, and were, and perhaps still are, used for tarts, puddings, and preserves; the leaves taste like sorrel."

<hw>Ivy, Wild</hw>, n. an Australian creeper, Platylobium triangulare, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Ivy-tree</hw>, n. New Zealand tree, genus Panax, N.O. Araliacae; Maori name, Horoeka. It is also called Lancewood (q.v.).

"Horoeka, ivy-tree. an ornamental, slender, and sparingly-branched tree. Wood close-grained and tough."

<hw>Jabiru</hw>, n. The word comes from Brazil, and was first given there to the large stork Mycteria (Xenorhynchus) Americana. The Australian species is M. australis, Lath. It has the back and neck dark grey, changing on the neck to scarlet. There is a black-necked stork in Australia (Xenorhynchus asiaticus), which is also called the Jabiru.

"In October, 1858, I succeeded in purchasing a fine living specimen of the New Holland Jabiru, or Gigantic Crane of the colonists (Mycteria Australis)"

"The splendid Australian jabiru (Mycteria Australis), and I had the good fortune to shoot on the wing a specimen of this beautiful variety of the stork family."

<hw>Jacana</hw>, n. a Brazilian word for a bird of the genus Parra (q.v.). The Australian species is the Comb-crested Jacana, Parra gallinacea, Temm. It is also called the Lotus-bird (q.v.).

"When previously mentioning the elegant Stylidium graminifolium (grass-leaved Jack-in-a-box), which may be easily known by its numerous grassy-like radical leaves, and pretty pink flowers, on a long naked stem, we omitted to mention a peculiarity in it, which is said to afford much amusement to the aborigines, who are, generally speaking, fond of, and have a name for, many of the plants common in their own territories. The stigma lies at the apex of a long column, surrounded and concealed by the anthers. This column is exceedingly irritable, and hangs down on one side of the flower, until it is touched, when it suddenly springs up and shifts to the opposite side of the blossom or calyx."

"Stylidium (native Jack in a box). This genus is remarkable for the singular elasticity of the column stylis, which support the anthers, and which being irritable, will spring up if pricked with a pin, or other little substance, below the joint, before the pollen, a small powder, is shed, throwing itself suddenly over, like a reflex arm, to the opposite side of the flower. Hence the colonial designation of Jack in a box."

<hw>Jack the Painter</hw>, n. very strong bush-tea, so called from the mark it leaves round the drinker's mouth.

"Another notorious ration tea of the bush is called Jack the Painter—a very green tea indeed, its viridity evidently produced by a discreet use of the copper drying-pans in its manufacture."

"The billy wins, and `Jack the Painter' tea
Steams on the hob, from aught like fragrance free."

"Special huts had to be provided for them [the sundowners], where they enjoyed eleemosynary rations of mutton, damper, and `Jack the Painter.'"

<hw>Jackaroo</hw>, n. a name for a Colonial Experience (q.v.), a young man fresh from England, learning squatting; called in New Zealand a Cadet (q.v.). Compare the American "tenderfoot." A verse definition runs:

"To do all sorts and kinds of jobs,
Help all the men Jacks, Bills or Bobs,
As well as he is able.
To be neither boss, overseer, nor man,
But a little of all as well as he can,
And eat at the master's table."

The word is generally supposed to be a corruption (in imitation of the word Kangaroo) of the words "Johnny Raw." Mr. Meston, in the `Sydney Bulletin,' April 18, 1896, says it comes from the old Brisbane blacks, who called the pied crow shrike (Strepera graculina) "tchaceroo," a gabbling and garrulous bird. They called the German missionaries of 1838 "jackeroo," a gabbler, because they were always talking. Afterwards they applied it to all white men.

"Jackaroos—the name given to young gentlemen newly arrived from home to gather colonial experiences."

[Footnote]: "The name by which young men who go to the Australian colonies to pick up colonial experience are designated."

"Of course before starting on their own account to work a station they go into the bush to gain colonial experience, during which process they are known in the colony as `jackaroos.'"

"We went most of the way by rail and coach, and then a jackaroo met us with a fine pair of horses in a waggonette. I expected to see a first cousin to a kangaroo, when the coachdriver told us, instead of a young gentleman learning squatting."

"`Jack-a-roo' is of the same class of slang; but the unlucky fellow—often gentle and soft-handed—who does the oddwork of a sheep or cattle station, if he finds time and heart for letters to any who love him, probably writes his rue with a difference."

"I've seen such a lot of those new chums, one way and another.
They knock down all their money at the first go-off, and then
there's nothing for them to do but to go and jackaroo up in
Queensland."

"A year or two more Jackerooing would only mean the consumption of so many more figs of negro-head, in my case."

<hw>Jackass-fish</hw>, n. another Sydney name for the Morwong (q.v.).

<hw>Jackass, Laughing</hw>, n. (1) The popular name of an Australian bird, Dacelo gigas, Bodd, the Great Brown Kingfisher of Australia; see Dacelo. To an Australian who has heard the ludicrous note of the bird and seen its comical, half-stupid appearance, the origin of the name seems obvious. It utters a prolonged rollicking laugh, often preceded by an introductory stave resembling the opening passage of a donkey's bray.

But the name has been erroneously derived from the French jacasse, as to which Littre gives "terme populaire. Femme, fille qui parle beaucoup." He adds, that the word jacasse appears to come from jacquot, a name popularly given to parrots and magpies, our "Poll." The verb jacasser means to chatter, said of a magpie. The quotation from Collins (1798) seems to dispose of this suggested French origin, by proving the early use of the name Laughing Jackass. As a matter of fact, the French name had already in 1776 been assigned to the bird, viz. Grand Martin-pecheur de la Nouvelle Guinee. [See Pierre Sonnerat, `Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee' (Paris, 1776), p. 171.] The only possibility of French origin would be from the sailors of La Perouse. But La Perouse arrived in Botany Bay on January 26, 1788, and found Captain Phillip's ships leaving for Sydney Cove. The intercourse between them was very slight. The French formed a most unfavourable idea of the country, and sailed away on March 10. If from their short intercourse, the English had accepted the word Jackass, would not mention of the fact have been made by Governor Phillip, or Surgeon White, who mention the bird but by a different name (see quotations 1789, 1790), or by Captain Watkin Tench, or Judge Advocate Collins, who both mention the incident of the French ships?

The epithet "laughing" is now often omitted; the bird is generally called only a Jackass, and this is becoming contracted into the simple abbreviation of Jack. A common popular name for it is the Settlers'-Clock. (See quotations—1827, Cunningham; 1846, Haydon; and 1847, Leichhardt.) The aboriginal name of the bird is Kookaburra (q.v.), and by this name it is generally called in Sydney; another spelling is Gogobera.

There is another bird called a Laughing Jackass in New Zealand which is not a Kingfisher, but an Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup. (Maori name, Whekau). The New Zealand bird is rare, the Australian bird very common. The so-called Derwent Jackass of Tasmania is a Shrike (Cracticus cinereus, Gould), and is more properly called the Grey Butcher-bird. See Butcher-bird.

"We not long after discovered the Great Brown King's Fisher, of which a plate is annexed. This bird has been described by Mr. Latham in his `General Synopsis of Birds,' vol. ii. p. 603.

1798. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 615, (Vocabulary):

"Gi-gan-ne-gine. Bird named by us the Laughing Jackass.
Go-con-de—inland name for it."

"The loud and discordant noise of the laughing jackass (or settler's-clock, as he is called), as he takes up his roost on the withered bough of one of our tallest trees, acquaints us that the sun has just dipped behind the hills."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 204:

"The settlers call this bird the Laughing Jackass. I have also heard it called the Hawkesbury-Clock (clocks being at the period of my residence scarce articles in the colony, there not being one perhaps in the whole Hawkesbury settlement), for it is among the first of the feathered tribes which announce the approach of day."

"The laughing jackass, or settler's-clock is an uncouth looking creature of an ashen brown colour . . . This bird is the first to indicate by its note the approach of day, and thus it has received its other name, the settler's clock."

"I usually rise when I hear the merry laugh of the laughing- jackass (Dacelo gigantea), which, from its regularity, has not been unaptly named the settlers'-clock."

"Dacelo Gigantea, Leach, Great Brown King Fisher; Laughing Jackass of the Colonists."

"You are startled by a loud, sudden cackling, like flocks of geese, followed by an obstreperous hoo! hoo! ha! ha! of the laughing jackass (Dacelo gigantea) a species of jay."

[Howitt's comparison with the jay is evidently due to the azure iridescent markings on the upper part of the wings, in colour like the blue feathers on the jay.]

"The odd medley of cackling, bray, and chuckle notes from the `Laughing Jackass.'"

"At daylight came a hideous chorus of fiendish laughter, as if the infernal regions had been broken loose—this was the song of another feathered innocent, the laughing jackass—not half a bad sort of fellow when you come to know him, for he kills snakes, and is an infallible sign of the vicinity of fresh-water."

"Dense forests, where the prolonged cacchinations of that cynic of the woods, as A. P. Martin calls the laughing jackass, seemed to mock us for our pains."

"The name it vulgarly bears is a corruption of the French word
Jacasser, `to chatter,' and the correct form is the `Laughing
Jacasse.'"

"The Archbishop inquired the name of a curious bird which had attracted his attention. `Your grace, we call that the laughing jackass in this country, but I don't know the botanical [sic] name of the bird."

"Few of the birds of Australia have pleased me as much as this curious laughing jackass, though it is both clumsy and unattractive in colour. Far from deserving its name jackass, it is on the contrary very wise and also very courageous. It boldly attacks venomous snakes and large lizards, and is consequently the friend of the colonist."

"`There's a jackass—a real laughing jackass on that dead branch. They have such a queer note; like this,, you know—' and upon her companion's startled ears there rang forth, all of a sudden, the most curious, inimitable, guttural, diabolical tremolo it had ever befallen them to hear."

"[Close season.] Great Kingfisher or Laughing Jackass.
The whole year. all Kingfishers other than the Laughing Jackass.
From the 1st day of August to the 20th day of December next
following in each year."

"Athene Albifacies, wekau of the Maoris, is known by some up-country settlers as the big owl or laughing jackass."

"The cry of the laughing jackass . . . Why it should share with one of our petrels and the great Dacelo of Australia the trivial name of laughing jackass, we know not; if its cry resembles laughter at all, it is the uncontrollable outburst, the convulsive shout of insanity; we have never been able to trace the faintest approach to mirthful sound in the unearthly yells of this once mysterious night-bird."

"Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup., Laughing Owl; Laughing Jackass of the Colonists."

"You have heard of . . . the laughing jackass. We, too, have a `jackass,' a smaller bird, and not in any way remarkable, except for its merry gabbling sort of song, which when several pipe up together, always gives one the idea of a party of very talkative people all chattering against time, and all at once."

<hw>Jack-bird</hw>, n. a bird of the South Island of New Zealand, Creadion cinereus, Buller. See also Saddle-back and Creadion.

"It has become the habit to speak of this bird as the Brown Saddle-back; but this is a misnomer, inasmuch as the absence of the `saddle' is its distinguishing feature. I have accordingly adopted the name of Jack-bird, by which it is known among the settlers in the South Island. Why it should be so called I cannot say, unless this is an adaptation of the native name Tieke, the same word being the equivalent, in the Maori vernacular, of our Jack."

[Footnote]: "A tin quart-pot, used for boiling water for tea, and contrived so as to hold within it a tin pint-pot."

"Some of his clothes, with his saddle, serve for a pillow; his ration bags are beside his head, and his jackshea (quart-pot) stands by the fire."

<hw>Jacky Winter</hw>, n. the vernacular name in New South Wales of the Brown Flycatcher, Microeca fascinans, a common little bird about Sydney. The name has been ascribed to the fact that it is a resident species, very common, and that it sings all through the winter, when nearly every other species is silent. See Flycatcher.

<hw>Jarrah</hw>, n. anglicised form of Jerryhl, the native name of a certain species of Eucalyptus, which grows in the south of Western Australia, east and south-east of Perth. In Sir George Grey's Glossary (1840), Djar-rail; Mr. G. F. Moore's (1884), Djarryl. (Eucalyptus marginata, Donn.) The name Bastard-Jarrah is given to E. botryoides, Smith, which bears many other names. It is the Blue-Gum of New South Wales coast-districts, the Bastard-Mahogany of Gippsland and New South Wales, and also Swamp Mahogany in Victoria and New South Wales, and occasionally Woolly-Butt.

"It may be that after all the hopes of the West-Australian
Micawbers will be realised in jarrah-wood."

"The Jarrah or Mahogany-tree is also found in Western Australia. The wood is red in colour, hard, heavy, close in texture, slightly wavy in the grain, and with occasionally enough figure to give it value for ornamental purposes; it works up quite smoothly and takes a good polish."

"The jarrah of Western Australia (Eucalyptus marginata) has a peculiar reputation for its power to defy decay when submerged and exposed to the attacks of the dreaded teredo, and has been largely exported to India."

". . . the awful butchery . . . of the Maribyrnong Plate. The walls were colonial ramparts—logs of jarrah spiked into masonry—with wings as strong as Church buttresses."

[Jarrah is not a Victorian, but a West-Australian timber, and
imported logs are not used by the V.R.C., but white or red gum.
For making "jumps," no logs are "spiked into masonry," and the
Maribyrnong Plate is not a "jump-race."]

"Mr. W. H. Knight, twenty years ago, gave evidence as to the value of the jarrah. . . . It is found that piles driven down in the Swan River were, after being exposed to the action of wind, water, and weather for forty years, as sound and firm as when put into the water. . . . It completely resists the attacks of the white ants, where stringy-bark, blue-gum, white-gum, and black-wood are eaten through, or rendered useless, in from six to twelve years."

"The jarrah, Eucalyptus marginata, stands pre-eminent as the leading timber tree of the Western Australian forests. For constructive work necessitating contact with soil and water jarrahwood has no native equal. A jarrah forest is dull, sombre, and uninteresting to the eye. In first-class forests the trees attain a height of from 90 ft. to 120 ft., with good stems 3 ft. to 5 ft. in diameter. The tree is practically confined to the south-western division of the colony, where the heaviest rains of the season fall. As a rule, jarrah is found either intermixed with the karri tree or in close proximity to it."

<hw>Jasmine, Native</hw>, n. an Australian plant, Ricinocarpus pinifolius, Desf., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

"Native Jasmine. This plant yields abundance of seeds, like small castor oil seeds. They yield an oil."

<hw>Jelly-plant</hw>, a sea-weed, Eucheuma speciosum, J. Agardh, N.O. Algae.

"Jelly-plant of Western Australia. This is a remarkable sea-weed of a very gelatinous character [used by] the people of Western Australia for making jelly, blanc-mange, etc. Size and cement can also be made from it. It is cast ashore from deep water."

<hw>Jemmy Donnelly</hw>, n. a ridiculous name given to three trees, Euroschinus falcatus, Hook, N.O. Anacardiaceae; Myrsine variabilis, R. Br., N.O. Myrsinaceae; and Eucalyptus resinifera, Sm., N.O. Myrtaceae. They are large timber trees, highly valued in Queensland.

"There were always a number of natives roaming about. There might be about 150 in all, of the Newcastle tribe. They were more wretched and filthy, and if possible, uglier than those of Adelaide. . . . All the earnings of the tribe were spent in tobacco and jerrawicke (colonist-made ale)."

"A more hideous looking spectacle can hardly be imagined than that presented by these savages around the blazing fire, carousing among jerrawicke and the offal of slaughtered animals.'"

<hw>Jew-fish</hw>, n. a name applied in New South Wales to two or more different species, Sciaena antarctica, Castln., and Glaucosoma hebraicum, Richards. Sciaena antarctica, Castln., is the King-fish of the Melbourne market. Sciaena is called Dew-fish in Brisbane. It belongs to the family Sciaenidae. The Australian species is distinct from S. aquila, the European "Maigre" or "Meagre," but closely resembles it. Glaucosoma belongs to the Percidae. The Silver Jew-fish of New South Wales is thought to be the same as the Teraglin (q.v.), Otolithus atelodus, Guenth., also of the family Sciaeidae. Tenison Woods (in `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' 1882, p. 34) says the Jew-fish of New South Wales is sometimes Glaucosoma scapulare, Ramsay; and Glaucosoma hebraicum, Richards., is the Jew-fish of Western Australia (a marine fish). Fishes on the American coasts, different from these, are there called Jew-fishes.

<hw>Jew-Lizard</hw>, n. a large Australian lizard, Amiphibolurus barbatus, Cuv.; called also Bearded Lizard.

"A small Chlamydophorus (Jew-lizard of the Hunter) was also seen." [The Hunter is a river of New South Wales.]

1890. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Decade xiii. pl. 121:

"This is commonly called the Jew Lizard by colonists, and is easily distinguished by the beard-like growth of long slender spires round the throat . . . when irritated, it inflates the body to a considerably increased size, and hisses like a snake exciting alarm; but rarely biting."

"The great Jew-lizards that lay and laughed horribly to themselves in the pungent dust on the untrodden floors."

<hw>Jil-crow-a-berry</hw>, n. the Anglicised pronunciation and spelling of the aboriginal name for the indigenous Rat-tail Grass, Sporobolus indicus, R. Br.

<hw>Jimmy</hw>, n. obsolete name for an immigrant, a word which was jocularly changed into Jimmy Grant. The word `immigrant' is as familiar in Australia as `emigrant' in England.

"`What are these men that we are going to see?' `Why one,' said Lee, is a young Jimmy—I beg your pardon, sir, an emigrant, the other two are old prisoners.'"

"`I never wanted to leave England,' I have heard an old
Vandemonian observe boastfully. `I wasn't like one of these
`Jemmy Grants' (cant term for `emigrants'); I could always earn
a good living; it was the Government as took and sent me out."

[The writers probably used the word immigrant, which, not being familiar to the English compositor, was misprinted emigrant. The "old Vandemonian" must certainly have said immigrant.]

<hw>Jimmy Low</hw>, n. one of the many names of a Timber-tree, Eucalyptus resinifera, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae.

"The `Red,' or `Forest Mahogany,' of the neighbourhood of Sydney. These are bad names, as the wood bears no real resemblance to the true mahogany. Because the product of this tree first brought Australian kino into medical notice, it is often in old books called `Botany Bay Gum-tree.' Other names for it are Red gum, Grey gum, Hickory, and it perpetuates the memory of an individual by being called `Jimmy Low.'"

<hw>Jingle</hw>, n. a two-wheeled vehicle, like an Irish car, once common in Melbourne, still used in Brisbane and some other towns: so called from the rattle made by it when in motion. The word is not Australian, as is generally supposed; the `Century' gives "a covered two-wheeled car used in the south of Ireland."

"An omnibus may be chartered at much less cost (gentlemen who have lived in India will persist in calling this vehicle a jingle, which perhaps sounds better); it is a kind of dos-a-dos conveyance, holding three in front and three behind: it has a waterproof top to it supported by four iron rods, and oilskin curtains to draw all round as a protection from the rain and dust."

1865. Lady Barker, writing from Melbourne, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 12:

"A vehicle which was quite new to me—a sort of light car with a canopy and curtains, holding four, two on each seat, dos-a-dos, and called a jingle—of American parentage, I fancy. One drive in this carriage was quite enough, however."

"Some folks prefer to travel
Over stones and rocks and gravel;
And smile at dust and jolting fit to dislocate each bone.
To see 'em driving in a jingle,
It would make your senses tingle,
For you couldn't put a sixpence 'twixt the wheel and the
kerb-stone."

"In former days the Melbourne cab was a kind of Irish car, popularly known as a jingle. . . . The jingle has been ousted by the one-horse waggonette."

<hw>Jinkers</hw>, n. a contrivance much used in the bush for moving heavy logs and trunks of trees. It consists of two pairs of wheels, with their axle-trees joined by a long beam, under which the trunks are suspended by chains. Its structure is varied in town for moving wooden houses. Called in England a "whim."

"A rather novel spectacle was to be seen to-day on the Ballan road in the shape of a five-roomed cottage on jinkers. . . . Mr. Scottney, carrier of Fitzroy, on whose jinkers the removal is being made . . ."

Jirrand, adj. an aboriginal word in the dialect of Botany Bay, signifying "afraid." Ridley, in his vocabulary, spells it jerron, and there are other spellings.

"The native word jirrand (afraid) has become in some measure an adopted child, and may probably puzzle our future Johnsons with its unde derivatur."

"When I saw the mob there was I didn't see so much to be jerran about, as it was fifty to one in favour of any one that was wanted."

<hw>Jo-Jo</hw>, n. name used by Melbourne larrikins for a man with a good deal of hair on his face. So called from a hairy-faced Russian "dog man" exhibited in Melbourne about 1880, who was advertised by that name.

<hw>Job's</hw> Tears. The seeds of Coix lachryma, which are used for necklace-making by the native tribes on the Cape York peninsula, are there called Job's tears.

<hw>Joe, Joe-Joe, Joey</hw>, interjection, then a verb, now obsolete. Explained in quotations.

"The well-known cry of `Joe! Joe!'—a cry which means one of the myrmidons of Charley Joe, as they familiarly style Mr. [Charles Joseph] La Trobe,—a cry which on all the diggings resounds on all sides on the appearance of any of the hated officials."

[Footnote]: "To `Joey' or `Joe' a person on the diggings, or anywhere else in Australia, is to grossly insult and ridicule him."

"In the early days of the Australian diggings `Joe' was the warning word shouted out when the police or gold commissioners were seen approaching, but is now the chaff for new chums."

"`The diggers,' he says, `were up in arms against the Government officials, and whenever a policeman or any other Government servant was seen they raised the cry of "Joe-Joe."' The term was familiar to every man in the fifties. In the earliest days of the diggings proclamations were issued on diverse subjects, but mostly in the direction of curtailing the privileges of the miners. These were signed, `C. Joseph La Trobe,' and became known by the irreverent—not to say flippant —description of `Joes.' By an easy transition, the corruption of the second name of the Governor was applied to his officers, between whom and the spirited diggers no love was lost, and accordingly the appearance of a policeman on a lead was signalled to every tent and hole by the cry of `Joe-Joe.'"

"Here [in Kangaroo Island] is also the wallaba . . . The young of the animal is called by the islanders a joe."

"The young kangaroos are termed joeys. The female carries the latter in her pouch, but when hard pressed by dogs, and likely to be sacrificed, she throws them down, which usually distracts the attention of the pack and affords the mother sufficient time to escape."

"Sometimes when the flying doe throws her `joey' from her pouch the dogs turn upon the little one."

"At length the actual fact of the Kangaroo's birth, which is much as that of other mammals, was carefully observed at the London Zoo, and the budding fiction joined the myths that were. It was there proved that the little `joey' is brought into the world in the usual way, and forthwith conveyed to the comfortable receptacle and affixed to the teat by the dam, which held the lifeless-looking little thing tenderly in her cloven lips."

(2) Also slang used for a baby or little child, or even a young animal, such as a little guinea-pig. Compare "kid."

"He was a `joey,' which, in truth,
Means nothing more than that youth
Who claims a kangaroo descent
Is by that nomenclature meant."

<hw>John Dory</hw>, or <hw>Dorey</hw>, n. a fish. This name is applied in New South Wales and Tasmania to Cyttus (Zeus) australis, Richards., family Cyttidae, which is nearly the same as Zeus faber, the "John Dory" of Europe. Others call C. australis the Bastard Dorey (q.v.), and it is also called the Boar-fish (q.v.) and Dollar-fish (q.v.).

"`John Dorys' are found in the Mediterranean, on the eastern temperate shores of the Atlantic, on the coasts of Japan and Australia. Six species are known, all of which are highly esteemed for the table. The English name given to one of the European species (Zeus Faber) seems to be partly a corruption of the Gascon `Jau,' which signifies cock, `Dory' being derived from the French Doree, so that the entire name means Gilt-cock. Indeed, in some other localities of southern Europe it bears the name of Gallo. The same species occurs also on the coasts of South Australia and New Zealand."

<hw>Johnny</hw>-cake. n. The name is of American origin, originally given by the negroes to a cake made of Indian corn (maize). In Australia it is a cake baked on the ashes or cooked in a frying-pan. (See quotations.) The name is used in the United States for a slightly different cake, viz. made with Indian meal and toasted before a fire.

"Johnny-cakes, though they are smaller and very thin, and made in a similar way [sc. to dampers: see Damper]; when eaten hot they are excellent, but if allowed to get cold they become leathery."

"Johnny-cakes are made with nothing but flour, but there is a great art in mixing them. If it is done properly they are about the lightest and nicest sort of bread that can be made; but the efforts of an amateur generally result in a wet heavy pulp that sticks round one's teeth like bird-lime."

"Here I, a new chum, could, with flour and water and a pinch of baking-powder, make a sweet and wholesome johnny cake."

"Bread was not, and existed only in the shape of johnny-cakes —flat scones of flour and water, baked in the hot ashes."

"It is also useful to make your damper or `Johnny-cake,' which serves you in place of yeast bread. A Johnny-cake is made thus:—Put a couple of handfuls of flour into your dish, with a good pinch of salt and baking soda. Add water till it works to a stiff paste. Divide it into three parts and flatten out into cakes about half an inch thick. Dust a little flour into your frying-pan and put the cake in. Cook it slowly over the fire, taking care it does not burn, and tossing it over again and again. When nearly done stand it against a stick in front of the fire, and let it finish baking while you cook the other two. These, with a piece of wallaby and a billy of tea, are a sweet meal enough after a hard day's work."

<hw>Jolly-tail</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the larger variety of the fish Galaxias attenuatus, Jenyns, and other species of Galaxias called Inanga (q.v.) in New Zealand. Galaxias weedoni is called the Mersey Jolly-tail, and Galaxias atkinsoni, the Pieman Jolly-tail. Pieman and Mersey are two Tasmanian rivers. See Mountain-Trout.

<hw>Jumbuck</hw>, n. aboriginal pigeon-English for sheep. Often used in the bush. The origin of this word was long unknown. It is thus explained by Mr. Meston, in the `Sydney Bulletin,' April 18, 1896: "The word `jumbuck' for sheep appears originally as jimba, jombock, dombock, and dumbog. In each case it meant the white mist preceding a shower, to which a flock of sheep bore a strong resemblance. It seemed the only thing the aboriginal mind could compare it to."

1845. C. Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 162:

"The following is a specimen of such eloquence: `You pilmillally jumbuck plenty sulky me, plenty boom, borack gammon,' which being interpreted means, `If you shoot my sheep I shall be very angry, and will shoot you and no mistake.'"

"When they adopt English words ending in mutes, the blacks drop the mute or add a vowel: thus, jimbugg, a slang name for sheep, they sound jimbu." [It was not English slang but an aboriginal word.]

"Mister Charlie, jumbuck go along of grass, blood all there, big dog catch him there, big jumbuck, m'me word, neck torn."

"Jumbuck (a sheep) has been in use from the earliest days, but its origin is not known."

<hw>Jump</hw>, to, v. to take possession of a claim (mining) on land, on the ground that a former possessor has abandoned it, or has not fulfilled the conditions of the grant. The word is also used in the United States, but it is very common in Australia. Instead of "you have taken my seat," you have jumped it. So even with a pew. a man in England, to whom was said, "you have jumped my pew," would look astonished, as did that other who was informed, "Excuse me, sir, but you are occupewing my py."

". . . on condition that he occupies it within twenty-four hours: should this rule not be observed, the right of the original holder is lost, and it may be occupied (or `jumped' as it is termed) by any other person as a deserted claim."

"Mr. Wood: Some of the evils spoken of seemed indeed only to exist in the imagination of the hon. and learned gentleman, as, for instance, that of `jumping,' for which a remedy was already given by the 77th section of the present Act.

"If such work were not commenced within three days, any other miners might summarily take possession of or jump the claim."

"Let us have the melancholy satisfaction of seeing Gus's pegs, and noting whether they are all en regle. If not, we'll `jump' him."

"In default of such advertisement, for the general benefit, they were liable, according to custom and practice, to have their claim `jumped,' or taken forcible possession of by any party of miners who could prove that they were concealing the golden reality."

"Jumping selections . . . is said to be very common now in the Winmera district."

"The heifer station was what would be called in mining parlance `an abandoned claim' and possibly `jumpable.'"

<hw>Jungle-hen</hw>, n. name given to a mound-building bird, Megapodius tumulus, Gould. See also Megapode. The Indian Jungle-fowl is a different bird.

"But what especially gives life and character to these woods are the jungle-hens (mound-builders) . . . The bird is of a brownish hue, with yellow legs and immensely large feet; hence its name Megapodius."

<hw>Kahawai</hw>, n. Maori name for the fish Arripis salar, Richards.; called in Australia and New Zealand Salmon (q.v.).

<hw>Kahikatea</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Podocarpus dacrydioides, A. Rich., N.O. Coniferae. Also called White-Pine. See Pine. The settlers' pronunciation is often Kackatea. There is a Maori word Kahika, meaning ancient.

"White-pine, Podocarpus dacrydioides—Kahikatea, kahika, korol. This tree is generally called the white-pine, from the colour of its wood. The kahikatea may be considered as nearly the loftiest tree in the New Zealand forest; it often attains a height of little less than two hundred feet, and in that respect rivals the noble kauri, but the general appearance is not very pleasing."

"The kahikatea or kakaterra-tree (Dacrydium excelsum or taxifolium). This majestic and noble-looking tree belongs to the natural order of Taxaceae, more commonly known by the name of Joint Firs. Height 150 to 180 feet, rising sixty feet and upward without a branch."

1876: W. Blair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. art. 10, p. 160:

"This timber is known in all the provinces, except Otago, by the native name of `kahikatea'. I think we should adopt it also, not only on account of being more euphonious, but for the reason that so many timbers in other parts of the world are called white-pine."

"On the purchased land stands, or lately stood, a small kahikatea bush. . . . The wood appears to have been of no great money value, but the natives living in Tareha's pa depended upon it for their supply of fire-wood."

[It is Sir James Hector who assigns the tree to Coniferae, not Taxaceae.]

"The White Pine or kahikatea is a very beautiful tree, and droops its dark feathery foliage in a way which recalls the graceful branches of the English elm-tree."

<hw>Kahikatoa</hw>, n. Maori name for /a/ New Zealand shrub, but no longer used by the settlers.

"Kahikatoa, tea-tree of Cook. Leptospermum scoparium, Forst., N.O. Myrtaceae."

<hw>Kahikomako</hw>, n. Maori name [shortened into kaikomako] for a New Zealand timber, Pennantia corymbosa, N.O. Olacineae; called also Ribbonwood (q.v.).

"Kahikomako, a small, very graceful tree, with white sweet-smelling flowers; height twenty to thirty feet. Wood used by the Maoris for kindling fires by friction."

<hw>Kai</hw>, n. Maori word for food; used also in the South Sea islands. Kai-kai is an English adaptation for feasting.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 157:

"He explained to us that every one would cry very much, and then there would be very much kai-kai or feasting."

"Kai, the general word for food, is not used at Rotorua, because it was the name of a great chief, and the word tami has been substituted for it."

1895. Louis Becke and J. D. Fitzgerald, `The Maori in Politics,' `Review of Reviews,' June 20, p. 621:

"We saw some thirty men and women coming towards us, singing in chorus and keeping step to the music. In their hands they carried small baskets woven of raupo reeds, containing kai, or food. This was the `kai' dance."

<hw>Kainga</hw>, and <hw>Kaika</hw>, n. now generally kaik, and pronounced kike, a Maori settlement, village. Kainga is used in the North, and is the original form; Kaika is the South Island use. It is the village for dwelling; the pa is for fighting in.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 157:

1873. Lt.-Colonel St. John, `Pakeha Rambles through Maori Lands,' p. 164 [Heading of Chapter x.]:

"We steamed on slowly towards Tawhitinui, a small kainga or kaik, as it is called in the South island."

<hw>Kaio</hw>, n. popular corruption in the South Island of New Zealand of Ngaio (q.v.).

"Requiring from three to four months' close sitting to complete one of their kaitakas—the finest sort of mat which they make. This garment has a very silky appearance."

"Pukaro ended by flinging over my shoulders a very handsome kaitaka mat, which he had been wearing while he spoke."

<hw>Kaiwhiria</hw>, n. Maori name for New Zealand tree, Hedycarya dentata, Forst., N.O. Monimiaceae. Porokaiwhiri is the fuller name of the tree.

"Kaiwhiria, a small evergreen tree, twenty to thirty feet high; the wood is finely marked and suitable for veneering."

<hw>Kaka</hw>, n. the Maori name for a parrot. The word is imitative of a parrot's cry. It is now always used to denote the Brown Parrot of New Zealand, Nestor meridionalis, Gmel.

"Kaka—a bird of the parrot kind; much larger than any other
New Zealand parrot."

"The kaka, a large russet parrot, of excellent flavour, and very abundant in many places."

"The kaka is a kind of parrot of a reddish grey colour, and is easily tamed when taken young."

"The hoarse croak of the ka-ka, as it alighted almost at our feet, and prepared, quite careless of our vicinity, to tear up the loose soil at the root of a tall tree, in search of grubs."

"Sprightly in its actions, eminently social, and more noisy than any other inhabitant of the woods, the kaka holds a prominent place among our native birds."

<hw> Kaka-bill</hw>, n. a New Zealand plant, the Clianthus (q.v.), so called from the supposed resemblance of the flower to the bill of the Kaka (q.v.). Called also Parrot-bill, Glory-Pea, and Kowhai (q.v.).

"Kowai ngutukaka [parrot-bill kowai]; the most elegant flowering shrub of the country."

"A plantation of a shrub which is in great demand in England and on the Continent, and is greatly neglected here—the Clianthus puniceus, or scarlet glory pea of New Zealand, locally known as kaka beak."

<hw>Kakapo</hw>, n. Maori name for the Night-parrot, Stringops habroptilus, Gray. Called also Owl-parrot. See Kaka. The syllable po is Maori for night. Compare Katipo (q.v.).

"Although possessing large wings, it is flightless, its breast-muscles being so small as to be practically useless. Its habits are nocturnal, and it has a ring of feathers arranged round the eye, giving it a curious resemblance to an owl, whence the name owl-parrot is often applied to it."

"Another remarkable bird is the owl parrot (Stringops habroptilus) of a greenish colour, and with a circle of feathers round the eye as in the owl. It is nocturnal in its habits, lives in holes in the ground under tree-roots or rocks."

<hw>Kakariki</hw>, n. Maori name for a green Parrakeet. There are two species, Platycercus novae zelandiae, Sparrm., and P. auriceps, Kuhl. See Parrakeet. The word kakariki means literally little parrot, kaka (q.v.) and iki (little), the r is intrusive. It is applied also to a green lizard. In Maori it becomes later an adjective, meaning `green.'

"The Kakariki . . . (platycercus novae zeal.) is a pretty light green parrot with a band of red or yellow over the upper beak and under the throat. This elegant little bird is about the size of a small thrush."

"The name Kakarika (indicative of colour) is applied alike to the green lizard and to the green Parrakeet of our woods."

<hw>Kamin</hw>, n. aboriginal word, explained in quotation. It is probably local.

"If he [the Australian black] has to climb a high tree, he first goes into the scrub to fetch a piece of the Australian calamus (Calamus australis), which he partly bites, partly breaks off; he first bites on one side and breaks it down, then on the other side and breaks it upwards—one, two, three, and this tough whip is severed. At one end of it he makes a knot, the other he leaves it as it is. This implement, which is usually from sixteen to eighteen feet long, is called a kamin."

<hw>Kanae</hw>, n. (trisyll.) Maori name for a fish of New Zealand, the Silver-Mullet, Mugil perusii or argenteus.

1888. Order in Council, New Zealand, Jan. 10, `Regulations under the Fisheries Conservation Act':

"The months of December, January, and February in each year are here prescribed a close season for the fish of the species of the mugil known as mullet or kanae."

<hw>Kanaka</hw>, n. and adj. a labourer from the South Sea Islands, working in Queensland sugar-plantations. The word is Hawaiian (Sandwich Islands). The kindred words are given in the following extract from

"Kanaka, s. Hawaiian, man, human, mankind, a common man in distinction from chiefs. Samoan, New Zealand [sc. Maori], Tongan, tangata, man. Tahitian, taata, man."

In the original word the accent is on the first syllable, which accent Mr. Rudyard Kipling preserves (see quotation, 1893), though he has changed the word in his reprint of the poem in `The Seven Seas'; but the usual pronunciation in Australia is to accent the second syllable.

1794. J. J. Jarves, `History of Hawaiian Islands,' printed at Honolulu (1872), p. 82:

"[On 21st Feb. 1794.] A salute was then fired, and the natives shouted, `Kanaka no Beritane'—we are men of Britain."

1852. A. Miller, `Narrative of United States Exploring Expedition,' c. ii. p. 142:

"On Monday (Nov. 16, 1840) our gentlemen formed themselves into two parties, and started on horseback for their journey. One party consisted of Messrs. Reade, Rich, and Wall, with eight kanakas and two guides."

"Queensland at present is supplying itself with labour from the South Sea Islands, and the men employed are called Polynesians, or canakers, or islanders."

"The word `kanaka' is really a Maori word, signifying a man, but in Australia it has come to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands."

"The kanaka reverences women and adores children. He is loyal in heart, affectionate of disposition, and domestic in his habits."

"The kanakas, who at present populate Hawaii, are, as a rule, well made and intelligent. That there is a cross of the Malay and Indian blood in them few can doubt."

"Natives of the South Sea Islands, who in Australia are called kanakas—a capable and intelligent race, especially to this kind of work [on plantations], for they are strong, and endure the tropical heat far better than the whites."

"Thus, it is maintained by the planters, the kanaka, necessary as he is to the conditions of North Queensland, opens up avenues of skilled labour for the European, and makes population and commerce possible where otherwise there would be complete stagnation."

"The principal open-air labour of the sugar plantations is furnished by kanakas, who are the native inhabitants of certain groups of South Sea Islands not at present under the protection of any European flag."

"What we want is a man-of-war—a German, if we could—they know how to manage kanakas."

"In Australasia . . . the Maori, the Kanaka, and the Papuan are dying out. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that certain weak races—even when, like the kanaka, they possess some very high qualities—seem to wither away at mere contact with the European. . . . The kanakas (among whom we may include the Maories)."

(a) The Origin of the Name. The name was first obtained in 1770, while H.M.S. Endeavour lay beached at the Endeavour River, where Cooktown, Queensland, now is. The name first appears in print in 1773, in the book brought out by the relatives of Mr. Parkinson, who was draughtsman to Banks the naturalist, and who had died on the voyage. The object of this book was to anticipate the official account of Cook's Voyage by Hawkesworth, which appeared later in the same year. It is now known that Hawkesworth's book was like a rope twisted of four strands, viz. Cook's journal, the diaries of the two naturalists, Banks and Solander, and quartum quid, the Johnsonian pomposity of Dr. Hawkesworth. Cook's journal was published in 1893, edited by Captain Wharton, hydrographer to the Admiralty; Banks's journal, in 1896, edited by Sir J. D. Hooker. Solander's journal has never been printed.

When Englishmen next came to Australia in 1788, it was found that the word Kangaroo was not known to the natives round Port Jackson, distant 1500 miles to the South of Cooktown. In fact, it was thought by them to be an English word. (See quotation, Tench, 1789.) It is a question whether the word has belonged to any aboriginal vocabulary since. "Capt. Philip P. King, the explorer, who visited that locality [sc. Endeavour River] forty-nine years after Cook, relates in his `Narrative of the Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia,' that he found the word kangaroo unknown to the tribe he met there, though in other particulars the vocabulary he compiled agrees very well with Captain Cook's." (Curr's `Australian Race,' vol. i. p. 27.) In the fourth volume of Curr's book a conspectus is given of the words used in different parts of Australia for various objects. In the list of names for this animal there are a few that are not far from Kangaroo, but some inquirers suspect the accuracy of the list, or fancy that the natives obtained the words sounding like Kangaroo from English. It may be assumed that the word is not now in use as an aboriginal word. Has it, then, disappeared? or was it an original mistake on the part of Banks or Cook ?

The theory of a mistake has obtained widely. It has figured in print, and finds a place in at least one dictionary. Several correspondents have written that the word Kangaroo meant "I don't understand," and that Banks mistook this for a name. This is quite possible, but at least some proof is needed, as for instance the actual words in the aboriginal language that could be twisted into this meaning. To find these words, and to hear their true sound, would test how near the explanation hits the mark. Banks was a very careful observer, and he specially notes the precautions he took to avoid any mistake in accepting native words. Moreover, according to Surgeon Anderson, the aborigines of Van Diemen's Land described the animal by the name of Kangaroo. (See quotation, 1787.)

On the other hand, it must be remembered that it is an ascertained fact that the aborigines taboo a word on the death of any one bearing that word as a proper name. (See quotation under Nobbler, 1880.) If, therefore, after Cook's visit, some man called Kangaroo died, the whole tribe would expunge Kangaroo from its vocabulary. There is, however, some evidence that the word was much later in use in Western Australia. (See quotation, 1835.)

It is now asserted that the word is in use again at the very part of Queensland where the Endeavour was beached. Lumholtz, in his `Amongst Cannibals' (p. 311), gives it in his aboriginal vocabulary. Mr. De Vis, of the Brisbane Museum, in his paper before the Geographical Society at Brisbane (1894), says that "in point of fact the word `kangaroo' is the normal equivalent for kangaroo at the Endeavour River; and not only so, it is almost the type-form of a group of variations in use over a large part of Australia." It is curiously hard to procure satisfactory evidence as to the fact. Mr. De Vis says that his first statement was "made on the authority of a private correspondent; "but another correspondent writes from Cooktown, that the blacks there have taken Kangaroo from English. Inquiries inserted in each of the Cooktown newspapers have produced no result. Mr. De Vis' second argument as to the type-form seems much stronger. A spoken language, unwritten, unprinted, must inevitably change, and change rapidly. A word current in 1770 would change rather than disappear, and the root consonants would remain. The letters ng together, followed by r, occur in the proportion of one in thirteen, of the names for the animal tabulated by Curr.

It is a difficult matter on which to speak decidedly, but probably no great mistake was made, and the word received was a genuine name of the animal.

There seems to be considerable doubt as to the plural of the word, whether it should take s like most English words, or remain unchanged like sheep, deer. In two consecutive pages of one book the two plurals are used. The general use is the plural in s. See 1793 Hunter, 1845 Balfour, and 1880 Senior; sportsmen frequently use the form Kangaroo.

[Since 1888 a kangaroo has been the design on the one-shilling postage stamp of New South Wales.]

"Throughout the general course of the journey, kangaroos, emus, ducks, etc. were seen in numbers." "Mr. Evans saw the kangaroo in immense flocks."

"In the afternoon we saw some kangaroos and wallaby, but did not succeed in killing any."

1777. Buffon, `Supplement a l'Histoire Naturelle,' tom. iv. `Table des Matieres':

"Kanguros, espece de grosse Gerboise qui se trouve dans les terres australes de la Nouvelle Hollande."

1800. J. J. Labillardiere, `Voyage a la recherche de La Perouse,' tom. i. p. 134: [Under date April 24, 1792.]

"Kangourou. Ce mot semble d'origine non Australienne, comme on l'a soutenu, mais bien Tasmanienne."

Il regardait les kangaroos dresses sur leurs pattes, si longues qu'elles ont l'agilite et l'elan d'une paire d'ailes."

"Die Kaenguruh hoben in dem Augenblick, als sie das Geheul hoerten, die Koepfe hoch and witterten, blickten and loosten in alle Richtungen."

Notice that both in French and German the u sound of the middle syllable is preserved and not changed as in English to a.

The name Kangaroo is applied to the following larger species of the genus Macropus, the remaining species being called Wallabies—

The name Kangaroo is also applied to certain other species of Marsupials belonging to the genus Macropus, but with a qualifying adjective, such as Dorca-, Tree-, Rat-, Musk-, etc.; and it is applied to species of the genera Dorcopsis, Dendrolagus, Bettongia, and Hypsiprymnodon. The Brush-Kangaroo (q.v.) is another name for the Wallaby (q.v.), and the Rat-Kangaroo is the stricter scientific appellation of Kangaroo-Rat (q.v.). The Banded-Kangaroo is a Banded-Wallaby (see Lagostrophus). See also Dorca-Kangaroo, Tree-Kangaroo, Musk-Kangaroo, Dorcopsis, Dendrolagus, Bettongia, Hypsiprymnodon, Rock-Wallaby, Paddy-melon, Forester, Old Man,, Joey, and Boomah.

May 1st. An animal which must feed upon grass, and which, we judge, could not be less than a deer."

[p. 280]: "June 23rd. One of the men saw an animal something less than a greyhound; it was of a mouse colour, very slender made, and swift of foot."

[p. 294]: August 4th. "The animals which I have before mentioned, called by the Natives Kangooroo or Kanguru." [At Endeavour River, Queensland.]

"July 14.—Our second Lieutenant had the good fortune to kill the animal that had so long been the subject of our speculations. To compare it to any European animal would be impossible, as it has not the least resemblance to any one that I have seen. Its forelegs are extremely short, and of no use to 1t in walking; its hind again as disproportionally long; with these it hops seven or eight feet at a time, in the same manner as the jerboa, to which animal indeed it bears much resemblance, except in size, this being in weight 38 lbs., and the jerboa no larger than a common rat."

"August 26.—Quadrupeds we saw but few, and were able to catch but few of those we did see. The largest was called by the natives kangooroo; it is different from any European, and, indeed, any animal I have heard or read of, except the jerboa of Egypt, which is not larger than a rat, while this is as large as a middling lamb. The largest we shot weighed 84 lbs. It may, however, be easily known from all other animals by the singular property of running, or rather hopping, upon only its hinder legs, carrying its fore-feet close to its breast. In this manner it hops so fast that in the rocky bad ground where it is commonly found, it easily beat my greyhound, who though he was fairly started at several, killed only one, and that quite a young one."

"July 14, 1770. Mr. Gore, who went out this day with his gun, had the good fortune to kill one of the animals which had been so much the subject of our speculation. An idea of it will best be conceived by the cut, plate xx., without which the most accurate verbal description would answer very little purpose, as it has not similitude enough to any animal already known to admit of illustration by reference. In form it is most like the gerbua, which it also resembles in its motion, as has been observed already, for it greatly differs in size, the gerbua not being larger than a common rat, and this animal, when full grown, being as big as a sheep: this individual was a young one, much under its full growth, weighing only thirty-eight pounds. The head, neck, and shoulders are very small in proportion to the other parts of the body; the tail is nearly as long as the body, thick near the rump, and tapering towards the end: the fore-legs of this individual were only eight inches long, and the hind-legs two-and-twenty: its progress is by successive leaps or hops, of a great length, in an erect posture; the fore-legs are kept bent close to the breast, and seemed to be of use only for digging: the skin is covered with a short fur, of a dark mouse or grey colour, excepting the head and ears, which bear a slight resemblance to those of a hare. In form it is most like the gerbua. This animal is called by the natives `kangaroo.'" [This account, it will be seen, is based on the notes of Banks.]

1774. Oliver Goldsmith, `Animated Nature,' Book VII. c. xvi., The Gerbua,' [in four-vol. ed., vol. iii. p. 30]:

"But of all animals of this kind, that which was first discovered and described by Mr. Banks is the most extraordinary. He calls it the kanguroo; and though from its general outline and the most striking peculiarities of its figure it greatly resembles the gerbua, yet it entirely differs, if we consider its size, or those minute distinctions which direct the makers of systems in assorting the general ranks of nature. The largest of the gerbua kind which are to be found in the ancient continent do not exceed the size of a rabbit. The kanguroo of New Holland, where it is only to be found, is often known to weigh above sixty pounds, and must consequently be as large as a sheep. Although the skin of that which was stuffed and brought home by Mr. Banks was not much above the size of a hare, yet it was greatly superior to any of the gerbua kind that have been hitherto known, and very different in many particulars. The snout of the gerbua, as has been said, is short and round, that of the discovered animal long and slender; the teeth also entirely differ, for as the gerbua has but two cutting teeth in each jaw, making four in all, this animal, besides its cutting teeth, has four canial teeth also; but what makes a more striking peculiarity, is the formation of its lower jaw, which, as the ingenious discoverer supposes, is divided into two parts which open and shut like a pair of scissors, and cut grass, probably this animal's principal food. The head, neck, and shoulders are very small in proportion to the other parts of the body; the tail is nearly as long as the body; thick near the rump and tapering towards the head and ears, which bear a slight resemblance to those of the hare. We are not told, however, from the formation of its stomach to what class of quadrupeds it belongs: from its eating grass, which it has been seen to do, one would be apt to rank it among the ruminating animals; but from the canial teeth which it is found to have, we may on the other hand suppose it to bear some relation to the carnivorous. Upon the whole, however, it can be classed with none more properly than with the animals of the gerbua kind, as its hind-legs are so much longer than the fore; it moves also precisely in the same manner, taking great bounds of ten or twelve feet at a time, and thus sometimes escaping the fleetest greyhound, with which Mr. Banks pursued it. One of them that was killed proved to be good food; but a second, which weighed eighty-four pounds, and was not yet come to its full growth, was found to be much inferior."

1787, Surgeon Anderson, quoted by W. Eden, in `History of New Holland' (second edition), p. 71:

"However, we must have a far more intimate acquaintance with the languages spoken here [Van Diemen's Land] and in the more northern parts of New Holland, before we can pronounce that they are totally different; nay, we have good grounds for the opposite opinion; for we found that the animal called kangaroo at Endeavour River was known under the same name here."

[At each of these places there is a description and a picture. Under each picture the name is spelt "Kangooroo." At p. 289 there is a further note on the kanguroo. In the text at p. 149 the spelling " Kangooroo " is adopted.]

"The kanguroo, though it resembles the jerboa in the peculiarity of using only the hinder legs in progression, does not belong to that genus."

"Since stating the dimensions of the kanguroo, in page 106, Lord Sydney has received from Governor Phillip a male of a much larger size. . . . Lieutenant Shortland describes them as feeding in herds of about thirty or forty, and assures us that one is always observed to be apparently upon the watch at a distance from the rest."

"Kangaroo was a name unknown to them [the aborigines of Port
Jackson] for any animal, until we introduced it. When I showed
Colbee [an aboriginal] the cows brought out in the Gorgon he
asked me if they were kangaroos."

"The animal described in the voyage of the Endeavour, called the kangaroo (but by the natives patagorang), we found in great numbers."

"I had a kanguroo on board, which I had directions to carry to
Lord Grenville, as a present for his Majesty.—Nov. 26, 1791."
[There is no statement whether the animal reached England.]

"In rowing up this branch, we saw a flock of about thirty kangaroos or paderong, but they were only visible during their leaps, as the very long grass hid them from our view."

"The genus Macropus or kangaroo . . . one of the most elegant as well as curious animals discovered in modern times." [Under the picture and in list of contents: Kanguroo.]

"An animal found upon one of the islands is described [by Dampier, `Voyage to New Holland,' vol. iii. p. 123] as `a sort of raccoon, different from that of the West Indies, chiefly as to the legs; for these have very short fore legs; but go jumping upon them' [not upon the short fore, but the long hind legs, it is to be presumed] `as the others do; and like them are very good meat.' This appears to have been the small kangaroo, since found upon the islands which form the road; and if so, this description is probably the first ever made of that singular animal" [though without the name].

"Coursing the kangaroo and emu forms the principal amusement of the sporting part of the colonists.

(p. 68): The colonists generally pursue this animal [kangaroo] at full speed on horseback, and frequently manage, notwithstanding its extraordinary swiftness, to be up at the death."

1833. Charles Lamb, `Essays of Elia' [edition 1895], p. 151, `Distant Correspondents':

"The kangaroos—your Aborigines—do they keep their primitive simplicity un-Europe-tainted, with those little short fore puds, looking like a lesson framed by nature to the pick-pocket! Marry, for diving into fobs they are rather lamely provided a priori; but if the hue and cry were once up, they would show as fair a pair of hind-shifters as the expertest loco motor in the colony."

1834. L. E. Threlkeld, `Australian Grammar of the Language spoken by the Aborigines, at Hunter's River,' p. 87:

"Kong-go-rong, The Emu, from the noise it makes, and likely the origin of the barbarism, kangaroo, used by the English, as the name of an animal, called Mo-a-ne."

"They [natives of the Darling Range, W.A.] distinctly pronounced `kangaroo' without having heard any of us utter that sound: they also called it waroo, but whether they distinguished `kangaroo' (so called by us, and also by them) from the smaller kind, named `wallabi,' and by them `waroo,' we could not form any just conclusion."

"Kangaroos are of six different species, viz. the forester, the flyer, the wallaby, the wallaroo, the kangaroo-rat, and the kangaroo-mouse." [This is of course merely a popular classification.]

"The fox has brought his brush, and the cock has brought his comb, and the elephant has brought his trunk and the kangaroo has brought his bag, and the condor his old white wig and black satin hood."

"To return to the marsupials. I have been assured that the kangaroos come first and eat off the grass; that the wallabies, following, grub up the roots."

"Sometimes a kangaroo would come down with measured thud, thud, and drink, and then return without noticing the human beings."

"According to the traditions of the bush—not always reliable—the name of kangaroo was given under a misconception. An aborigine being asked by one of the early discoverers the name of the animal, replied, `Kangaroo' (`I don't know'), and in this confession of ignorance or misapprehension the name originated. It seems absurd to suppose that any black hunter was really ignorant of the name of an animal which once represented the national wealth of Australians as the merino does to-day."

[The tradition is not quite so ridiculous, if the answer meant—"I don't know what you mean,—I don't understand you." See above.]

"In this enclosure is a wooden model of a kangaroo of ancient times. This is copied from a restoration by Professor McCoy, who was enabled to represent it from fossil remains which have been unearthed at various places in Australia."

"The origin of the word `kangaroo' was published by me six years ago. Captain Cook got it from the Endeavor River blacks, who pronounce it to-day exactly as it is spelled in the great navigator's journal, but they use it now only for the big toe. Either the blacks in Cook's time called the kangaroo `big toe' for a nick-name, as the American Indians speak of the `big horn,' or the man who asked the name of the animal was holding it by the hind foot, and got the name of the long toe, the black believing that was the part to which the question referred."

"Most names of animals in the Australian dialects refer to their appearance, and the usual synthesis is noun + adjective; the word may be worn down at either end, and the meaning lost to the native mind.

"A number of the distinct names for kangaroo show a relation to words meaning respectively nose, leg, big, long, either with noun and adjective to combination or one or other omitted.

"The word kangaroo is probably analysable into ka or kang, nose (or head), and goora, long, both words or local equivalents being widely current."

"A stockyard under six feet high will be leaped by some of these kangaroos (as we term them) with the most perfect ease, and it requires to be as stout as it is high to resist their rushes against it."

(3) Used playfully, and as a nickname for persons and things Australian. An Australian boy at an English school is frequently called "Kangaroo." It is a Stock Exchange nickname for shares in Western Australian gold-mining companies.

"To the 80,000,000 Westralian mining shares now in existence the Stock Exchange has long since conceded a special `market'; and it has even conferred upon these stocks a nickname—the surest indication of importance and popularity. And that `Kangaroos,' as they were fondly called, could boast of importance and popularity nobody would dare to gainsay."

"It was neither a lounger nor a dormeuse, nor a Cooper, nor a Nelson, nor a Kangaroo: a chair without a name would never do; in all things fashionable a name is more than half. Such a happy name as Kangaroo Lady Cecilia despaired of finding."

<hw>Kangaroo-Apple</hw>, n. an Australian and Tasmanian fruit, Solanum aviculare, Forst., N.O. Solanaceae. The name is also applied to S. vescum, called the Gunyang (q.v.). In New Zealand, the fruit is called Poroporo (q.v.).

`Solanum laciniatum, the kangaroo-apple, resembling the apple of a potato; when so ripe as to split, it has a mealy sub-acid taste."

"The kangaroo-apple (Solanum laciniatum) is a fine shrub found in many parts of the country, bearing a pretty blue flower and a fruit rather unpleasant to the taste, although frequently eaten by the natives, and also by Europeans."

"The kangaroo-apple comes from a bush or small tree bearing blue blossoms, which are succeeded by apples like those of the potato. They have a sweetish flavour, and when ripe may be boiled and eaten, but are not greatly prized."

"Of berries and fruits of which they partook, the principal were those of Solanum laciniatum, or kangaroo-apple, when dead ripe."

"Solanum aviculare, on which our colonists have very inappropriately bestowed the name Kangaroo-apple, while in literal scientific translation it ought to be called Bird's Nightshade, because Captain Cook's companions observed in New Zealand that birds were feeding on the berries of this bush."

<hw>Kangaroo-Dog</hw>, n. a large dog, lurcher, deerhound, or greyhound, used for hunting the Kangaroo.

"Shortly before the Estramina left the River Derwent, two men unfortunately perished by a whale-boat upsetting, in which they were transporting four valuable kangaroo-dogs to the opposite side, none of which ever reached the shore."

"The kind of dog used for coursing the kangaroo is generally a cross between the greyhound and the mastiff or sheep-dog; but in a climate like New South Wales they have, to use the common phrase, too much lumber about them. The true bred greyhound is the most useful dog: he has more wind; he ascends the hills with more ease; and will run double the number of courses in a day. He has more bottom in running, and if he has less ferocity when he comes up with an `old man,' so much the better, as he exposes himself the less, and lives to afford sport another day."

"A fine kangaroo-dog was pointed out to us, so fond of kangarooing that it goes out alone, kills the game, and then fetches its master to the dead animals."

"On every station, also, a large kind of greyhound, a cross of the Scotch greyhound and English bulldog, called the kangaroo-dog, which runs by sight, is kept for the purpose of their destruction."

"That big, powerful, black kangaroo-dog Marmarah was well worth looking at, with his broad, deep chest, intelligent, determined eyes, sinews of a gymnast, and ribs like Damascus steel. On his black skin he bore marks of many honourable fights; the near side showed a long, whitish line where the big emu he had run down, tackled single-handed, and finally killed, had laid him open. His chest and legs showed numerous grey scars, each with a history of its own of which he might well be proud."

<hw>Kangaroo-Fly</hw>, n. a small Australian fly, Cabarus. See quotations.

"Our camp was infested by the kangaroo-fly, which settled upon us in thousands."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 313 [Note]:

"Rather smaller than the house-fly, it acts with such celerity that it has no sooner settled on the face or hands than it inflicts instantaneously a painful wound, which often bleeds subsequently. It is called by the colonists the kangaroo-fly; and though not very common, the author can testify that it is one of the most annoying pests of Australia."

<hw>Kangaroo-Grass</hw>, n. a name given to several species of grasses of the genera Anthistiria and Andropogon, chiefly from their height, but also because, when they are young and green in spring, the Kangaroo feeds on them. Andropogon is more like a rush or sedge, and is sometimes so high as to completely conceal horses. See Grass.

"Of native grasses we possess the oat-grass, rye-grass, fiorin, kangaroo-grass, and timothy,—blady grass growing in wet, flooded, alluvial spots, and wire-grass upon cold, wet, washed clays."

1838. `Report of Van Diemen's Land Company,' in J. Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), c. v. p. 119:

"A new species of Anthistiria occurred here, perfectly distinct from the kangaroo grass of the colony."

"The most conspicuous of the native Gramineae that so widely cover the surface of Australia Felix."

"Where are the genial morning dews of former days that used to glisten upon and bespangle the vernal-leaved kangaroo grass?"

"Between the Lake River and Launceston . . . I was most agreeably surprised in beholding the novel sight of a spacious enclosure of waving kangaroo grass, high and thick-standing as a good crop of oats, and evidently preserved for seed."

"Had they but pulled a tuft of the kangaroo-grass beneath their feet, they would have found gold at its roots."

"The young lady that affects waterfalls, the Grecian-bend, or the kangaroo hop."

"In chasing kangaroos, or, as it is technically termed, `kangarooing,' large powerful dogs are used . . ."

"You may be out Kangarooing; the dogs take after one [a kangaroo], and it promises to be a good course."

"We were sick of kangarooing, like the dogs themselves, that as they grew old would run a little way and then pull up if a mob came jump, jump, past them."

<hw>Kangaroo-Mouse</hw>, n. more strictly called the Pouched-Mouse (q.v.).

"It is a long chain from the big forester, down through the different varieties of wallaby to the kangaroo-rat, and finally, to the tiny interesting little creature known on the plains as the `kangaroo-mouse'; but all have the same characteristics."

<hw>Kangaroo-Rat</hw>, or <hw>Rat-Kangaroo</hw>, n. the name applied to species of Marsupials belonging to the following genera, viz.—

(1) Potorous, (2) Caloprymnus, (3) Bettongia, (4) AEpyprymnus.

(1) The first genus (Potorous, q.v.) includes animals about the size of a large rat; according to Gould, although they stand much on their hind-legs they run in a totally different way to the kangaroo, using fore and hind-legs in a kind of gallop and never attempting to kick with the hind-feet. The aboriginal name was Potoroo. The species are three—the Broad-faced Kangaroo-Rat, Potorous platyops, Gould; Gilbert's, P. gilberti, Gould; Common, P. tridactylus, Kerr. They are confined to Australia and Tasmania, and one Tasmanian variety of the last species is bigger than the mainland form. There is also a dwarf Tasmanian variety of the same species.

(2) A second genus (Caloprymnus, q.v.) includes the Plain Kangaroo-Rat; it has only one species, C. campestris, Gould, confined to South Australia. The epithet plain refers to its inhabiting plains.

(3) A third genus (Bettongia, q.v.) includes the Prehensile-tailed Rat-Kangaroos and has four species, distributed in Australia and Tasmania—

(4) A fourth genus (AEpyprymnus, q.v.) includes the Rufous Kangaroo-Rat. It has one species, AE. rufescens, Grey. It is the largest of the Kangaroo-Rats and is distinguished by its ruddy colour, black-backed ears, and hairy nose.

[Mr. Lydekker proposes to call the animal the Rat- Kangaroo (see quotation, 1894), but the name Kangaroo- Rat is now so well-established that it does not seem possible to supersede it by the, perhaps, more correct name of Rat-Kangaroo. The introduction of the word Kangaroo prevents any possibility of confusion between this animal and the true rodent, and it would seem to be a matter of indifference as to which word precedes or follows the other.]

1788. Governor Phillip (Despatch, May 15), in `Historical Records of New South Wales,' vol. I. pt. ii. p. 135:

"Many trees were seen with holes that had been enlarged by the natives to get at the animal, either the squirrel, kangaroo rat, or opossum, for the going in of which perhaps they wait under their temporary huts, and as the enlarging these holes could only be done with the shell they used to separate the oysters from the rocks, must require great patience."

"As most of the large trees are hollow by being rotten in the heart, the opossum, kangaroo-rat, squirrel, and various other animals which inhabit the woods, when they are pursued, commonly run into the hollow of a tree."

"The poto roo, or kangaroo-rat. . . . This curious animal which is indeed a miniature of the Kangaroo."

"The kangaroo-rat is a small inoffensive animal and perfectly distinct from the ordinary species of rat."

"The greyhounds pursued a kangaroo-rat into a hollow tree, out of which we dragged it; it is an animal as large as a rabbit, but with the figure of a kangaroo."

"The kangaroo-rat is twice the size of a large English water-rat, and of the same colour, measuring nearly two feet in length."

"Two or three of the smallest kind, called the kangaroo-rat— about the size of a hare, and affording pretty good coursing."

1879. C. W. Schurmann, `Native Tribes of Australia—Port Lincoln Tribe,' p. 214:

"The natives use this weapon [the Waddy] principally for throwing at kangaroo-rats or other small animals."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 63:

<hw>Kangaroo-skin</hw>, n. either the leather for the tanned hide, or the complete fur for rugs and wraps.

"The fitness of the kangaroo-skin for upper leathers will no doubt obtain preference over most of the imported leather, as it is in general lighter and equally durable."

"I used always to strip and preserve the pelt, for it makes good and pretty door-mats, and is most useful for pouches, leggings, light-whips, or any purpose where you require something strong and yet neater than green hide. I have seen saddles covered with it, and kangaroo-skin boots are very lasting and good."

"The tail of the forest kangaroo in particular makes a soup which, both in richness and flavour, is far superior to any ox-tail soup ever tasted."

1865. Lady Barker, writing from Melbourne, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 14:

"The soups comprised kangaroo-tail—a clear soup not unlike ox-tail, but with a flavour of game."

<hw>Kangaroo-Thorn</hw>, n. an indigenous hedge-plant, Acacia armata, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae; called also Kangaroo Acacia.

<hw>Kapai</hw>, adj. Maori word for good, used by the English in the North Island of New Zealand; e.g. "That is a kapai pipe." "I have a kapai gun."

"The Maori word which passed most familiarly into the speech of Europeans was `kapai,' `this is good.'"

<hw>Kapu</hw>, n. Maori word for a stone adze. The Maori word means the hollow of the hand. The adze is so called from its curved shape. (Williams, `Maori Dict.')

<hw>Karaka</hw>, n. Maori name for a tree, Corynocarpus laevigata, Forst. N.O. anacardiaceae; also called Cow-tree (q.v.), forty feet high, with orange- coloured berries, two to three inches long.

"Two or three canoes were hauled up under some karaka trees, which formed a pleasant grove in a sort of recess from the beach."

"The karaka-tree much resembles the laurel in its growth and foliage. It bears bright orange-coloured berries about the size and shape of damsons, growing in bunches. The fruit is sickly and dry; but the kernel forms an important article of native food."

"The karaka fruit is about the size of an acorn. The pulp is eaten raw; the kernel is cooked in the oven for ten days, and then steeped for several weeks in a running stream before it is fit for use. Karaka berries for winter use are dried in the sun. The kernel is poisonous uncooked."

"The karaka with its brilliantly polished green leaves and golden yellow fruit."

"Corynocarpus laevigata (generally known by the name of karaka). The fruit is poisonous, and many deaths of children occur through eating it. Mr. Anderson, a surgeon who accompanied Captain Cook, mentions this tree and its fruit, and says the sailors ate it, but does not say anything about it being poisonous. The poison is in the hard inner part, and it may be that they only ate the outer pulp."

<hw>Karamu</hw>, n. Maori name for several species of the New Zealand trees of the genus Coprosma, N.O. Rubiaceae. Some of the species are called Tree-karamu, and others Bush-karamu; to the latter (C. lucida, Kirk) the name Coffee-plant, or Coffee-bush, is also applied.

"Then they tied a few Karamu branches in front of them and went towards the settlement."

1876. J. C. Crawford, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. IX. art. lxxx. p. 545:

"I have seen it stated that coffee of fine flavour has been produced from the karamu, coprosma lucida."

"Karamu. an ornamental shrub-tree; wood close-grained and yellow; might be used for turnery."

1887. T. F. Cheeseman, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. XX. art. xxii. p. 143:

"The first plant of interest noted was a new species of coprosma, with the habit of the common karamu."

"`Karamu' is applied by the Maoris to several species of Coprosma, amongst which, I believe, this [C. arborea] is included, but it is commonly termed `tree-karamu' by bushmen and settlers in the North."

1891. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xv. p. 105:

"Of these fruits that of the karamu, (Coprosma lucida),
seemed to be amongst the first to be selected."

<hw>Kareau</hw> or <hw>Kareao</hw>, n. Maori name for Supplejack (q.v.).

<hw>Karmai</hw>, n. used by settlers in South Island of New Zealand for Towhai (q.v.), a New Zealand tree, Weinmannia racemosa, Forst. N.O. Saxifrageae. Kamahi is the Maori, and Karmai, or Kamai, the corruption.

1876. W. N. Blair, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. p. 148:

"As will be seen by the tables of names, kamai is called black birch in the Catlin River District and Southland, which name is given on account of a supposed resemblance to the `birches,' or more correctly `beeches,' a number of which occur in that locality. I cannot understand how such an idea could have originated, for except in the case of the bark of one there is not the slightest resemblance between the birches and kamai. Whatever be the reason, the misapplication of names is complete, for the birches are still commonly called kamai in Southland."

<hw>Karoro</hw>, n. Maori name for a Black-backed Gull, Larus dominicanus.

<hw>Karri</hw> or <hw>Kari</hw>, n. aboriginal name (Western Australia) for Eucalyptus diversicolor. F. v. M.

1870. W. H. Knight, `Western Australia: Its History, Progress, Condition, etc.,' p. 38:

"The Karri (eucalyptus colossea) is another wood very similar in many respects to the tuart, and grows to an enormous size."

"The kari-tree is found in Western Australia, and is said to be very abundant . . . of straight growth and can be obtained of extraordinary size and length. . . . The wood is red in colour, hard, heavy, strong, tough, and slightly wavy or curled in the grain."

"Commonly known as `karri,' but in its native habitat as blue-gum. . . . The durability of this timber for lengthened periods under ground yet remains to be proved."

"Mr. J. Ednie Brown, conservator of forests . . . expresses astonishment at the vastness of the karri forests there. They will be in a position to export one thousand loads of karri timber for street-blocking purposes every week."

"Karri, Eucalyptus diversicolor, is the giant tree of Western Australia. an average tree has a height of about 200ft., and a diameter of 4 ft. at 3 ft. or 4 ft. above the ground. The tree is a rapid grower, and becomes marketable in 30 or 40 years, against 50 years for jarrah. Karri timber is being largely exported for London street-paving, as its surface is not easily rendered slippery."

<hw>Katipo</hw>, n. a small venomous spider of New Zealand and Australia. The name is Maori. The scientific name is Latrodectus scelio, Thorel.In New Zealand, it is generally found on the beach under old driftwood; but in Australia it is found widely scattered over the Continent, and always frequents dark sheltered spots. The derivation may be from Kakati, verb, to sting, and po, night. Compare Kakapo. It is a dark-coloured spider, with a bright red or yellowish stripe.

"A small black spider with a red stripe on its back, which they [the natives of New Zealand] call katipo or katepo."

1870. Sir W. Buller, before Wellington Philosophical Society, quoted in `The Katipo,' Jan. 1, 1892, p. 2:

"I have satisfied myself that in common with many other venomous creatures it (the katipo) only asserts its dreaded power as a means of defence, or when greatly irritated, for I have observed that on being touched with the finger it instantly folds its legs, rolls over on its back, and simulates death, remaining perfectly motionless till further molested, when it attempts to escape, only using its fangs as the dernier ressort."

"Another spider (Lathrodectus scelio), which is very common here and everywhere in Queensland, is very dangerous even to men. It is a small black animal, of the size of our house-spider, with a brilliant scarlet mark on its back."

"I also determined, should opportunity occur, to make some further experiments with the black and red spider Latrodectus scelio . . . I found suspended in the web of one of this species a small lizard . . . which doubtless had been killed by its bite."

1892. Jan. 1, `The Katipo,' a Journal of Events in connection with the New Zealand Post Office and Telegraph Services. On p. 2 of the first number the Editor says:

"If hard words could break bones, the present lot of the proprietors of `The Katipo' would be a sorry one. From certain quarters invectives of the most virulent type have been hurled upon them in connection with the title now bestowed upon the publication—the main objections expressed cover contentions that the journal's prototype is a `repulsive,' `vindictive,' and `death-dealing reptile,' `inimical to man,' etc. ; and so on, ad infinitum."

[The pictorial heading of each number is a katipo's web, suggestive of the reticulation of telegraph wires, concerning which page 3 of the first number says: "The Katipo spider and web extends its threads as a groundwork for unity of the services."]

"This spider, popularly known as the red streaked spider, is found all over Victoria and New South Wales, and is recorded from Rockhampton and Bowen on the Queensland Coast, and from the North Island of New Zealand, where it is known by the Maoris as the Katipo."

<hw>Kauri</hw>, or <hw>Cowry</hw>, or <hw>Kauri-Pine</hw>, n. Maori name for the tree Agathis australis, Sal. (formerly Dammara A.), N.O. Coniferae. Variously spelt, and earlier often called Cowdie. In `Lee's New Zealand Vocabulary,' 1820, the spelling Kaudi appears. Although this tree is usually called by the generic name of Dammara (see quotation, 1832), it is properly referred to the genus Agathis, an earlier name already given to it by Salisbury. There is a Queensland Kauri (Dammara robusta, F. v. M.). See Pine.

"The banks of the river were found to abound with cowry; and . . . the carpenter was of opinion that there could be no great difficulty in loading the ship. The timber purveyor of the Coromandel having given cowry a decided preference to kaikaterre, . . . it was determined to abandon all further operations."

"As a shrub, and during its youthful days, the kauri is not very graceful . . . but when it comes to years of maturity, it stands unrivalled for majesty and beauty."

"The kauri (Dammera [sic] Australis) is coniferous, resinous, and has an elongated box-like leaf."

"When Captain Cook visited New Zealand (nearly a century after the discovery of the Dammara of Amboyna), he saw, upon the east coast of the Northern Island, a tree, called by the natives Kowrie; it was found to be a second species of Dammara, and was named D. australis."

"The Kauri-pine is justly styled the Queen of the New Zealand forest . . . the celebrated and beautiful Kauri."

"The kauri is the only cone-bearing pine in New Zealand. The wood is of a yellow colour, wonderfully free from knots, and harder than the red-pine of the Baltic. Beautifully mottled logs are sometimes met with, and are frequently made up into furniture."

"The Kaurie or Cowdie-Pine (Dammara Australis) is a native of and is found only in New Zealand. . . . A tall and very handsome tree with a slightly tapering stem. . . . For masts, yards, etc., is unrivalled in excellence, as it not only possesses the requisite dimensions, lightness, elasticity, and strength, but is much more durable than any other Pine." [The whole of chap. 37 is devoted to this tree.]

"Only the majestic Kauri tolerated no approaches to his dignity. Under his branches all was bare and brown."

"The Native name `Kauri' is the only common name in general use. When the timber was first introduced into Britain it was termed `cowrie' or `kowdie-pine'; but the name speedily fell into disuse, although it still appears as the common name in some horticultural works."

"`The Hunter' and `Fancy' loaded spars for Bengal at the Thames in 1798." . . . "These two Indian vessels in the Thames were probably the earliest European ships that loaded with New Zealand Timber, and probably mark the commencement of the export Kauri trade."

<hw>Kauri-gum</hw>, n. the resin which exudes from the Kauri (q.v.), used in making varnish.

"In the year 1859 the amount of timber exportation from the
Province of Auckland was L 34,376; that of kauri-gum exported
L 20,776."

"The industry which will most interest the tourist is the Kauri-gum. . . . The resin or gum which they [the Kauri-trees] contained fell into the ground as the trees died, and (not being soluble in water) has remained there ever since. Men go about with spears which they drive into the ground, and if they find small pieces of gum sticking to the end of the spear, they commence digging, and are often rewarded by coming on large lumps of gum."

(1) An ornamental shrub, Piper methysticum, Miq.; also Macropiper latifolium, Miq. See Kawa-kawa.

(2) A narcotic and stimulant beverage, prepared from the root of this plant, which used to be chewed by the natives of Fiji, who ejected the saliva into a Kava bowl, added water and awaited fermentation. The final stage of the manufacture was accompanied by a religious ceremonial of chanting. The manufacture is now conducted in a cleaner way. Kava produces an intoxication, specially affecting the legs.

"Like the inhabitants of the groups eastward, the Fijians drink an infusion of the Piper methysticum, generally called Ava or Kava—its name in the Tongan and other languages. Some old men assert that the true Fijian mode of preparing the root is by grating, as is still the practice in two or three places; but in this degenerate age the Tongan custom of chewing is almost universal, the operation nearly always being performed by young men. More form attends the use of this narcotic on Somosomo than elsewhere. Early in the morning the king's herald stands in front of the royal abode, and shouts at the top of his voice, `Yagona!' Hereupon all within hearing respond in a sort of scream, `Mama!'—`Chew it!' At this signal the chiefs, priests, and leading men gather round the well-known bowl, and talk over public affairs, or state the work assigned for the day, while their favourite draught is being prepared. When the young men have finished the chewing, each deposits his portion in the form of a round dry ball in the bowl, the inside of which thus becomes studded over with a large number of these separate little masses. The man who has to make the grog takes the bowl by the edge and tilts it towards the king, or, in his absence, to the chief appointed to preside. A herald calls the king's attention to the slanting bowl, saying, `Sir, with respects, the yagona is collected.' If the king thinks it enough, he replies, in a low tone, `Loba'—`Wring it—an order which the herald communicates to the man at the bowl in a louder voice. The water is then called for and gradually poured in, a little at first, and then more, until the bowl is full or the master of the ceremonies says, `Stop!' the operator in the meantime gathering up and compressing the chewed root."

"Kava is the name given to a liquor produced by chewing the root of a shrub called angona, and the ceremonious part of the preparation consists in chewing the root."

<hw>Kawa-kawa</hw>, n. Maori name for an ornamental shrub of New Zealand, Macropiper excelsum. In Maori, Kawa = "unpleasant to the taste, bitter, sour." (Williams.) The missionaries used to make small beer out of the Kawa-kawa.

"The good missionary . . . thrust upon us . . . some bottles of a most refreshing light beverage made from the leaves of the kawa-kawa tree, which in taste much resembled ginger-beer."

1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences, or Incidents of Thirty-four Years in New Zealand,' p. 104:

"Our tea was made from the dried leaves of a native shrub, of a very spicy flavour, and known as the kawakawa, too pungent if used fresh and green."

"The tints of kawa, of birch and broadleaf, of rimu and matai are blended together into one dark indivisible green."

<hw>Kawau</hw>, n. Maori name for a Shag, Phalacrocorax novae-hollandiae, Steph.

<hw>Kea</hw>, n. a parrot of New Zealand, Nester notabilis, Gould. For its habits see quotations.

1862. J. Von Haast, `Exploration of Head Waters of Waitaki, 1862,'-in `Geology of Westland' (published 1879), p. 36:

"What gave still greater interest to the spot was the presence of a number of large green alpine parrots (Nestor notabilis), the kea of the natives, which visited continually the small grove of beech-trees near our camp."

"On the 4th of November last the distinguished surgeon, Mr. John Wood, F.R.S., exhibited before the Pathological Society of London the colon of a sheep, in which the operation known as Colotomy had been performed by a Parrot . . . the species known as the `Kea' by the Maoris, the `Mountain Parrot' of the colonists, Nestor notabilis of Gould. Only five species . . . are known, one of which (Nestor productus) has lately become extinct; they only occur in New Zealand and Norfolk Island. They were formerly classed among the Trichoglossinae or brush-tongued parrots . . . more nearly allied to true Psittaci . . . Its ordinary food consists of berries and insects; but since its Alpine haunts have been reached by the tide of civilization, it has acquired a taste for raw flesh, to obtain which it even attacks living animals."

"We have the hoary-headed nestors, amongst which are found the noisy honey-loving kaka, the hardy kea, that famous sheep- killer and flesh-eater, the dread of many an Alpine sheep farmer."

"The Kea picks the fat which surrounds the kidneys. . . .
Various theories have been started to explain how this parrot
has become carnivorous."
[Two pages are devoted to the question.]

"The kea-parrot. . . . The kea is pretty to look at, having rich red and green plumage, but it is a cruel bird. It is said that it will fasten on the back of a living sheep and peck its way down to the kidney-fat, for which this parrot has a special fancy. No tourist need feel compunction about shooting a kea."

"Another very interesting group of birds are the large dull colonial parrots of the genus Nestor, called kea or kaka by the natives from their peculiar cries. Their natural food is berries . . . but of late years the kea (Nestor notabilis), a mountain species found only in the South Island, has developed a curious liking for meat, and now attacks living sheep, settling on their backs and tearing away the skin and flesh to get at the kidney fat."

"There is in the Alpine regions of the South Island a plant popularly called the `vegetable sheep,' botanically named Raoulia. From the distance of even a few yards it looks like a sheep. It grows in great masses, and consists of a woolly vegetation. A large specimen of this singular plant was exhibited in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. It is said that the kea was in the habit of tearing it up to get at the grubs which harbour within the mass, and that mistaking dead sheep for vegetable sheep it learned the taste of mutton. A more enterprising generation preferred its mutton rather fresher."

<hw>Kelp-fish</hw>, n. In New Zealand, also called Butter-fish (q.v.), Coridodax pullus, Forst. In Tasmania, Odax baleatus, Cuv. and Val.; called also Ground Mullet by the fishermen. In Victoria, Chironemus marmoratus, Gunth. Coridodax and Odax belong to the family Labridae or Wrasses, which comprises the Rock-Whitings; Chironemus to the family Cirrhitidae. The name is also given in New Zealand to another fish, the Spotty (q.v.). These fishes are all different from the Californian food- fishes of the same name.

"This fish is known at Port Arthur by the appellation of `Kelp-fish,' I suppose from its frequenting the thickets of the larger fuci."

<hw>Kennedya</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of perennial leguminous herbs of the bean family-named, in 1804, after Mr. Kennedy, a gardener at Hammersmith, near London. There are seventeen species, all natives of Australia and Tasmania, many of them cultivated for the sake of their showy flowers and berries. Others lie near the ground like a vetch; K. prostrata is called the Coral Pea (q.v.), or Bleeding Heart, or Native Scarlet Runner, or Running Postman. Another species is called Australian Sarsaparilla. See Sarsaparilla.

"Taking off his felt hat, he twisted round it a withe of crimson Kennedia, then put it on again."

<hw>Kestrel</hw>, n. the common English name for a falcon. According to Gould the Australian species is identical with Cerchneis tinnunculus, a European species, but Vigors and Horsfield differentiate it as Tinnunculus cenchroides.

"The kestrel's nest we always found in the fluted gums that overhung the creek, the red eggs resting on the red mould of the decaying trunk being almost invisible."

Kia ora, interj. Maori phrase used by English in the North Island of New Zealand, and meaning "Health to you!" A private letter (1896) says—"You will hear any day at a Melbourne bar the first man say Keora ta-u, while the other says Keora tatu, so replacing "Here's to you!" These expressions are corruptions of the Maori, Kia ora taua, "Health to us too!" and Kia ora tatou, "Health to all of us!"

<hw>Kie-kie</hw>, n. Maori name for a climbing plant, Freycinetia banksii, N.O. Pandanaceae; frequently pronounced ghi-ghi in the North Island of New Zealand, and gay-gie in the South Island.

"The trees were . . . covered with a kind of parasite plant, called a keekee, having a thick cabbage-like stock."

"Kie-kie (parasite). . . . A lofty climber; the bracts and young spikes make a very sweet preserve."

"The unused food . . . of our little camp, together with the empty kie-kie baskets."

<hw>Kiley</hw>, n. aboriginal word in Western Australia for a flat weapon, curved for throwing, made plane on one side and slightly convex on the other. A kind of boomerang.

"In every part of this great continent they have the koilee, or boomerang . . ."

1872. Mrs. E. Millett, `An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia,' p. 222:

"The flat curved wooden weapon, called a kylie, which the natives have invented for the purpose of killing several birds out of a flock at one throw, looks not unlike a bird itself as it whizzes (or walks as natives say) through the air in its circular and ascending flight. . ."

"More wonderful and interesting, however, is it to see them throw the kylie (what is called the boomerang in other parts of Australia), a curiously curved and flat stick, about a foot long and two or three inches wide. . . . There are heavier `ground kylies,' which skim along the ground, describing marvellous turns and twists, and they would certainly break the leg of any bird or beast they hit; but their gyrations are nothing compared to those of a good air-kylie in skilful hands."

<hw>Kinaki</hw>, n. a Maori word for food eaten with another kind to give it a relish. Compare Grk. 'opson.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 164:

"If it be a Maori who is taken by me, he will also be made into a kinaki for my cabbage."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. XI. art. iv. p. 71:

"Fifty years ago it would have been a poor hapu that could not afford a slave or two as a kinaki, or relish, on such an occasion."

<hw>King-fish</hw>, n. In New Zealand a sea-fish, Seriola lalandii (Maori, Haku), sometimes called the Yellow-tail; in Victoria, Sciaena antarctica, Castln. Called Jew-fish (q.v.) in New South Wales. Tenison Woods says the King-fish of Port Jackson must not be confounded with the King-fish of Victoria or the King-fish of Tasmania (Thyrsites micropus, McCoy). The Port Jackson King-fish belongs to a genus called "Yellow-tails" in Europe. This is Seriola lalandii, Cuv. and Val. Seriola belongs to the family Carangidae, or Horse- Mackerels. Thyrsites belongs to the family Trichiuridae. The "Barracouta" of Australasia is another species of Thyrsites, and the "Frost-fish" belongs to the same family. The Kingfish of America is a different fish; the name is also applied to other fishes in Europe.

1876. P. Thomson, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. XI. art. lii. p. 381:

"Thyrsites Lalandii, the king-fish of Tasmania: migratory. Appear in immense numbers at certain seasons (December to June) in pursuit of the horse-mackerel. Caught with a swivelled barbless hook at night. Voracious in the extreme—individuals frequently attacking each other, and also the allied species, the barracouta."

<hw>Kingfisher</hw>, n. common English bird-name. Gould mentions thirteen species in Australia. The Australian species are—

There is a Kingfisher in New Zealand (Halcyon vagans, Less.) considered identical by many with H. sanctus of Australia, but concluded by Butler to be a distinct species.

<hw>King of the Herrings</hw>, n. another name for the Elephant-fish (q.v.).

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association' (Melbourne), p. 72:

"The King of the Herrings, Callorhynchus antarcticus, is fairly common with us."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 317:

This creek [King Parrot Creek] was named after a beautiful parrot which was then seen for the first time. It is a bird of magnificent plumage, with crimson feathers on the body, and blue wings, both of gorgeous hue, and no other colour except a little black. The name, King Parrot, is variously applied to several birds in different arts of Australia; the one described is common."

<hw>Kino</hw>, n. a drug; the dried juice, of astringent character, obtained from incisions in the bark of various trees. In Australia it is got from certain Eucalypts, e.g. E. resinifera, Smith, and E. corymbosa, Smith. "It is used in England under the name of Red-gum in astringent lozenges for sore throat." (`Century.') See Red Gum. The drug is Australian, but the word, according to Littre, is "Mot des Indes orientales."

<hw>Kipper</hw>, n. a youth who has been initiated, i.e. been through the Bora (q.v.). It is a Queensland word. In Kabi, Queensland, the form is kivar: on the Brisbane River, it is kippa, whereas in the Kamilaroi of New South Wales the word is kubura.

"The young men receive the rank of warriors, and are henceforth called kippers."

Kit, n. a flexible Maori basket; not the English kit used by soldiers, but the Maori word kete, a basket.

"The natives generally bring their produce to market in neatly made baskets, plaited from flax and known by the name of `Maori kits.'"

"Potatoes were procurable from the Maoris in flax kits, at from one to five shillings the kit."

"They might have said, as an old Maori woman long afterwards said to me, `Mother, my heart is like an old kete (i.e. a coarsely-woven basket). The words go in, but they fall through.'"

<hw>Kite</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The species in Australia are—

"We had to guard it by turns, whip in hand, from a host of square-tailed kites (Milvus isiurus)."

"At any stockyard or station passed Kites were seen . . . at Henbury one female bird was bold enough to come right into camp and pick up the flesh thrown to it from birds I was skinning."

<hw>Kiwi</hw>, n. Maori name for a wingless struthious bird of New Zealand, the Apteryx (q.v.), so called from the note of the bird. The species are—

Large Grey Kiwi (Roa roa, generally shortened to Roa, q.v.)— Apteryx haastii, Potts.

"The Kiwi, however, is only the last and rather insignificant representative of the family of wingless birds that inhabited New Zealand in bygone ages."

"The fact that one collector alone had killed and disposed of above 2000 specimens of the harmless kiwi."

"The Kiwi, although flightless, has a small but well-formed wing, provided with wing quills."

<hw>Knockabout</hw>, adj. a species of labourer employed on a station; applied to a man of all work on a station. Like Rouseabout (q.v.).

"They were composed chiefly of what is called in the bush `knockabout men'—that is, men who are willing to undertake any work, sometimes shepherding, sometimes making yards or driving."

"I watched his development through various stages of colonial experience—into dairyman, knockabout man, bullock-driver, and finally stock-rider."

<hw>Knock-down</hw>, v. generally of a cheque. To spend riotously, usually in drink.

"Last night! went knocking round with Swizzleford and
Rattlebrain. C'sino, and V'ri'tes. Such a lark! Stole two
Red Boots and a Brass Hat. Knocked down thirteen notes, and
went to bed as tight as a fly!"

"Hundreds of diggers daily then were walking Melbourne town,
With their pockets fill'd with gold, which they very soon
knock'd down."

"Cashed by the nearest publican, who of course never handed over a cent. A man was compelled to stay there and knock his cheque down `like a man'"

"A system known as `knocking down one's cheque' prevails all over the unsettled parts of Australia. That is to say, a man with a cheque, or a sum of money in his possession, hands it over to the publican, and calls for drinks for himself and his friends, until the publican tells him he has drunk out his cheque."

<hw>Koala</hw>, <hw>Coola</hw>, or <hw>Kool-la</hw>, n. aboriginal name for Native Bear (q.v.); genus, Phascolarctus (q.v.). A variant of an aboriginal word meaning a big animal. In parts of South Australia koola means a kangaroo.

"The koolah or sloth is likewise an animal of the opossum species, with a false belly. This creature is from a foot and a half to two feet in length, and takes refuge in a tree, where he discovers his haunt by devouring all the leaves before he quits it."

"The light-coloured mark on the rump, somewhat resembling that on the same part of the Koala . . . the fur is remarkable for its extreme density and for its resemblance to that of the Koala."

<hw>Kohekohe</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, sometimes called Cedar, Dysoxylum spectabile, Hook (N.O. Meliaceae).

"Kohekohe. A large forest tree, forty to fifty feet high. Its leaves are bitter, and used to make a stomachic infusion: wood tough, but splits freely."

<hw>Kohua</hw>, n. Maori word, for (1) a Maori oven; (2) a boiler. There is a Maori verb Kohu, to cook or steam in a native oven (from a noun Kohu, steam, mist), and an adj. Kohu, concave. The word is used by the English in New Zealand, and is said to be the origin of Goashore (q.v.).

<hw>Kokako</hw>, n. Maori name for the Blue-wattled Crow. See under Crow and Wattle-bird.

"The Orange-wattled Crow, or wattled bird, kokako of the Maoris, Glaucopis cinerea, Gml., still seems to be an almost unknown bird as to its nesting habits. . . . The kokako loving a moist temperature will probably soon forsake its ancient places of resort."

<hw>Kokopu</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand fish; any species of Galaxias, especially G. fasciatus; corrupted into Cock-a-bully (q.v.). See Mountain Trout.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 106:

"`Kokopu,' Dr.Hector says, `is the general Maori name for several very common fishes in the New Zealand streams and lakes, belonging to the family of Galaxidae.'"

<hw>Kokowai</hw>, n. Maori name for Red Ochre, an oxide of iron deposited in certain rivers, used by the Maoris for painting. It was usually mixed with shark oil, but for very fine work with oil from the berries of the titoki (q.v.).

"His head, with the hair neatly arranged and copiously ornamented with feathers, reclined against a carved post, which was painted with kokowai, or red ochre."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. XI. art. iv. p. 75:

<hw>Konini</hw>, n. Maori name for (1) the fruit of the New Zealand fuchsia, Fuchsia excorticata, Linn.

"The berries of the konini . . . ripening early furnish some part of its (bell-bird's) food supply."

(p. 146): "Rather late in August, when the brown-skinned konini begins to deck its bare sprays with pendulous flowers."

"Mr. Colenso informs me that it [Fuchsia excorticata] is the Kohutuhutu and the Kotukutuku of the Maoris, the fruit being known as Konini, especially in the South Island and the southern part of the North Island. The settlers sometimes term it Kotukutuku or Konini, but more generally fuchsia."

<hw>Kooberry</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the Bidyan Ruffe (q.v.).

<hw>Kookaburra</hw>, n. (also <hw>Gogobera</hw> and <hw>Goburra</hw>), the aboriginal name for the bird called the Laughing Jackass (q.v.). The first spelling is that under which the aboriginal name now survives in English, and is the name by which the bird is generally called in Sydney.

"The notes of this bird are chiefly composed of the sounds ka and koo, and from them it takes its name in most of the languages . . . It is noticeable in some localities that burra is the common equivalent of people or tribe, and that the Pegulloburra . . . the Owanburra, and many other tribes, called the laughing- jackass—kakooburra, kakaburra, kakoburra, and so on; literally the Kakoo people." [Mr. Curr's etymology is not generally accepted.]

"But what board will intervene to protect the disappearing marsupials, and native flora, the lyre-bird, the kookaburra, and other types which are rapidly disappearing despite the laws which have been framed in some instances for their protection?"

1894. E. P. Ramsay, `Catalogue of Australian Birds in the Australian Museum at Sydney,' p. 2, s.v. Dacelo:

<hw>Koradji</hw>, or <hw>Coradgee</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a wise man, sorcerer, or doctor. In the south-east of New South Wales, it means one of the tribal wizards, usually called "blackfellow- doctors."

"The coradgees, who are their wise men, have, they suppose, the power of healing and foretelling. Each tribe possesses one of these learned pundits, and if their wisdom were in proportion to their age, they would indeed be Solons."

"Kiradjee, a doctor; Grk. cheirourgos. Persian, khoajih. English, surgeon. Old English (obsolete), chirurgeon."

"One who seemed a coradge, or priest, went through a strange ceremony of singing, and touching his eyebrows, nose, and breast, crossing himself, and pointing to the sky like an old Druid."

"The korradgees, or medicine men, are the chief repositories (of the secrets of their religion)."

"For some diseases, the kar'aji, or native doctor when he is called in, makes passes with his hand over the sick man, much in the same way as a mesmerist will do . . . Our Australian karaji is highly esteemed, but not paid."

<hw>Korari</hw>, n. often pronounced Koladdy and Koladdy, and spelt variously; the Maori word for the flowering stem of Phormium tenax, J. and G. Forst. (q.v.), generally used for making a mokihi (q.v.). There is a Maori noun, kora, a small fragment; and a verb korari, to pluck a twig, or tear it off.

[p. 53]: "A kolladie (the flower stalk of the flax, about seven feet long) carried by each, as a balancing pole or staff."

"But now the faithful brute is gone;
Through bush and fern and flax koladdy,
Where oft he bunny pounced upon,
No more will follow me, poor Paddy."

<hw>Korero</hw>, n. Maori for a conference, a conversation. The verb means "to tell, to say, to address, to speak, to talk." (`Williams' Maori Dictionary,' 4th. ed.)

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 168:

"There were about sixty men assembled, and they proceeded to hold a `korero,' or talk on the all-important subject."

"With the exception of an occasional exclamation of `korero, korero,' `speak, speak,' which was used like our `hear, hear,' in either an encouraging or an ironical sense, or an earnest but low expression of approval or dissent, no interruption of the orators ever took place."

"As he had to pass several pahs on the road, at all of which there would be `koreros.'"

(p. 31): "Had been joined by a score or more of their acquaintances, and what between `koreros' and `ko-mitis,' had not made any further progress on their journey."

"All this after a very excited `korero' on the empty dray, with the surging and exciting crowd around."

"The korimako, or kokorimako (Anthornis melanura). This bird is the sweetest songster of New Zealand, but is not distinguished by its plumage, which is a yellowish olive with a dark bluish shade on each side of the head."

"In the first oven [at the Maori child's naming feast] a korimako was cooked; this is the sweetest singing bird of New Zealand; it was eaten that the child might have a sweet voice and be an admired orator."

1888. W. W. Smith, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. XXI. art. xxi. p. 213:

"Anthornis melanura, korimako or bell-bird. In fine weather the bush along the south shores of Lake Brunner re-echoes with the rich notes of the tui and korimako, although both species have disappeared from former haunts east of the Alps."

<hw>Koromiko</hw>, n. a white flowering arborescent Veronica of New Zealand, Veronica salicifolia, Forst., N.O. Scrophularineae.

"Koromiko, a very ornamental plant, but disappearing before the horse. It bears a tapering-shaped flower of a purplish white."

"Fostered by the cool waters of a mountain rivulet, the koromiko grows by the side of the poisonous tutu bushes."

Korora, n. Maori name for a Blue Penguin, Spheniscus minor, Gmel. See Penguin.

<hw>Korrumburra</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the common blow-fly, which in Australia is a yellow-bottle, not a blue-bottle.

"Odd `Korrumburras' dodge quickly about with cheerful hum. Where they go, these busy buzzy flies, when the cold calls them away for their winter vac. is a mystery. Can they hibernate? for they show themselves again at the first glint of the spring sun."

<hw>Kotuku</hw>, n. Maori name for the White Crane of the Colonists, which is really a White Heron (Ardea egretta). See Crane.

<hw>Kotukutuku</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand tree, Fuchsia excorticata, Linn., N.O. Onagrariea; written also Kohutuhutu. This name is not much used, but is corrupted into Tookytook (q.v.). See Konini and Fuchsia.

"Kotukutuku. The fruit is called konini. A small and ornamental tree, ten to thirty feet high . . . a durable timber. . . . The wood might be used as dye-stuff . . . Its fruit is pleasant and forms principal food of the wood-pigeon."

(1) Locust-tree, Yellow Kowhai (Sophora tetraptera, Aiton, N.O. Leguminosae).

(2) Parrot-bill, Scarlet Kowhai (Clianthus puniceus, N.O. Leguminosae), or Kaka-bill (q.v.).

Variously spelt Kowai and Kohai, and corrupted into Goai (q.v.) by the settlers.

"The kohai too, a species of mimosa covered with bright yellow blossoms, abounds in such situations where the stunted growth is an almost unvarying sign of constant inundation."

"`Tis the Kowhai, that spendthrift so golden
But its kinsman to Nature beholden,
For raiment its beauty to fold in,
Deep-dyed as of trogon or lory,
How with parrot-bill fringes 'tis burning,
One blood-red mound of glory!"

"Kowai timber, thoroughly seasoned, used for fencing posts, would stand for twelve or fourteen years; while posts cut out of the same bush and used green would not last half the time."

"The head of the straight-stemmed kowhai is already crowned with racemes of golden blossoms."

"Kowhai—a small or middling-sized tree. . . . Wood red, valuable for fencing, being highly durable . . . used for piles in bridges, wharves, etc."

"The dazzling points of morning's lances
Waked the red kowhai's drops from sleep."

<hw>Kuku</hw>, or <hw>Kukupa</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand Fruit-pigeon (q.v.), Carpophaga novae-zelandiae, Gmel. Called also Kereru. The name is the bird's note.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 170:

"Family Columbidae—kereru, kukupa (kuku, Carpophaga Novae Zealandiae), the wood-pigeon. This is a very fine large bird, the size of a duck; the upper part of the breast green and gold, the lower a pure white, legs and bill red. It is a heavy flying bird, and very stupid, which makes it an easy prey to its enemies. The natives preserve large quantities in calabashes, taking out the bones; these are called kuku."

"The pigeon bears two names—the kuku and kukupa, which are common to the isles."

"The kukupa . . . was just the bird created expressly for the true cockney sportsman—the one after his heart . . . for if not brought down by the first shot, why he only shakes his feathers and calmly waits to be shot at again!"

<hw>Kumara</hw>, or <hw>Kumera</hw>, n. (pronounced Koomera), a Maori word for an edible root, the yam or sweet potato, Ipomaea batatas, N.O. Convolvulaceae. There are numerous varieties. It should be added that it is doubtful whether it grows wild in New Zealand.

1773. Sydney Parkinson, `Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas' (see extract in `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' `Manibus Parkinsonibus Sacrum,' W. Colenso, vol. x. art. ix. p. 124):

"Several canoes came alongside of the ship, of whom we got some fish, kumeras or sweet potatoes, and several other things."

"We passed over the hill, and found the assailants feasting on the kumara, or sweet potato, which they just pulled up from the garden at which they had landed."

"Behind the pigs was placed by the active exertion of two or three hundred people, a heap of potatoes and kumera, in quantity about ten tons, so there was no lack of the raw material for a feast."

"Now the autumn's fruits
Karaka,—taro,—kumera,—berries, roots
Had all been harvested with merry lays
And rites of solemn gladness."

<hw>Kumquat, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Atalantia glauca, Hook., N.O. Rutaceae, i.q. Desert Lemon (q.v.).

<hw>Kurdaitcha</hw>, <hw>Coordaitcha</hw>, or <hw>Goditcha</hw>, n. a native term applied by white men to a particular kind of shoe worn by the aborigines of certain parts of Central Australia, and made of emu feathers matted together. The two ends are of the same shape, so that the direction in which the wearer has travelled cannot be detected. The wearer is supposed to be intent upon murder, and the blacks really apply the name to the wearer himself. The name seems to have been transferred by white men to the shoes, the native name for which is interlin~a, or urtathurta.

"It was discovered in 1882 . . . that the Blacks . . . wear a sort of shoe when they attack their enemies by stealth at night. Some of the tribes call these shoes Kooditcha, their name for an invisible spirit. I have seen a pair of them. The soles were made of the feathers of the emu, stuck together with a little human blood, which the maker is said to take from his arm. They were about an inch and a half thick, soft, and of even breadth. The uppers were nets made of human hair. The object of these shoes is to prevent those who wear them from being tracked and pursued after a night attack."

"The wearing of the Urtathurta and going Kurdaitcha luma appears to have been the medium for a form of vendetta."

<hw>Kurrajong</hw>, n. or <hw>Currajong</hw> (spelt variously), the aboriginal name for various Australian and Tasmanian fibrous plants; see quotations, 1825 and 1884. They are the—

Black Kurrajong— Sterculia diversifolia, G. Don., and Sterculia quadrifida, R. Br., N.O. Sterculiaceae.

Brown K.— Commersonia echinata, R. and G. Forst.; also, Brachychiton gregorii; both belonging to N.O. Sterculiaceae.

Others are Trema aspera, Blume, N.O. Urticeae; and Sterculia rupestris, Benth., N.O. Urticeae. Some of the varieties are also called Bottle-trees, and, in Tasmania, Cordage-trees (q.v.).

1823. `Uniacke's Narrative of Oxley's Expedition,' quoted by J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 408:

"The nets used for fishing [by the natives] are made by the men from the bark of the kurrajong (Hibiscus heterophyllus), a shrub which is very common to the swamps."

1825. Barron Field, Glossary, in `Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales,' p. 502:

"The curragong is sometimes found; its inner bark may be manufactured into ropes."

"The currajong (Sterculia)is used for cordage, and makes strong, close, but not very durable ropes."

"In such a valley in which stands a spreading corrijong (Sterculia diversifolia), which has a strong resemblance to the English oak, I constantly found a flock of sheep."

"Currajong (Plagianthus sidoides, Hook). The fibres of the bark are very strong. It is a large shrub, found chiefly on the southern side of the Island, in various and shady places, and grows rapidly."

"Plagianthus sidoides, Hooker. Currijong, N.O. Malvaceae. Peculiar to Tasmania."

"The currejong of the forest, and the casuarina which lines the rivers, stand with brighter green in cheering contrast to the dulness of surrounding leaves."

"The aborigines apply the name Kurrajong, or Currijong, to some [Pimeleas]; but it would appear that this native name is indiscriminately given to any plant possessing a tough bark."

"Quaint currajongs . . . very like in form to the stiff wooden trees we have all played with in childish days."

<hw>Laburnum, Native</hw>, n. the Tasmanian Clover-tree, Goodenia lotifolia, Sal., N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Laburnum, Sea-coast</hw>, n. also called Golden Chain, Sophora tomentosa, Linn., N.O. Leguminosae; a tall, hoary shrub.

<hw>Lace-bark</hw>, <hw>Lacey-bark</hw>, or <hw>Lacewood</hw>, n. names for Ribbonwood (q.v.). The inner bark of the tree is like fine lace.

1876. W. N. Blair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. IX. art. x. p. 175:

"Ribbonwood, Plagianthus betulinus, botanical name, Hooker; Whauwhi, Maori name, according to Hector; lace-bark tree, settlers' name, according to Buchanan."

"The soft, bright-foliaged ribbonwood (lace-bark, Plagianthus) contrasts with the dusky hue of the dark-leaved fagus."

<hw>Lace-Lizard</hw>, n. Hydrosaurus (Varanus) varius. See Goanna.

"Although the present Lace Lizard is generally arboreal, climbing the forest trees with ease, and running well on the ground, it can swim nearly as well as a Crocodile."

<hw>Lagorchestes</hw>, n. the scientific name for a genus of Australian marsupial mammals, called the Hare- Wallabies or Hare-Kangaroos (q.v.). (Grk. lagows, a hare, and 'orchestaes, a dancer.) They live on plains, and make a "form" in the herbage like the hare, which they resemble.

<hw>Lagostrophus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus containing the animal called the Banded-Wallaby. (Grk. lagows, a hare, and strophos, a band or zone.) Its colour is a greyish-brown, with black and white bands, its distinguishing characteristic. It is sometimes called the Banded-Kangaroo, and is found at Dirk Hartog's Island, and on one or two islands in Shark's Bay, and in West Australia. For its interesting habits see R. Lyddeker's `Marsupialia.'

<hw>Lake-Trout</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Galaxias auratus, family Galaxidae. See Mountain- Trout.

(1) To knock down a cheque or a sum of money in a spree. There is an old English verb, of Scandinavian origin, and properly spelt lamm, which means to thrash, beat.

"It is the Bushman come to town—
Come to spend his cheque in town,
Come to do his lambing down."

"The old woman thought that we were on gold, and would lamb down at the finish in her shanty."

"The result was always the same—a shilling a nobbler. True, that Trowbridge's did not `lamb down' so well as the Three Posts, but then the Three Posts put fig tobacco in its brandy casks, and Trowbridge's did not do that."

"The operation—combining equal parts of hocussing, overcharging, and direct robbery—and facetiously christened by bush landlords `lambing down.'"

"One used to serve drinks in the bar, the other kept the billiard-table. Between them they lambed down more shearers and drovers than all the rest on the river."

<hw>Lamprey</hw>, n. The Australian Lampreys are species of the genera Mordacia and Geotria, of the same family as the "Lampreys" of the Northern Hemisphere.

<hw>Lancelet</hw>, n. The fishes of this name present in Australasia are—

In Queensland, Epigonichthys cultellus, Peters, family Amplingae; in Victoria and New South Wales, species of Heteropleuron.

<hw>Lancewood</hw>, n. There are many lancewoods in various parts of the world. The name, in Australia, is given to Backhousia myrtifolia, Hook. and Harv., N.O. Myrtaceae; and in New Zealand, to Panax crassifolium, Dec. and Plan., N.O. Araliaceae, known as Ivy- tree, and by the Maori name of Horoeka (q.v.).

<hw>Landsborough Grass</hw>, n. a valuable Queensland fodder grass of a reddish colour, Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl., N.O. Gramineae. See Grass.

"I may explain that a `Ballarat Lantern' is formed by knocking off the bottom of a bottle, and putting a candle in the neck."

<hw>Lark</hw>, n. common English bird name. The Australian species are—

Ground L.—
Anthus australis, Vig. and Hors. (Australian Pipit),
A. novae-zelandae, Gray (New Zealand Pipit).

<hw>Larrikin</hw>, n. The word has various shades of meaning between a playful youngster and a blackguardly rough. Little streetboys are often in a kindly way called little larrikins. (See quotations, 1870 and 1885.) Archibald Forbes described the larrikin as "a cross between the Street Arab and the Hoodlum, with a dash of the Rough thrown in to improve the mixture." (`Century.) The most exalted position yet reached in literature by this word is in Sir Richard Burton's `Translation of the Arabian Nights' (1886-7), vol. i. p. 4, Story of the Larrikin and the Cook; vol. iv. p. 281, Tale of First Larrikin. The previous translator, Jonathan Scott, had rendered the Arabic word, Sharper.

(1) That it is a phonetic spelling of the broad Irish pronunciation, with a trilled r of the word larking. The story goes that a certain Sergeant Dalton, about the year 1869, charged a youthful prisoner at the Melbourne Police Court with being "a-larrr-akin' about the streets." The Police Magistrate, Mr. Sturt, did not quite catch the word—"A what, Sergeant?"—"A larrikin', your Worchup." The police court reporter used the word the next day in the paper, and it stuck. (See quotation, `Argus,' 1896.)

This story is believed by 99 persons out of 100; unfortunately it lacks confirmation; for the record of the incident cannot be discovered, after long search in files by many people. Mr. Skeat's warning must be remembered—"As a rule, derivations which require a story to be told turn out to be false."

(2) That the word is thieves' English, promoted like swag, plant, lift, etc., into ordinary Australian English. Warders testify that for a number of years before the word appeared in print, it was used among criminals in gaol as two separate words, viz.—leary ('cute, fly, knowing), and kinchen (youngster),—`leary kinchen ,'—shortened commonly into `leary kin' and `leary kid.' Australian warders and constables are Irish, almost to a man. Their pronunciation of `leary kin' would be very nearly `lairy kin,' which becomes the single word larrikin. (See quotation, 1871.) It is possible that Sergeant Dalton used this expression and was misunderstood by the reporter.

(3) The word has been derived from the French larron (a thief), which is from the Latin latronem (a robber). This became in English larry, to which the English diminutive, kin, was added; although this etymology is always derided in Melbourne.

"We shall perhaps begin to think of it in earnest, when we have insisted upon having wholesome and properly baked bread, or a better supply of fish, and when we have put down the `roughs' and `larrikins.'"

"In sentencing a gang of `larrikins' who had been the terror of Little Bourke-street and its neighbourhood for several hours on Saturday night, Mr. Call remarked. . ."

". . . three larikins who had behaved in a very disorderly manner in Little Latrobe-street, having broken the door of a house and threatened to knock out the eye of one of the inmates."

"In San Francisco, the vagabond juveniles who steal, smash windows, and make themselves generally obnoxious to the respectable inhabitants, instead of being termed `larrikins,' as in Victoria, are denominated `hoodleums.' The name is more musical than the one in vogue here, and probably equally as descriptive, as its origin appears to be just as obscure as that of the word `larrikin.' This word, before it got into print, was confined to the Irish policemen, who generally pronounced it `lerrikan,' and it has been suggested that the term is of Hibernian origin, and should be spelt lerrichaun.'"

1871. Sir George Stephen, Q.C., `Larrikinism,' a Lecture reported in `Prahran Telegraph,' Sept. 23, p. 3, col. 1:

What is Larrikinism? It is a modern word of which I can only guess the derivation, . . . nor can I find any among the erudite professors of slang who adorn our modern literature who can assist me. Some give our police the credit of coining it from the `larking' of our school boys, but I am inclined to think that the word is of Greek origin—Laros, a cormorant—though immediately derived from the French `larron' which signifies a thief or rogue. If I am right, then larrikin is the natural diminutive form in English phraseology for a small or juvenile thief. . . . This however is, I must acknowledge, too severe a construction of the term, even if the derivation is correct; for I was myself, I frankly confess it, an unquestionable larrikin between 60 and 70 years ago. . . . Larrikinism is not thieving, though a road that often leads to it. . . . Is it a love of mischief for mischief's sake? This is the theory of the papers, and is certainly a nearer approach to the true solution."

"A local contemporary has . . . done his `level best' to help me out of my `difficulty' with respect to the word Larrikin. He suggests that lerrichan should read leprichaun , a mischievous sprite, according to Irish tradition. . . . We think we may with more safety and less difficulty trace the word to the stereotype [sic] reply of the police to the magisterial question—`What was he doing when you apprehended him?' `Oh! larriking (larking) about, yer Wurtchip.'"

"My inquiries into the origin and habits of that troublesome parasite the larrikin (if I may adopt Constable Dalton's term) do not make me sanguine that compulsory primary instruction can do much for him, unless indirectly."

"On Sunday night an unfortunate Chinaman was so severely injured by the Richmond larrikins that his life was endangered."

"Bedouins, Street Arabs, Juvenile Roughs in London; Gamins in Paris; Bowery Boys in New York; Hoodlums to San Francisco; Larrikins in Melbourne. This last phrase is an Irish constable's broad pronunciation of `larking' applied to the nightly street performances of these young scamps, here as elsewhere, a real social pestilence."

"There is not a spare piece of ground fit for a pitch anywhere round Melbourne that is not covered with `larrikins' from six years old upwards."

"It has become the name for that class of roving vicious young men who prowl about public-houses and make night hideous in some of the low parts of our cities. There is now the bush `larrikin' as well as the town `larrikin,' and it would be difficult sometimes to say which is the worse. Bush `larrikins' have gone on to be bushrangers."

"The Melbourne `larrikin' has differentiated himself from the London `rough,' and in due season a term had to be developed to denote the differentiation."

"Robert Louis Stevenson, in a recent novel, `The Wrecker,' makes the unaccountable mistake of confounding the unemployed Domain loafer with the larrikin. This only shows that Mr. Stevenson during his brief visits to Sydney acquired but a superficial knowledge of the underlying currents of our social life."

1896. J. St. V. Welch, in `Australasian Insurance and Banking Record,' May 19, p. 376:

"Whence comes the larrikin? that pest of these so-called over-educated colonies; the young loafer of from sixteen to eight-and-twenty. Who does not know him, with his weedy, contracted figure; his dissipated pimply face; his greasy forelock brushed flat and low over his forehead; his too small jacket; his tight-cut trousers; his high-heeled boots; his arms—with out-turned elbows—swinging across his stomach as he hurries along to join his `push,' as he calls the pack in which he hunts the solitary citizen—-a pack more to be dreaded on a dark night than any pack of wolves—and his name in Sydney is legion, and in many cases he is a full-fledged voter."

"Being clerk of the City Court, I know that the word originated in the very Irish and amusing way in which the then well-known Sergeant Dalton pronounced the word larking in respect to the conduct of `Tommy the Nut,' a rowdy of the period, and others of both sexes in Stephen (now Exhibition) street.

"Your representative at the Court, the witty and clever `Billy' O'Hea, who, alas! died too early, took advantage of the appropriate sound of the word to apply it to rowdyism in general, and, next time Dalton repeated the phrase, changed the word from verb to noun, where it still remains, anything to the contrary notwithstanding. I speak of what I do know, for O'Hea drew my attention to the matter at the time, and, if I mistake not, a reference to your files would show that it was first in the `Argus' the word appeared in print."

("We can fully confirm Mr. Whelan's account of the origin of the word `larrikin.'"—Ed. `Argus.')

"Marks the young criminals as heroes in the eyes not only of the ostensible larrikin element . . ."

"Evidence was tendered as to the manner of life led by these larikinesses . . . The juvenile larrikin element being strongly represented in court, all the boys were ordered out."

1871. Sir George Stephen, Q.C., `Larrikinism,' a Lecture reported in `Prahran Telegraph,' Sept. 23, p. 3, col. 1:

"I know many a larrikiness to whose voice I could listen by the hour with all my heart, without the least fear of her stealing it, even if it were worth the trouble."

"I have not found the larrikin [in Brisbane]. . . . The slouch-hat, the rakish jib, the drawn features are not to be seen; nor does the young larrikiness—that hideous outgrowth of Sydney and Melbourne civilization—exist as a class."

"He took as his theme the `Dialect of Victoria,' which was coarse and vulgar to a degree. `Larrikinism' was used as a synonym for `blackguardism.'"

"There is no doubt that its rising generation afforded material for letters in the newspapers, under the headings `Larrikinism,' or, `What shall we do with our boys?'"

"Outbreaks of larrikinism are not always harmless ebullitions of animal spirits. Sometimes they have very serious results."

<hw>Launce</hw>, n. The Australian species of this fish is Congrogradus subducens, Richards., found in North- West Australia. The Launces or Sand-eels of the Northern Hemisphere belong to a different group.

<hw>Laurel</hw>, n. The English tree name is applied in Australia to various trees, viz.—

Alexandrian Laurel— Calophyllum inophyllum, Linn:, N.O. Guttiferae; not endemic in Australia.

Diamond-leaf L.— Pittosporum rhombifolium, A. Cunn., N.O. Pittosporeae.

Dodder L.— Cassytha filiformis, Linn., N.O. Lauraceae; called also Devil's Guts, not endemic in Australia.

Moreton Bay L.— Cryptocarya australis, Benth., N.O. Lauraceae; called also Grey Sassafras.

Native L.— Pittosporum undulatum, Andr., N.O. Pittosporeae; called also Mock Orange (q.v.). Panax elegans, C. Moore and F. v. M., N.O. Araliaceae; which is also called Light or White Sycamore.

White L.— Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.O. Lauraceae; for other names see Beech.

In Tasmania, the name Native Laurel is applied to Anopterus glandulosus, Lab., N.O. Saxifrageae. Peculiar to Tasmania.

The New Zealand Laurel is Laurelia novae-zelandiae; called also Sassafras.

"Native Laurel, [also called] `Mock Orange.' This tree is well worth cultivating on a commercial scale for the sake of the sweet perfume of its flowers."

<hw>Lavender, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian tree, Styphelia australis, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae.

<hw>Lawyer</hw>, n. One of the English provincial uses of this word is for a thorny stem of a briar or bramble. In New Zealand, the name is used in this sense for the Rubus australis, N.O. Rosaceae, or Wild Raspberry-Vine (Maori, Tataramoa). The words Bush-Lawyer, Lawyer-Vine, and Lawyer-Palm, are used with the same signification, and are also applied in some colonies to the Calamus australis, Mart. (called also Lawyer- Cane), and to Flagellaria indua, Linn,, similar trailing plants.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 157:

"Calamus Australis, a plant which Kennedy now saw for the first time. . . It is a strong climbing palm. From the roots as many as ninety shoots will spring, and they lengthen out as they climb for hundreds of feet, never thicker than a man's finger. The long leaves are covered with sharp spines; but what makes the plant the terror of the explorers, is the tendrils, which grow out alternately with the leaves. Many of these are twenty feet long, and they are covered with strong spines, curved slightly downwards."

"Rubus Australis, the thorny strings of which scratch the hands and face, and which the colonists, therefore, very wittily call the `bush-lawyer.'"

"Trailing `bush-lawyers,' intermingled with coarse bracken, cling lovingly to the rude stones."

"In the mountain scrubs there grows a very luxuriant kind of palm (Calamus Australis), whose stem of a finger's thickness, like the East Indian Rotang-palm, creeps through the woods for hundreds of feet, twining round trees in its path, and at times forming so dense a wattle that it is impossible to get through it. The stem and leaves are studded with the sharpest thorns, which continually cling to you and draw blood, hence its not very polite name of lawyer-palm."

"Who, in the brushes of the Tweed River, found a nest placed on a mass of `lawyer-vines' (Calamus Australis)."

"`Look out,' said my companion, `don't touch that lawyer-vine; it will tear you properly, and then not let you go.' Too late; my fingers touched it, and the vine had the best of it. The thorns upon the vine are like barbed spears, and they would, in the language of the Yankee, tear the hide off a crocodile."

"But no obstacle is worse for the clearer to encounter than the lawyer-vines where they are not burnt off. These are a form of palm which grows in feathery tufts along a pliant stalk, and fastens itself as a creeper upon other trees. From beneath its tufts of leaves it throws down trailing suckers of the thickness of stout cord, armed with sets of sharp red barbs. These suckers sometimes throw themselves from tree to tree across a road which has not been lately used, and render it as impassable to horses as so many strains of barbed wire. When they merely escape from the undergrowth of wild ginger and tree-fern and stinging-bush, which fringes the scrub, and coil themselves in loose loops upon the ground, they are dangerous enough as traps for either man or horse. In the jungle, where they weave themselves in and out of the upright growths, they form a web which at times defies every engine of destruction but fire."

<hw>Lawyer-Cane</hw>, <hw>Lawyer-Palm</hw>, and <hw>Lawyer-Vine</hw>. See Lawyer.

<hw>Lead</hw>, n. (pronounced leed), a mining term. In the Western United States and elsewhere, the term lead in mining is used as equivalent for lode. In Australia, the word lead is only used in reference to alluvial mining, and signifies the old river-bed in which gold is found.

"There was every facility for abstracting the gold in the rich lead of a neighbour."

"The expression `deep lead' refers to those ancient river-courses which are now only disclosed by deep-mining operations."

"Taking the general matter of `leads' or dead rivers, it chiefly obtained that if gold were found on one portion of them, it extended to all the claims within a considerable distance."

<hw>Leadbeater</hw>, n. applied to a Cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri, Vig., called Leadbeaters Cockatoo by Major Mitchell (q.v.).

"The birds are very beautiful—the Blue Mountain and Lowrie parrots . . . leadbeater, and snow-white cockatoos."

<hw>Lease</hw>, n. a piece of land leased for mining purposes. In England, the word is used for the document or legal right concerning the land. In Australia, it is used for the land itself. Compare Right-of-way.

<hw>Lease in perpetuity</hw>, a statutory expression in the most recent land legislation of New Zealand, indicating a specific mode of alienating Crown lands,. It is a lease for 999 years at a permanent rental equal to 4% on the capital value, which is not subject to revision.

<hw>Leather-head</hw>, n. another name for the Friar-bird (q.v.), Philemon corniculatus, Lath. See Tropidorhynchus.

"The leather-heads utter their settled phrase `Off we go! off we go!' in the woods, or they come to suck honey from the Melianthus major, which stands up like a huge artichoke plant, tipped with dark red plumes of flowers."

"Among the Honey-suckers is that singular-looking bird, the Leatherhead, or Bald-headed Friar (Tropidorhynchus corniculatus); it is commonly seen upon the topmost branches of lofty trees, calling `Poor Soldier,' `Pimlico,' `Four o'clock,' and uttering screaming sounds. It feeds upon insects, wild fruits, and any sweets it can procure from the flowers of the Banksia and Gum-trees."

(1) A name applied popularly and somewhat confusedly to various trees, on account of the toughness of their bark— (a) Eucalyptus punctata, De C., Hickory Eucalypt (q.v.); (b) Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss., or Cooperswood; (c) Ceratopetalum, or Coachwood; (d) Cryptocarya meissnerii, F. v. M.; (e) Weinmannia benthami, F. v. M.

(2) A fish of the family Sclerodermi, Monacanthus ayraudi, Quoy. and Gaim., and numerous other species of Monocanthus. Leather-Jackets are wide-spread in Australian seas. The name is given elsewhere to other fishes. See File-fish and Pig-fish.

"They had caught a great number of small fish, which the sailors call leather jackets, on account of their having a very thick skin; they are known in the West Indies."

1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 503—'Cook's First Voyage,' May 4, 1770 (at Botany Bay):

"Small fish, which are well known in the West Indies, and which our sailors call Leather jackets, because their skin is remarkably thick."

"To this may be added bass, mullets, skaits, soles, leather-jackets, and many other species."

"Our party, upon this occasion, indulged themselves, in addition to the usual bush fare, with what are called `Leather jackets,' an Australian bush term for a thin cake made of dough, and put into a pan to bake with some fat. . . The Americans indulge in this kind of bread, giving them the name of `Puff ballooners,' the only difference being that they place the cake upon the bare coals . . ."

"The leather-jacket is a cake of mere flour and water, raised with tartaric acid and carbonate of soda instead of yeast, and baked in the frying-pan; and is equal to any muffin you can buy in the London shops."

<hw>Leawill</hw>, or <hw>Leeangle</hw> (with other spellings), n. aboriginal names for a native weapon, a wooden club bent at the striking end. The name is Victorian, especially of the West; probably derived from lea or leang, or leanyook, a tooth. The aboriginal forms are langeel, or leanguel, and lea-wil, or le-ow-el. The curve evidently helped the English termination, angle.

1845. Charles Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 155:

"The liangle is, I think, described by Sir Thomas Mitchell.
It is of the shape of a pickaxe, with only one pick. Its name
is derived from another native word, leang, signifying a tooth.
It is a very formidable weapon, and used only in war."

"Of those [waddies] possessing—we might almost say—-a national character, the shapes of which seem to have come down generation after generation, from the remotest period, the Leawill is the most deadly-looking weapon. It is usually three feet long, and two and a half inches thick, having a pointed head, very similar both in shape and size to a miner's driving pick; in most cases the oak (Casuarina) is used in the manufacture of this weapon; it is used in close quarters only, and is a most deadly instrument in the hands of a ruthless foe, or in a general melee such as a midnight onslaught."

<hw>Leek, Native</hw>, n. a poisonous Australian plant, Bulbine bulbosa, Haw., N.O. Liliaceae. Called also Native Onion. Its racemes of bright yellow flowers make the paddocks gay in spring.

"`Native Onion,' `Native Leek.' Mr. W. n. Hutchinson, Sheep Inspector, Warrego, Queensland, reports of this plant: `Its effects on cattle are . . . continually lying down, rolling, terribly scoured, mucous discharge from the nose.'"

<hw>Leg</hw>, n. mining term. a peculiar form of quartz-reef, forming a nearly vertical prolongation of the saddle.

"It may also be observed that in payable saddle formations a slide intersects the reef above the saddle coming from the west, and turning east with a wall of the east leg, where the leg of reef is observed to go down deeper, and to carry a greater amount of gold than in ordinary cases."

"Legitimacy—a colonial term for designating the cause of the emigration of a certain portion of our population; i.e. having legal reasons for making the voyage."

<hw>Leguminous Ironbark</hw>, n. a name given by Leichhardt to the Queensland tree Erythrophaeum laboucherii, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae. See Ironbark.

<hw>Leichhardt</hw>, or <hw>Leichhardt-Tree</hw>, n. an Australian timber-tree, Morinda citrifolia, Linn., N.O. Rubiaceae; called also Canary-wood and Indian Mulberry. In Queensland, the name is applied to Sarcocephalus cordatus, Miq., N.O. Rubiaceae, a large timber-tree of North Queensland, much used in building.

"The Leichhardt is a very symmetrical tree, that grows to a height of about sixty feet, and has leaves rather like a big laurel."

<hw>Leichhardt's Clustered-Fig</hw>, n. i.q. Clustered Fig. See Fig.

<hw>Lemon-scented Ironbark</hw>, n. a name given to the Queensland tree Eucalyptus staigeriana, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. See Ironbark. The foliage of this tree yields a large quantity of oil, equal in fragrance to that of lemons.

<hw>Lemon-Sole</hw>, n. In England, the name is applied to an inferior species of Sole. In New South Wales, it is given to Plagusia unicolor, Mad., of the family Pleuronectidae or Flat-fishes. In New Zealand, it is another name for the New Zealand Turbot (q.v.).

<hw>Lemon, Wild</hw>, n. a timber tree, Canthium latifolium, F. v. M., N.O. Rubiaceae; called also Wild Orange.

<hw>Lemon-Wood</hw>, n. one of the names given by settlers to the New Zealand tree called by Maoris Tarata (q.v.), or Mapau (q.v.). It is Pittosporum eugenoides, A. Cunn., N.O. Pittosporeae.

<hw>Leopard-Tree</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Flindersia maculosa (or Strezleckiana), F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae; called also Spotted-Tree (q.v.), and sometimes, in Queensland, Prickly Pine.

<hw>Lerp</hw>, n. an aboriginal word belonging to the Mallee District of Victoria (see Mallee). Sometimes spelt leurp, or laap. The aboriginal word means `sweet.' It is a kind of manna secreted by an insect, Psylla eucalypti, and found on the leaves of the Mallee, Eucalyptus dumosa. Attention was first drawn to it by Mr. Thomas Dobson (see quotations). A chemical substance called Lerpamyllum is derived from it; see Watts' `Dictionary of Chemistry,' Second Supplement, 1875, s.v.

"The natives of the Wimmera prepare a luscious drink from the laap, a sweet exudation from the leaf of the mallee (Eucalyptus dumosa)."

1850. T. Dobson, `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 235:

"The white saccharine substance called `lerp,' by the Aborigines in the north-western parts of Australia Felix, and which has attracted the attention of chemists, under the impression that it is a new species of manna, originates with an insect of the tribe of Psyllidae, and order Hemiptera."

"Insects which, in the larva state, have the faculty of elaborating from the juices of the gum-leaves on which they live a glutinous and saccharine fluid, whereof they construct for themselves little conical domiciles."

"Another variety of manna is the secretion of the pupa of an insect of the Psylla family and obtains the name of lerp among the aborigines. At certain seasons of the year it is very abundant on the leaves of E. dumosa, or mallee scrub . . ."

<hw>Light-horseman</hw>, n. obsolete name for a fish; probably the fish now called a Sweep (q.v.).

"The French once caught [in Botany Bay] near two thousand fish in one day, of a species of grouper, to which, from the form of a bone in the head resembling a helmet, we have given the name of light horseman."

"A boat belonging to the Sirius caught near fifty large fish, which were called light-horsemen from a bone that grew out of the head like a helmet."

<hw>Lightwood</hw>, n. a name given to various trees. See Blackwood. It is chiefly applied to Acacia melanoxylon, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae. See quotations, 1843 and 1889.

"Lightwood—Acacia Melanoxylon . . . It derives its name from swimming in water, while the other woods of V. D. Land, except the pines, generally sink. In some parts of the Colony it is called Blackwood, on account of its dark colour."

"Some immense logs of `light wood,' a non lucendo, darker than mahogany."

"Arms so brown and bare, to look at them
Recalls to mind the lightwood's rugged stem."

"The numerous lightwood trees with sombre shade
Tend to enhance the richness of the glade."

"Called `Blackwood' on account of the very dark colour of the mature wood. It is sometimes called `Lightwood' (chiefly in South Tasmania, while the other name is given in North Tasmania and other places), but this is an inappropriate name. It is in allusion to its weight as compared with Eucalyptus timbers. It is the `Black Sally' of Western New South Wales, the `Hickory' of the southern portion of that colony, and is sometimes called `Silver Wattle.' This is considered by some people to be the most valuable of all Australian timbers.

It is hard and close-grained; much valued for furniture, picture-frames, cabinet-work, fencing, bridges, etc., railway, and other carriages, boat-building, for tool-handles, gun-stocks, naves of wheels, crutches, parts of organs, pianofortes (sound-boards and actions), etc."

<hw>Lignum</hw> (1), or <hw>Lignum-Vitae</hw>, n. The name is applied to several trees, as Myrtus acmenioides, F. v. M., called also White Myrtle; Acacia falcata, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae, called also Hickory and Sally; but chiefly to Eucalyptus polyanthema, Schau., N.O. Myrtaceae.

"[E. polyanthema.] The `Red Box' of South-eastern Australia. Called also `Brown Box,' `Grey Box,' and `Bastard Box.' `Poplar-leaved Gum' is another name, but it is most commonly known as `Lignum Vitae' because of its tough and hard wood. Great durability is attributed to this wood, though the stems often become hollow in age, and thus timber of large dimensions is not readily afforded. It is much sought after for cogs, naves and felloes; it is also much in demand for slabs in mines, while for fuel it is unsurpassed. (Mueller.) Its great hardness is against its general use."

(2) A bushman's contraction for any species of the wiry plants called polygonum.

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' [writing of the Lachlan district, New South Wales] p. 180:

"The poor emus had got down into the creek amongst the lignum bushes for a little shade . . . I do not know what a botanist would call them; they are something like cane, but with large leaves, which all animals are fond of, and they grow about eight feet high in the creeks and gullies."

<hw>Lilac</hw>, n. name given in Australia to the tree Melia composita, Willd., N.O. Meliaceae, called Cape Lilac. It is not endemic in Australia, and is called "Persian Lilac "in India. In Tasmania the name of Native Lilac is given to Prostanthera rotundifolia, R. Br., N.O. Labiatae, and by Mrs. Meredith to Tetratheca juncea, Smith, of the Linnean Order, Octandria.

"A little purple flower, which is equally common, so vividly recalls to my mind, both by its scent and colour, an Old-World favorite, that I always know it as the native Lilac (Tetratheca juncea)."

<hw>Lily, Darling</hw>, n. a bulbous plant, Crinum flaccidum, Herb., N.O. Amaryllideae; called also the Murray Lily. (See Lily, Murray.)

"The `Darling Lily.' This exceedingly handsome white-flowered plant, which grows back from the Darling, has bulbs which yield a fair arrowroot. On one occasion, near the town of Wilcannia, a man earned a handsome sum by making this substance when flour was all but unattainable."

<hw>Lily, Flax</hw>, n. See Flax-Lily, and Flax, New Zealand.

<hw>Lily, Giant</hw>-, or <hw>Spear</hw>-, n. a fibre plant, Doryanthes excelsa, Corr., N.O. Amaryllideae.

"The Doryanthes excelsa, a gigantic Lily of Australia, is a magnificent plant, with a lofty flowering spike. The bunches or clusters of crimson flowers are situated in the summit of the flowering spike . . . The diameter of a cluster of blossoms is about 14 inches . . . The flower-buds are of a brilliant crimson, and the anthers of the stamens are, in the recently expanded flower, of a dark-green colour."

"`Spear Lily.' `Giant Lily.' The leaves are a mass of fibre, of great strength, which admits of preparation either by boiling or maceration, no perceptible difference as to quality or colour being apparent after heckling. Suitable for brush making, matting, etc."

<hw>Lily, Gordon</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant and its flower, Blandfordia marginata, Herb., N.O. Liliaceae, and other species of Blandfordia (q.v.).

"Blandfordia nobilis. This splendid plant is common on the west coast and on the shores of the Mersey. It bears a head of pendulous scarlet blossoms tipped with yellow, one inch long, rising out of a stalk of from 1 1/2 to 3 feet long, from between two opposite series of strapshaped leaves. It is named after George [Gordon] Marquis of Blandford, son of the second Duke of Marlborough."

"This showy genus Crinum furnishes also Victoria with a beautiful species, the Murray Lily (Crinum flaccidum), not however to be found away from the Murray-River southward."

<hw>Lilly-Pilly</hw>, n. name given to a large timber tree, Eugenia smithii, Poir., N.O. Myrtaceae. The bark is rich in tanning. Sometimes called Native Banana.

"The Lillypilly-trees, as they are named by the colonists, consist of several species of Acmena, and are all of elegant growth and dense and handsome foliage."

1879. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' p. 134:

"Eugenia Smithii, or Lilli pilli, and Melodorum Leichhardtii are also fair eating. The latter goes by the name of the native banana though it is very different from a banana, and in reality allied to the custard apple."

"`Lilly Pilly.' The fruits are eaten by aboriginals, small boys, and birds. They are formed in profusion, are acidulous and wholesome. They are white with a purplish tint, and up to one inch in diameter."

<hw>Lily, Rock</hw>, n. an orchid, Dendrobium speciosum, Smith, N.O. Orchideae. although not a Lily, it is always so called, especially in Sydney, where it is common.

"A luxuriant vegetation, with huge masses of Stagshorn Fern (Platycerium) and `rock-lilies' (orchids), and a variety of timbers, whilst there are Tree-ferns and small palms in the lateral shady gullies."

"`Rock Lily.' The large pseudobulbs have been eaten by the aboriginals; they contain little nutritive matter."

<hw>Lily, Water</hw>, n. There are several indigenous native varieties of the N.O. Nymphaeceae—Cabombia peltata, Pursh; Nymphaea gigantea, Hook. (Blue Water-lily).

<hw>Lily, Yellow</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Bulbine bulbosa, Haw., N.O. Liliaceae. See Leek, Native.

<hw>Lime, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Citrus australasica, F. v. M., N.O. Rutaceae; called also Finger Lime and Orange. But the appellation of Native Lime is more generally given to Citrus australis, Planch., N.O. Rutaceae.

"`Native Lime. Orange.' The fruit, which is an inch and a half in diameter, and almost globular, yields an agreeable beverage from its acid juice."

<hw>Ling</hw>, n. a fish. The name is given in England to various fishes, from their length. In New Zealand and Tasmania, it is applied to Genypterus blacodes, Forst.; also called Cloudy Bay Cod. Lotella marginata, Macl., is called Ling, in New South Wales, and Beardie. Genypterus belongs to the Ophidiidae and Lotella to the next family, the Gadidae.

<hw>Lobster</hw>, n. The name is often carelessly used in Australia for the Crayfish (q.v.).

<hw>Lobster's</hw>-Claw, n. another name for Sturt's Desert Pea (q.v.).

<hw>Locust</hw>, n. name popularly but quite erroneously applied to insects belonging to two distinct orders.

(1) Insects belonging to the order Hemiptera. The great black Cicada, Cicada moerens, Germ., and the great green Cicada, Cyclochila australasiae, Donov.

(2) Insects belonging to the order Orthoptera, such as the great green gum-tree grasshopper, Locusta vigentissima, Serv., or the Australian yellow-winged locust, Oedipoda musica, Fab.

"The trees swarmed with large locusts (the Cicada), quite deafening us with their shrill buzzing noise."

"We heard everywhere on the gumtrees the cricket-like insects—usually called locusts by the colonists—hissing their reed-like monotonous noise."

"Our Cicada moerens . . . produces an almost deafening sound from the numbers of the individuals in the hottest days and the loudness of their noise." "This species (Cyclochila Australasiae) is much less abundant than the C. moerens, and seems more confined to moist places, such as river banks and deep ravines and gullies."

1889. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Dec. 11, pl. 110:

"The great size of the muscular thighs of the posterior pair of feet enables the Locusts to jump much higher, further, and more readily than Grasshoppers, giving an example of muscular power almost unparalleled in the animal kingdom."

"What are commonly styled `locusts' in this country are really Cicadae, belonging to a totally distinct and widely separated order of insects. And moreover the same kind of Cicada is known by different names in different localities, such as `Miller,' `Mealyback,' etc. The true locusts belong to the grasshoppers, while the Homopterous Cicadidae have been known as Cicadas from times of remote antiquity."

<hw>Logan-Apple</hw>, n. a small Queensland tree, with an acid fruit, Acronychia acidia, F. v. M., N.O. Rutaceae.

"Not more than ten settlers had been able to erect dwellings better than log-huts." [This was in Sydney, 1796.]

<hw>Log-Runner</hw>, n. an Australian bird, called also a Spinetail. The species are—

Spinetailed— O. spinicauda, Temm., called also Pheasant's Mother. See Orthonyx.

<hw>Logs</hw>, n. pl. the Lock-up. Originally, in the early days, a log-hut, and often keeping the name when it was made a more secure place. Sometimes, when there was no lock-up, the prisoners were chained to heavy logs of trees.

"The governor resolved on building a large log prison both at Sydney and Paramatta, and `as the affair cried haste,' a quantity of logs were ordered to be sent in by the various settlers, officers and others."

[p. 196]: "The inhabitants of Sydney were assessed to supply thatch for the new gaol, and the building was enclosed with a strong high fence. It was 80 feet long, the sides and ends were of strong logs, a double row of which formed each partition. The prison was divided into 22 cells. The floor and the roof were logs, over which was a coat eight inches deep of clay."

1851. Letter from Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church of Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 164:

"One [sentry] at the lock-up, a regular American log-hut." [sic. But in America it would have been called a log-cabin.]

"Let's put him in the Logs . . . The lock-up, like most bush ones, was built of heavy logs, just roughly squared, with the ceiling the same sort."

"`He'll land himself in the logs about that same calf racket if he doesn't lookout, some day.' `Logs!' I says. `There don't seem to be many about this part. The trees are all too small.'"

<hw>Lolly</hw>, n., pl. <hw>Lollies</hw>. The English word lollipop is always shortened in Australia, and is the common word to the exclusion of others, e.g. sweets. Manufacturers of sweetmeats are termed Lolly-makers.

"Mr. Patterson (musing over last Saturday's experiences): You're going to raise the price of lollies. I'm a great buyer of them myself. (Laughter.) If you pay the full duty it will, doubtless, be patriotic for me to buy more when I go amongst the juveniles."

<hw>Long-fin</hw>, n. name given to the fish Caprodon schlegelii, Gunth., and in New South Wales to Anthias longimanus, Gunth.

"The long-fin, Anthias Iongimanus, Gunth., is a good fish that finds its way to the market occasionally . . . may be known by its uniform red colour, and the great length of the pectoral fins."

<hw>Long-Jack</hw>, name given to the tree Flindersia oxleyana, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae; called also Light Yellow-Wood.

<hw>Long-sleever</hw>, n. name for a big drink and also for the glass in which it is contained. Perhaps in allusion to its tall, tapering, long shape.

"Their drivers had completed their regulation half-score of `long-sleevers' of `she-oak.'"

<hw>Long-Tom</hw>, n. name given in Sydney to Belone ferox, Gunth., a species of Garfish which has both jaws prolonged to form a slender beak. See Garfish.

<hw>Lope</hw>, n. a slow and steady gallop. From Dutch verb loopen, to leap, to run. The word is American rather than Australian.

"Every body gallops here, or at least goes at a canter—which they call the Australian lope."

<hw>Loquat</hw>, a Chinese word meaning "Rush-orange," Photinia japonica. Being highly ornamental and bearing a pleasant stony juicy fruit of the colour and size of a small orange, it has been introduced into nearly all Australian gardens. The name Native Loquat has been given to an indigenous shrub, Rhodomyrtus macrocarpa, Benth., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Lorikeet</hw>, n. a bird-name, little Lory (q.v.). The species in Australia are—

Lathamus discolor, Swift Lorikeet … … 47 Trichoglossus Novae-Hollandiae, Jard. and Selb., Swainson's L. … … … … … … 48 T. rubritorquis, Vig. and Horsf., Red-collared L. 49 T. chlorolepidotus, Scaly-breasted L. … 50 T. versicolor, Vig., Varied L. … … 51 T. concinnus, Musky L. … … … … 52 T. porphyrocephalus, Dict., Porphyry-crowned L. 53 T. pusillus, Little L. … … … … 54

"On the hill-sides the converse of the lorikeets as they drain the honeycups and swing and chatter in low undertones the whole day long."

<hw>Lory</hw>, n. a bird-name. The word is Malay. (See `Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. xv.) It is often spelt Lowrie in Australia. The species in Australia are—

"Aprosmictus scapulatus, king lory; erythropturus, red-winged lory."

<hw>Lotus-bird</hw>, n. Parra gallinacea, Temm.; called also the Jacana (q.v.), and the Parra (q.v.).

"The most striking bird on the lagoon is doubtless the beautiful Parra gallinacea, which in Australia is called the lotus-bird. It sits on the leaves that float on the water, particularly those of the water-lily."

<hw>Lowan</hw>, n. aboriginal birdname for Leipoa ocellata, Gould. The name is used for the bird in Victoria and in the south-east district of South Australia. In the Mallee district, it is called Mallee-bird, Mallee fowl, Mallee-hen (q.v.); in South Australia, Native Pheasant (q.v.); and in various parts of Australia, the Scrub-Turkey. The county called Lowan, after the bird, is in the Mallee country in the west of Victoria. See Turkey.

"The Lowan (Mallee-hen, they're mostly called). The Lowan eggs—beautiful pink thin-shelled ones they are, first-rate to eat, and one of 'em a man's breakfast."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 68:

"To the dry, arid Mallee Scrub of the Western District is a radical change of scene. There the so-called Mallee hen, or Native name, Lowan (Leipoa ocellata), loves to dwell."

"The postmaster at Nhill had drawn the attention of the Deputy Postmaster-General to the large number of letters which are received there addressed to `Lowan.' It should be understood that this is the name of a county containing several postal districts, and correspondents should be more specific in their addresses."

<hw>Lowrie</hw>, n. a bird-name. An Australian variant of Lory (q.v.).

"A great many species of the parrot are found; and of these the King Parrot is the most beautiful, and that called the Lowrie is perhaps the most docile."

<hw>Lubra</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a black woman. The name comes from Tasmania, appearing first in the form loubra, in a vocabulary given in the `Voyage de Decouvertes de l'Astrolabe' (Paris, 1834), vol. vii. p. 9, and was obtained from a Tasmanian woman, belonging to Port Dalrymple on the Tamar River. It is probably a compound of the Tasmanian words loa or lowa, a woman, and proi (with variants), big. In Victoria, the use of the word began at the Hopkins River and the vicinity, having been introduced by settlers from Tasmania, but it was generally adopted south of the Murray. North of the Murray the native women were called Gins (q.v.). Both words are now used indiscriminately.

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 73 :

"The young man who wishes to marry has first to look out for a wife amongst the girls or leubras of some neighbouring tribe."

"Certain stout young gins or lubras, set apart for that purpose, were sacrificed."

"Naked, and not ashamed, the old men grey-bearded and eyes bright, watched the cooking of the fish, and the younger, with the lubras, did the honours of reception."

<hw>Lucerne, Native</hw>, or <hw>Paddy</hw>, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp. See Hemp.

"And now lies wandering fat and sleek,
On the Lucerne flats by the Homestead Creek."

<hw>Luderick</hw>, or <hw>Ludrick</hw>, n. an aboriginal Gippsland name for a local variety of the fish Girella simplex, Richards., the Black-fish (q.v.).

1802. Flemming, `Journal of the Exploration of C. Grimes' (at Port Phillip), ed. by J. J. Shillinglaw, Melbourne, 1897, p. 27:

<hw>Lyre-bird</hw>, n. an Australian bird, originally called the Bird of Paradise of New South Wales; then called a Native Pheasant, or Mountain Pheasant, and still generally called a Pheasant by the Gippsland bushmen. The name Lyre-bird apparently began between 1828 and 1834. It is not used by Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales' (1828), vol. i. p. 303. See Menura. The species are—

Since 1888 the Lyre-bird has been the design on the eight-penny postage-stamp of New South Wales.

"The Bird of Paradise of New South Wales [with picture]. This elegant bird, which by some is called the Bird of Paradise, and by others the Maenura Superba, has a straight bill, with the nostrils in the centre of the beak."

1802. D. Collins, `History of English Colony of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 335:

"The `Native or Wood-pheasant,' or `Lyre bird' of the colonists, the `Menura superba' of naturalists, and the `Beleck, beleck,' and `Balaugara' of the aboriginal tribes, is abundant about the mountain ranges, in all parts of the colony."

"Numerous pheasants (Menura superba). These birds are the mocking-birds of Australia, imitating all the sounds that are heard in the bush in great perfection. They are about the size of a barn-door fowl, and are not remarkable for any beauty either in the shape or colour, being of a dirty brown, approaching to black in some parts; their greatest attraction consists in the graceful tail of the cock bird, which assumes something the appearance of a lyre, for which reason some naturalists have called them lyre-birds."

"Menura superba, Davies, Lyre-bird; Pheasant of the Colonists. Were I requested to suggest an emblem for Australia amongst its birds, I should without the slightest hesitation select the Menura as the most appropriate, being strictly peculiar to Australia."

"There the proud lyre-bird spreads his tail,
And mocks the notes of hill and dale
Whether the wild dog's plaintive howl
Or cry of piping water-fowl."

"The Lyre-bird may yet be seen—more frequently heard—amongst the gullies and ravines. It has the power of imitating every other bird, and nearly every sound it hears in the bush-even that of a cross-cut saw."

"Here, too, for the first time, we saw a lyre-bird, which some one had just shot, the body being like a coot's, and about the same size, the tail long as the tail of a bird of paradise, beautifully marked in bright brown, with the two chief feathers curved into the shape of a Greek lyre, from which it takes its name."

"There are more reasons than one why the lyre-bird should be preserved. From a purely utilitarian point of view it is of value, for it is insectivorous and preys upon insects which are apt to prefer orchard fruit to their natural bush food. But the bird has as well a national and sentimental value. Next to the emu it is the most typical Australian bird. It is peculiar to Australia, for in no other country is it to be seen. Comparatively speaking it is a rara avis even in Australia itself, for it is only to be found in the most secluded parts of two colonies—Victoria and New South Wales. It is the native pheasant. The aborigines call it `Beleck-Beleck,' and whites call it the `lyre-bird' from the shape of its tail; the ornithologists have named it Menura. There are three species—the Victoriae of this colony, and the Alberta and superba of New South Wales. The general plumage is glossy brown, shaded with black and silver grey, and the ornate tail of the male bird is brown with black bars. They live in the densest recesses of the fern gullies of the Dividing Range with the yellow-breasted robin, the satin-bird, and the bell-bird as their neighbours. They are the most shy of birds, and are oftener heard than seen. Their notes, too, are heard more frequently than they are recognized, for they are consummate mimics and ventriloquists. They imitate to perfection the notes of all other birds, the united voicing of a flock of paraquetts [sic], the barking of dogs, the sawing of timber, and the clink of the woodman's axe. Thus it is that the menura has earned for itself the title of the Australian mocking-bird. Parrots and magpies are taught to speak; as a mimic the lyre-bird requires no teacher."

"If the creature was lovely its beauty was marketable and fatal—and the lyre-bird was pursued to its last retreats and inveigled to death, so that its feathers might be peddled in our streets."

<hw>Mackerel</hw>, n. In Australia, Scomber antarcticus, Castln., said to be identical with Scomber pneumatophorus, De la Roche, the European mackerel; but rare. In New Zealand, Scomber australasicus, Cuv. and Val.

<hw>Macquarie Harbour Grape</hw>, or <hw>Macquarie Harbour Vine</hw>, n. the Tasmanian name for Muhlenbeckia adpressa, Meissn. N.O. Polygonaceae; called Native Ivy in Australia. See Ivy and Grape.

"That valuable plant called the Macquarie harbour grape. It was so named by Mr. Lempriere, late of the Commissariat at that station, who first brought it into notice as a desirable acquisition in our gardens."

"Polygonum adpressum. The Macquarie harbour vine, either as an insignificant trailing plant, or as a magnificent climber, according to the soil and situation, is found on the coast of various parts of Van Diemen's Land, and also as far inland as within about four miles of New Norfolk. This plant has a small but sweet fruit, formed of the thickened divisions of the calyx of the flower, inclosing a triangular seed of unpleasant flavour."

<hw>Macropus</hw>, n. the scientific name for the typical genus of Macropodidae, established by Shaw in 1800. From the Greek makropous, long-footed. It includes the Kangaroo (q.v.) and Wallaby (q.v.). M. giganteus, Zimm., is the Giant Kangaroo, or Forester (q.v.).

<hw>Mado</hw>, n. a Sydney fish, Therapon cuvieri, Bleek; called also Trumpeter-Perch. Atypus strigatus, Gunth., is also called Mado by the Sydney fishermen, who confound it with the first species. The name is probably aboriginal.

<hw>Magpie</hw>, n. a black-and-white Crow-Shrike, present all over Australia. He resembles the English Magpie in general appearance, but has not the long tail of that bird, though he shares with him his kleptomania. He is often called the Bush-magpie (q.v.) by townsfolk, to distinguish him from the tamed specimens kept in many gardens, or in cages, which are easily taught to talk. The species are—

Black-backed Magpie— Gymnorhina tibicen, Lath.; called also Flute-Bird (q.v.).

White, or Organ M.— G. organicum, Gould; called also Organ-bird (q.v.).

"Magpie, a large, pied crow.Of all the birds I have ever seen, the cleverest, the most grotesque, and the most musical. The splendid melody of his morning and evening song is as unequalled as it is indescribable."

"The magpie maketh mute
His mellow fluent flute,
Nor chaunteth now his leuconotic hymn."

<hw>Magpie-Goose</hw>, n. a common name for the Australian Goose, Anseranus melanoleuca, Lath.; called also Swan-goose, and Pied goose. See Goose.

<hw>Magpie-Lark</hw>, n. an Australian black-and-white bird (Grallina picata, Lath.), resembling the Magpie in appearance, but smaller; called also Pee-wee, and Mudlark, from its building its nest of mud.

"The little magpie-lark. . . . His more elegant and graceful figure remains in modest silence by the hedgerow in the outskirts."

<hw>Magpie-Perch</hw>, n. a West Australian, Victorian, and Tasmanian fish, Chilodactylus gibbosus, Richards.; not a true Perch, but of family Cirrhitidae.

<hw>Magra</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the sling or pouch in which the gins carry their children on their backs.

<hw>Mahoe</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand Whitewood-tree, Melicytus ramiflorus, Forst., N.O. Violarieae.

"Mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus) grows to the height of about fifty feet, and has a fine thin spiral leaf."

"Mahoe, hinahina. A small tree twenty to thirty feet high; trunk often angular and seven feet in girth. The word is soft and not in use. . . . Leaves greedily eaten by cattle."

<hw>Mahogany</hw>, n. The name, with varying epithets, is applied to several Australian trees, chiefly Eucalypts, on account of the redness or hardness of their timber, and its applicability to purposes similar to that of the true Mahogany. The following enumeration is compiled from Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'

Mahogany, Tristania conferta, R. Br., N.O.
Myrtaceae; called also White Box, Red Box, Brush
Box, Bastard Box, Brisbane Box. This bark is occasionally used
for tanning.

Bastard Mahogany, or Gippsland Mahogany, or Swamp Mahogany, Eucalyptus botryoides, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae. The Blue Gum of New South Wales coast districts. Bastard Mahogany of Gippsland and New South Wales; called also Swamp Mahogany in Victoria and New South Wales. It also bears the names of Bastard Jarrah, and occasionally Woolly Butt. Sydney workmen often give it the name Bangalay, by which it was formerly known by the aboriginals of Port Jackson. It is one of four colonial timbers recommended by the Victorian Carriage Timber Board for use in the construction of railway carriages. Specimens from Gippsland (Gippsland Mahogany) are spoken of as "a timber of good colour, as strong as Blue Gum."

Mahogany, or Bastard Mahogany, Eucalyptus marginata, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae. Universally known as Jarrah. In Western Australia it also bears the name of Mahogany, or Bastard Mahogany.

Forest or Red Mahogany, Eucalyptus resinifera, Smith,
N.O. Myrtaceae; called also Jimmy Low (q.v.).

Forest Mahogany, Eucalyptus microcorys, F. v. M.,
N.O. Myrtaceae. In Queensland it is known as
Peppermint, the foliage being remarkably rich in volatile oil.
But its almost universal name is Tallow Wood (q.v.).
North of Port Jackson it bears the name of Turpentine
Tree (q.v.), and Forest Mahogany.

Tom Russell's Mahogany, Lysicarpus ternifolius,
F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Swamp Mahogany, or White Mahogany, Eucalyptus robusta, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae, B. Fl. This tree is known as White, or Swamp Mahogany, from the fact that it generally grows in swampy ground. It is also called Brown Gum. This timber is much valued for shingles, wheelwrights'work, ship-building, and building purposes generally. As a timber for fuel, and where no great strength is required, it is excellent, especially when we consider its adaptability to stagnant, swampy, or marshy places.

<hw>Mai</hw>, or <hw>Matai</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree, now called Podocarpus spicata.

"Matai, mai (Dacrydium mai), a tree with a fine thick top, and leaf much resembling that of the yew. The wood is of a slightly reddish colour, close-grained, but brittle, and peculiarly fragrant when burnt. . . . Highly prized for fuel, and also much used for furniture, as it works up easily and comes next to the totara for durability."

1876. W. n. Blair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. art. x. p. 157:

"I have in this paper adhered to the popular name of black-pine for this timber, but the native name matai is always used in the north."

<hw>Maiden's</hw> Blush, n. name given to the Australian tree Echinocarpus australis, Benth., N.O. Tiliaceae; and sometimes applied to Euroschinus falcatus, Hook., N.O. Anacardiaceae. The timber is of a delicate rosy colour when cut. The fruit is called Hedgehog-fruit (q.v.). In Tasmania, the name is applied to Convolvulus erubescens, Sims., order Convolvulaceae.

(3) Eugenia maire, A. Cunn., native box-wood, but now usually confined to N.O. Santalaceae.

"Maire—a small tree ten to fifteen feet high, six to eight inches in diameter; wood hard, close-grained, heavy, used by Maoris in the manufacture of war implements. Has been used as a substitute for box by wood-engravers. Black maire, N.O. Jasmineae;also Maire-rau-nui, Olea Cunninghamii. Hook., fil., Black M., forty to fifty feet high, three to four feet in diameter, timber close-grained, heavy, and very durable."

<hw>Major Buller</hw>, n. name given to one of the fruits of the Geebong tribe. See Geebong.

"The Sergeant Baker in all probability got its local appellation to the early history of the colony (New South Wales), as it was called after a sergeant of that name in one of the first detachments of a regiment; so were also two fruits of the Geebong tribe (Persoonia); one was called Major Buller, and the other Major Groce, and this latter again further corrupted into Major Grocer."

<hw>Major Groce</hw>, or <hw>Major Grocer</hw>, name given to one of the fruits of the Geebung tribe. See Geebung, /or Geebong/ and quotation under Major Buller.

<hw>Major Mitchell</hw>, n. vernacular name of a species of Cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri, Vig. It was called after the explorer, Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell, who was Surveyor- General of New South Wales. The cry of the bird was fancifully supposed to resemble his name. See Leadbeater.

<hw>Make a light</hw>, expressive pigeon-English. An aboriginal's phrase for to look for, to find. "You been make a light yarraman this morning?" i.e. Have you found or seen the horses this morning?

<hw>Mako</hw>, n. originally Makomako. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Aristotelia racemosa, Hook., N.O. Tiliaceae, often but incorrectly called Mokomoko.

"Mako, a small handsome tree, six to twenty feet high, quick-growing, with large racemes of reddish nodding flowers. Wood very light and white in colour."

<hw>Mako/2/</hw>, n. Maori name for the Tiger- Shark. See Shark. The teeth of the Mako are used for ornaments by the Maoris.

<hw>Mallee</hw>, n. and adj. an aboriginal word. Any one of several scrubby species of Eucalyptus in the desert parts of South Australia and Victoria, especially Eucalyptus dumosa, Cunn., and E. oleosa, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. They are also called Mallee Gums. Accent on the first syllable. The word is much used as an adjective to denote the district in which the shrub grows, the "Mallee District," and this in late times is generally shortened into The Mallee. Compare "The Lakes" for the Lake-district of Cumberland. It then becomes used as an epithet of Railways, Boards, Farmers, or any matters connected with that district.

"The natives of the Wimmera prepare a luscious drink from the laap, a sweet exudation from the leaf of the mallee (Eucalyptus dumosa"

"The immense thickets of Eucalyptus dumosa, commonly designated the `Malle' scrub."

"This mallee scrub, as it is called, consists of a dense wood of a dwarf species of gum-tree, Eucalyptus dumosa. This tree, not more than a dozen feet in height, stretches its horizontal and rigid branches around it so as to form with its congeners a close, compact mass."

186. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia, vol. i. p. 214 (Oxley's Expedition in 1817):

"The country, in dead flats, was overspread with what is now called mallee scrub, that is, the dwarf spreading eucalyptus, to which Mr. Cunningham gave the specific name of dumosa, a most pestilent scrub to travel through, the openings betwixt the trees being equally infested with the detestable malle-grass."

"The lands not alienated from the Crown and situated in the North-Western district of Victoria within the boundaries set forth in the First Schedule hereto, comprising in all some ten millions of acres wholly or partially covered with the mallee plant, and known as the Mallee Country, shall be divided into blocks as hereinafter provided."

"Mallee Selections at Horsham. A special Mallee Board, consisting of Mr. Hayes, head of the Mallee branch of the Lands Department, and Mr. Porter."

"In the Mallee country there is abundance of work, cutting down mallee, picking up dead wood, rabbit destruction, etc.

"One of the most common terms used by explorers is `Mallee' scrub, so called from its being composed of dwarf species of Eucalyptus, called `Mallee' by the natives. The species that forms the `mallee' scrub of South Australia is the Eucalyptus dumosa, and it is probable that allied species receive the same name in other parts of the country."

"The late Baron von Mueller was firmly convinced that it would pay well in this colony, and especially in the mallee, to manufacture potash."

<hw>Mallee-bird</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Leipoa ocellata, Gould. Aboriginal name, the Lowan (q.v.); see Turkey.

[Close Season.] "Mallee-hen, from 1st day of August to the 20th day of December next following in each year."

". . . the economy of the lowan or mallee-hen. . . . It does not incubate its eggs after the manner of other birds, but deposits them in a large mound of sand . . . Shy and timid. Inhabits dry and scrubs. In shape and size resembles a greyish mottled domestic turkey, but is smaller, more compact and stouter in the legs."

<hw>Mallee-scrub</hw>, n. the "scrub," or thicket, formed by the Mallee (q.v.).

"The flat and, rarely, hilly plains . . . are covered chiefly with thickets and `scrub' of social plants, generally with hard and prickly leaves. This `scrub,' which is quite a feature of the Australian interior, is chiefly formed of a bushy Eucalyptus, which grows somewhat like our osiers to a height of 8 or 10 feet, and often so densely covers the ground as to be quite impenetrable. This is the `Mallee scrub' of the explorers; while the still more dreaded `Mulga scrub' consists of species of prickly acacia, which tear the clothes and wound the flesh of the traveller."

<hw>Malurus</hw>, n. the scientific name for a genus of Australian warblers. Name reduced from Malacurus, from the Grk. malakos, soft, and 'oura, a tail. The type-species is Malurus cyaneus of Australia, the Superb Warbler or Blue-Wren. See Superb Warbler, Wren, and Emu-Wren. All the Maluri, of which there are fifteen or sixteen species, are popularly known as Superb Warblers, but are more correctly called Wrens.

"The Wrens and Warblers—chiefly Maluri, with the allied Amytis and Stipiturus—are purely Australian. They are feeble on the wing but swift of foot."

<hw>Mana</hw>, n. a Maori word for power, influence, right, authority, prestige. See chapter on Mana, in `Old New Zealand' (1863), by Judge Maning.

"The natives feel that with the land their `mana,' or power, has gone likewise; few therefore can now be induced to part with land."

"The Maoris of my tribe used to come and ask me which had the greatest `mana' (i.e. fortune, prestige, power, strength), the Protestant God or the Romanist one."

"We should be glad to shelter ourselves under the mana— the protection—of good old Kanini."

"The word `mana,' power, or influence, may be said to be classical, as there were learned discussions about its precise meaning in the early dispatches and State papers. It may be said that misunderstanding about what mana meant caused the war at Taranaki."

<hw>Mangaroo</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a small flying phalanger with exquisitely fine fur.

"Descending from the branches of an ironbark tree beside him, a beautiful little mangaroo floated downwards on out-stretched wings to the foot of a sapling at a little distance away, and nimbly ascending it was followed by his mate."

<hw>Mangi</hw>, or <hw>Mangeao</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Litsea calicaris, Benth. and Hook. f.

"Mangi—remarkably tough and compact, used for ship-blocks and similar purposes."

<hw>Mango</hw>, n. Maori name for the Dog-fish (q.v.), a species of shark.

<hw>Mangrove</hw>, n. The name is applied to trees belonging to different natural orders, common in all tropical regions and chiefly littoral. Species of these, Rhizophorea mucronata, Lamb, and Avicennia officinalis, Linn., are common in Australia; the latter is also found in New Zealand.

Bruguiera rheedii, of the N.O. Rhizophoreae, is called in Australia Red Mangrove, and the same vernacular name is applied to Heritiera littoralis, Dryand., N.O. Sterculiaceae, the Sundri of India and the Looking-glass Tree of English gardeners.

The name Milky Mangrove is given, in Australia, to Excaecaria agallocha, Linn., N.O. Euphorbiaceae, which further goes by the names of River Poisonous Tree and Blind-your-Eyes—names alluding to the poisonous juice of the stem.

The name River Mangrove is applied to AEgiceras majus, Gaertn., N.O. Myrsineae, which is not endemic in Australia.

In Tasmania, Native Mangrove is another name for the Boobialla (q.v.)

<hw>Mangrove-Myrtle</hw>, n. name applied by Leichhardt to the Indian tree Barringtonia acutangula, Gaertn. (Stravadium rubrum De C.), N.O. Myrtaceae.

"As its foliage and the manner of the growth resemble the mangrove, we called it the mangrove-myrtle."

<hw>Manna</hw>, n. the dried juice, of sweet taste, obtained from incisions in the bark of various trees. The Australian manna is obtained from certain Eucalypts, especially E. viminalis, Labill. It differs chemically from the better known product of the Manna-Ash (Fraxinus ornus). See Lerp.

"Several of the species yield an exudation in the spring and summer months, which coagulates and drops from the leaves to the ground in small irregular shaped snow white particles, often as large as an almond [?]. They are sweet and very pleasant to the taste, and are greedily devoured by the birds, ants, and other animals, and used to be carefully picked up and eaten by the aborigines. This is a sort of Manna."

"Two varieties of a substance called manna are among the natural products . . . one kind . . . being secreted by the leaves and slender twigs of the E. viminalis from punctures or injuries done to these parts of the tree. . . . It consists principally of a kind of grape sugar and about 5 %. of the substance called mannite. Another variety of manna is the secretion of the pupa of an insect of the Psylla family and obtains the name of lerp among the aborigines. At certain seasons of the year it is very abundant on the leaves of E. dumosa, or mallee scrub . . ."

"The Hemipters, of which the aphids, or plant-lice, are a familiar example, are furnished with stiff beaks, with which they pierce the bark and leaves of various plants for the purpose of extracting the juices. It is to the punctures of this and some other insects of the same Order, that the sweet white manna is due, which occurs in large quantities during the summer months on many of the gum-trees."

<hw>Manoao</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Yellow-pine, Dacrydium colensoi, Hook., N.O. Coniferae.

<hw>Manucode</hw>, n. The word is in English use for the bird-of- paradise. It is Malay (manuk-dewata = bird of the gods). The species in Australia is Manucodia gouldii, Grey. See also Rifle-bird.

<hw>Manuka</hw>, n. the Maori name for Tea-tree (q.v.). Properly, the accent is on the first syllable with broad a. Vulgarly, the accent is placed on the second syllable. There are two species in New Zealand, white and red; the first, a low bush called Scrub-Manuka, L. scoparium, R. and G. Forst., the Tea-tree used by Captain Cook's sailors; the second, a tree Leptospermum ericoides, A. Richard.

"This wood, called by the southern tribes manuka, is remarkably hard and durable, and throughout the country is an especial favourite with the natives, who make their spears, paddles, fishing rods, etc., of this useful timber."

"The Manuka, or, as it is called in the northern part of the island, Kahikatoa (leptospermum scoparium), is a mysterious plant, known in Van Diemen's Land as the tea tree."

"[The house] was protected from the weather by a wooden railing filled in with branches of the manuka. This is a shrub very abundant in some parts. The plant resembles the teaplant in leaves and flower, and is often used green by the whalers and traders for the same purpose."

"It is generally made of manuka a very hard, dark, close-grained and heavy wood."

"The manuka, a sort of scrub, has a pretty blossom like a diminutive Michaelmas daisy, white petals and a brown centre, with a very aromatic odour; and this little flower is succeeded by a berry with the same strong smell and taste of spice. The shepherds sometimes make an infusion of these when they are very hard up for tea; but it must be like drinking a decoction of cloves."

[Domett has the following note—"`A large shrub or small tree; leaves used as tea in Tasmania and Australia, where the plant is equally abundant' (Hooker). In the poem it is called indiscriminately manuka, broom, broom-like myrtle, or leptosperm. The settlers often call it `tea-broom.'"]

"Manuka is a shrub which is rampant throughout New Zealand.
If it were less common it would be thought more beautiful.
In summer it is covered with white blossom: and there are
few more charming sights than a plain of flourishing manuka."

<hw>Maomao</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand sea-fish, Ditrema violacea.

"The delicious little maomao may be caught at the Riverina
Rocks in immense quantities."

<hw>Maori</hw>, n. (pronounced so as to rhyme with Dowry). (1) The name used to designate themselves by the Polynesian race occupying New Zealand when it was discovered by the white man, and which still survives. They are not aboriginal as is commonly supposed, but migrated into New Zealand about 500 years ago from Hawaii, the tradition still surviving of the two great canoes (Arawa and Tainui) in which the pioneers arrived. They are commonly spoken of as the Natives of New Zealand.

(3) adj. applied to anything pertaining to the Maoris or their language. See Pakeha.

There is a discussion on the word in the `Journal of Polynesian Society,' vol. i. no. 3, vol. ii. no. 1, and vol. iii. no. i. Bishop Williams (4th ed.) says that the word means, "of the normal or usual kind." The Pakehas were not men to whom the natives were accustomed. So Maori was used as opposed to the Europeans, the white-skins. Kuri Maori was a name used for a dog after the arrival of other quadrupeds called also kuri. Wai maori was freshwater, ordinary as opposed to sea-water. Another explanation is that the word meant "indigenous," and that there are kindred words with that meaning in other Polynesian languages. First, "indigenous," or "of the native race," and then with a secondary meaning, "ours." (See Tregear's Maori Comparative Dictionary,' s.v.)

The form of the plural varies. The form Maoris is considered the more correct, but the form Maories is frequently used by good writers.

"The Maori language is essentially a poor one, and possesses in particular but few words which express abstract ideas."

"No light is thrown on the origin of the New Zealanders from the name Maori which they call themselves. This word, rendered by linguists `native,' is used in contradistinction to pakeha, or stranger."

"One morn they fought, the fight was hot,
Although the day was show'ry;
And many a gallant soldier then
Was bid Memento Maori."

"Like the night, the fated Maori
Fights the coming day;
Fights and falls as doth the kauri
Hewn by axe away."

(4) Name given in New South Wales to the fish, Cosis lineolatus, one of the Labridae, or Wrasses.

<hw>Maori-Cabbage</hw>, n. the wild cabbage of New Zealand, Brassica spp., N.O. Cruciferae, said to be descended from the cabbages planted by Captain Cook.

"Every recollection of Cook is interesting. . . . But the chief record of his having been on the island is the cabbage and turnip which he sowed in various places: these have spread and become quite naturalized, growing everywhere in the greatest abundance, and affording an inexhaustible supply of excellent vegetables."

"The only plant good to eat is Maori cabbage, and that is swede turnip gone wild, from seed left by Captain Cook."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. art. i. p. 31 [`On the Vegetable Food of the Ancient New Zealanders']:

"The leaves of several smaller plants were also used as vegetables; but the use of these in modern times, or during the last forty or fifty years, was commonly superseded by that of the extremely useful and favourite plant—the Maori cabbage, Brassica oleracea, introduced by Cook (nani of the Maoris at the north, and rearea at the south), of which they carefully sowed the seeds."

<hw>Maori-chief</hw>, n. name given to a New Zealand Flathead-fish, Notothenia maoriensis, or coriiceps. The name arises from marks on the fish like tattooing. It is a very dark, almost black fish.

1877. P. Thomson, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. x. art. xliv. p. 330:

"Some odd fishes now and then turn up in the market, such as the Maori-chief, cat-fish, etc."

"That very dark-skinned fish, the Maori-chief, Notothenia Maoriensis of Dr. Haast, is not uncommon, but is rarely seen more than one at a time."

"Resemblances are strange things. At first it would seem improbable that a fish could be like a man, but in Dunedin a fish was shown to me called Maori Chief, and with the exercise of a little imagination it was not difficult to perceive the likeness. Nay, some years ago, at a fishmonger's in Melbourne, a fish used to be labelled with the name of a prominent Victorian politician now no more. There is reason, however, to believe that art was called in to complete the likeness."

<hw>Maori-head</hw>, n. a swamp tussock, so called from a fancied resemblance to the head of a Maori. (Compare Black-boy.) It is not a grass, but a sedge (carex).

"A boggy creek that oozed sluggishly through rich black soil, amongst tall raupo, maori-heads, and huge flax-bushes."

<hw>Maoriland</hw>, n. a modern name for New Zealand. It is hardly earlier than 1884. If the word, or anything like it, such as Maoria, was used earlier, it meant "the Maori parts of New Zealand." It is now used for the whole.

"Maoria: a sketch of the Manners and Customs of the
Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand."

"The King Country, or Explorations in New Zealand.
A Narrative of 600 Miles of Travel through Maoriland."

"Always something new from Maoriland! Our New Zealand friends are kindly obliging us with vivid illustrations of how far demagogues in office will actually go."

<hw>Maorilander</hw>, n. modern name for a white man born in New Zealand.

"Norman is a pushing young Maorilander who apparently has the
Britisher by the right ear."

"Tungstate of lime occurs plentifully in the Wakatipu district, where from its weight and colour it is called White Maori by the miners."

<hw>Mapau</hw>, n. a Maori name for several New Zealand trees; called also Mapou, and frequently corrupted by settlers into Maple, by the law of Hobson-Jobson. The name is applied to the following—

The Mapau— Myrsine urvillei, De C., N.O. Myrsineae; sometimes called Red Mapau.

Black M.— Pittosporum tenuifolium, Banks and Sol., N.O. Pittosporeae; Maori name, Tawhiri.

White M.— Carpodetus serratus, Forst., N.O. Saxifrageae; Pittosporum eugenoides, A. Cunn.; Maori name, Tarata (q.v.); called also the Hedge-laurel (q.v.), Lemon-wood, and New Zealand Oak. See Oak.

The first of these trees (Myrsine urvillei) is, according to Colenso, the only tree to which the Maoris themselves give the name Mapau. The others are only so called by the settlers.

1868. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. i., `Essay on Botany of Otago,' p. 37:

"White Mapau, or Piripiri-whata (Carpodetus serratus), an ornamental shrub-tree, with mottled-green leaves, and large cymose panicles of white flowers. . . . Red Mapau (Myrsine Urvillei), a small tree common at Dunedin. Wood dark red, very astringent, used as fence stuff."

"Tawiri, white-mapou, white-birch (of Auckland). A small tree, ten to thirty feet high; trunk unusually slender; branches spreading in a fan-shaped manner, which makes it of very ornamental appearance; flower white, profusely produced. The wood is soft and tough."

"By the settlers it is frequently called `black mapou' on account of the colour of the bark. . . . With still less excuse it is sometimes called `black maple,' an obvious corruption of the preceding."

<hw>Maple</hw>, n. In New Zealand, a common settlers' corruption for any tree called Mapau (q.v.); in Australia, applied to Villaresia moorei, F. v. M., N.O. Olacineae, called also the Scrub Silky Oak. See Oak.

<hw>Maray</hw>, n. New South Wales name for the fish Clupea sagax, Jenyns, family Clupeidae or Herrings, almost identical with the English pilchard. The word Maray is thought to be an aboriginal name. Bloaters are made of this fish at Picton in New Zealand, according to the Report of the Royal Commission on Fisheries of New South Wales, 1880. But Agonostoma forsteri, a Sea-Mullet, is also when dried called the Picton Herring (q.v). See Herring and Aua.

<hw>Marble-fish</hw>, n. name given to the Tupong (q.v.) in Geelong.

<hw>Marble-wood</hw>, n. name applied to a whitish-coloured mottled timber, Olea paniculata, R. Br., N.O. Jasmineae; called also Native Olive and Ironwood.

"I wondered often what was the meaning of this, amongst many other peculiar colonial phrases, `Is the man a good mark?' I heard it casually from the lips of apparently respectable settlers, as they rode on the highway, `Such and such a one is a good mark,"—simply a person who pays his men their wages, without delays or drawbacks; a man to whom you may sell anything safely; for there are in the colony people who are regularly summoned before the magistrates by every servant they employ for wages. They seem to like to do everything publicly, legally, and so become notoriously not `good marks.'"

<hw>Mariner</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to a marine univalve mollusc, either Elenchus badius, or E. bellulus, Wood.

The Mariner is called by the Tasmanian Fishery Commissioners the "Pearly Necklace Shell"; when deprived of its epidermis by acid or other means, it has a blue or green pearly lustre.

The shells are made into necklaces, of which the aboriginal name is given as Merrina, and the name of the shell is a corruption of this word, by the law of Hobson-Jobson. Compare Warrener.

1878. `Catalogue of the Objects of Ethnotypical Art in the National Gallery' (Melbourne), p. 52:

"Necklace, consisting of 565 shells (Elenchus Bellulus) strung on thin, well-made twine. The native name of a cluster of these shells was, according to one writer, Merrina."

"Perhaps my use of the common colonial term `marsh' may be misunderstood at home, as I remember that I myself associated it at first with the idea of a swamp; but a `marsh' here is what would in England be called a meadow, with this difference, that in our marshes, until partially drained, a growth of tea-trees (Leptospermum) and rushes in some measure encumbers them; but, after a short time, these die off, and are trampled down, and a thick sward of verdant grass covers the whole extent: such is our `marsh.'"

<hw>Marsupial</hw>, n. an animal in which the female has an abdominal pouch in which the young, born in a very immature state, are carried. (Lat. Marsupium = a pouch.) At the present day Marsupials are only found in America and the Australian region, the greater number being confined to the latter. See quotation 1894, Lydekker.

"The marsupial type exhibits the economy of nature under novel and very interesting arrangements. . . . Australia is the great head-quarters of the marsupial tribe."

"I believe it was Charles Lamb who said, the peculiarity of the small fore-feet of the Kangaroo seemed to be for picking pockets; but he forgot to mention the singularity characterizing the animal kingdom of Australia, that they have pockets to be picked, being mostly marsupial. We have often amused ourselves by throwing sugar or bread into the pouch of the Kangaroo, and seen with what delight the animal has picked its own pocket, and devoured the contents, searching its bag, like a Highlander his sporran, for more."

"An Act known as the Marsupial Act was accordingly passed to encourage their destruction, a reward of so much a scalp being offered by the Government. . . . Some of the squatters have gone to a vast expense in fencing-in their runs with marsupial fencing, but it never pays."

"One of the sheep-owners told me that in the course of eighteen months he had killed 64,000 of these animals (marsupials), especially wallabies (Macropus dorsalis) and kangaroo- rats (Lagorchestes conspicillatus), and also many thousands of the larger kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)."

"In South Australia the Legislature has had to appoint a close season for kangaroos, else would extinction of the larger marsupials be at hand. We should have been forced to such action also, if the American market for kangaroo-hides had continued as brisk as formerly."

"The great island-continent of Australia, together with the South-eastern Austro-Malayan islands, is especially characterized by being the home of the great majority of that group of lowly mammals commonly designated marsupials, or pouched-mammals. Indeed, with the exception of the still more remarkable monotremes [q.v.], or egg-laying mammals, nearly the whole of the mammalian fauna of Australia consists of these marsupials, the only other indigenous mammals being certain rodents and bats, together with the native dog, or dingo, which may or may not have been introduced by man."

"The presence of a predominating marsupial order in Australia has, besides practically establishing the long isolation of that continent from the rest of the globe, also given rise to a number of ingenious theories professing to account for its survival to this last stronghold."

<hw>Marsupial Mole</hw>, n. the only species of the genus Notoryctes (q.v.), N. typhlops [from the Greek notos, `south' (literally `south wind'), and rhunchos, a `snout']; first described by Dr. Stirling of Adelaide (in the `Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,' 1891, p. 154). Aboriginal name, Urquamata. It burrows with such extraordinary rapidity in the desert-sands of Central Australia, to which it is confined, that, according to Mr. Lydekker, it may be said to swim in the sand as a porpoise does in the water.

<hw>Marsupial Wolf</hw>, n. See Thylacine and Tasmanian Tiger.

<hw>Martin, <i</hw>>n. a bird common in England. The species in Australia are—

Fairy, Lagenoplastes ariel, Gould; called also Bottle-Swallow (q.v.).

". . . the elegant little Fairy Martins (Lagenoplastes ariel), which construct a remarkable mud nest in shape not unlike a retort."

<hw>Mary</hw>, n. used in Queensland of the aborigines, as equivalent to girl or woman. "A black Mary." Compare "Benjamin," used for husband.

<hw>Matagory</hw>, n. a prickly shrub of New Zealand, Discaria toumatou, Raoul.; also called Wild Irishman (q.v.). The Maori name is Tumatahuru, of which Matagory, with various spellings, is a corruption, much used by rabbiters and swagmen. The termination gory evidently arises by the law of Hobson-Jobson from the fact that the spikes draw blood.

"Trudging moodily along in Indian file through the matagouri scrub and tussock."

<hw>Matai</hw>, often abridged to Mai, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Podocarpus spicata, R. Br., N.O. Coniferae. Black-pine of Otago.

"Mr. Buchanan has described a log of matai that he found had been exposed for at least 200 years in a dense damp bush in North-East Valley, Dunedin, as proved by its being enfolded by the roots of three large trees of Griselinia littoralis."

<hw>Match-box Bean</hw>, n. another name for the ripe hard seed of the Queensland Bean, Entada scandens, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae. A tall climbing plant. The seeds are used for match-boxes. See under Bean.

<hw>Matipo</hw>, n. another Maori name for the New Zealand trees called Mapau (q.v.).

"The varieties of matapo, a beautiful shrub, each leaf a study, with its delicate tracery of black veins on a yellow-green ground."

1879. J. B. Armstrong, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. xlix. p. 329:

"The tipau, or matipo (pittosporum tenuifolium), makes the best ornamental hedge I know of."

"An undergrowth of beautiful shrubs, conspicuous amongst these were the Pittosporum or Matipo, which are, however, local in their distribution, unlike the veronicas, which abound everywhere."

<hw>Megapode</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian birds with large feet—the Mound-birds (q.v.). From Greek megas, large, and pous, podos, a foot. They are also called Scrub fowls.

<hw>Melitose</hw>, n. the name given by Berthelot to the sugar obtained from the manna of Eucalyptus mannifera. Chemically identical with the raffinose extracted from molasses and the gossypose extracted from cotton-seeds.

[Statement as to origin of melitose by the Baron von Mueller.] "Sir Frederick M'Coy has traced the production of mellitose also to a smaller cicade."

<hw>Melon</hw>, n. Besides its botanical use, the word is applied in Australia to a small kangaroo, the Paddy-melon (q.v.).

<hw>Melon-hole</hw>, n. a kind of honey-combing of the surface in the interior plains, dangerous to horsemen, ascribed to the work of the Paddy-melon. See preceding word, and compare the English Rabbit-hole. The name is often given to any similar series of holes, such as are sometimes produced by the growing of certain plants.

"The soil of the Bricklow scrub is a stiff clay, washed out by the rains into shallow holes, well known by the squatters under the name of melon-holes."

"A stiff, wiry, leafless, polyganaceous plant grows in the shallow depressions of the surface of the ground, which are significantly termed by the squatters `Melon-holes,' and abound in the open Box-tree flats."

"The plain is full of deep melon-holes, and the ground is rotten and undermined with rats."

<hw>Menura</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Lyre-bird (q.v.), so called from the crescent-shaped form of the spots on the tail; the tail itself is shaped like a lyre. (Grk. maen, moon, crescent, and 'oura, tail.) The name was given by General Davies in 1800.

1800. T. Davies, `Description of Menura superba,' in `Transactions of the Linnaean Society' (1802), vol. vi. p. 208:

"The general colour of the under sides of these two [tail] feathers is of a pearly hue, elegantly marked on the inner web with bright rufous-coloured crescent-shaped spots, which, from the extraordinary construction of the parts, appear wonderfully transparent."

<hw>Mere</hw>, or <hw>Meri</hw>, n. (pronounced merry), a Maori war-club; a casse-te^te, or a war-axe, from a foot to eighteen inches in length, and made of any suitable hard material—stone, hard wood, whalebone. To many people out of New Zealand the word is only known as the name of a little trinket of greenstone (q.v.) made in imitation of the New Zealand weapon in miniature, mounted in gold or silver, and used as a brooch, locket, ear-ring, or other article of jewelry.

"Of these the greenstone meri was the most esteemed. It weighs six pounds, is thirteen inches long, and in shape resembles a soda-water bottle flattened. In its handle is a hole for a loop of flax, which is twisted round the wrist. Meris are carried occasionally in the girdle, like Malay knives. In conflicts the left hand grasped the enemy's hair, and one blow from the meri on the head produced death."

"A land of musket and meri-armed warriors, unprovided with a meat supply, even of kangaroo."

"`No, no, my peg; I thrust it in with this meri,' yells Maori Jack, brandishing his war-club."

<hw>Merinoes, Pure</hw>, n. a term often used, especially in New South Wales, for the `very first families,' as the pure merino is the most valuable sheep.

"Next we have the legitimates . . . such as have legal reasons for visiting this colony; and the illegitimates, or such as are free from that stigma. The pure merinos are a variety of the latter species, who pride themselves on being of the purest blood in the colony."

<hw>Message-stick</hw>, n. The aboriginals sometimes carve little blocks of wood with various marks to convey messages. These are called by the whites, message-sticks.

<hw>Messmate</hw>, n. name given to one of the Gum-trees, Eucalyptus amygdalina, Labill., and often to other species of Eucalypts, especially E. obliqua, L'Herit. For origin of this curious name, see quotation, 1889.

"It is also known by the name of `Messmate,' because it is allied to, or associated with, Stringy-bark. This is probably the tallest tree on the globe, individuals having been measured up to 400 ft., 410 ft., and in one case 420 ft., with the length of the stem up to the first branch 295 ft. The height of a tree at Mt. Baw Baw (Victoria) is quoted at 471 ft."

"Away to the north-east a wooded range of mountains rolls along the skyline, ragged rents showing here and there where the dead messmates and white gums rise like gaunt skeletons from the dusky brown-green mass into which distance tones the bracken and the underwood."

<hw>Mia-mia</hw>, n. an aboriginal hut. The word is aboriginal, and has been spelt variously. Mia-mia is the most approved spelling, mi-mi the most approved pronunciation. See Humpy.

"There she stood in a perfect state of nudity, a little way from the road, by her miam, smiling, or rather grimacing."

1852. Letter from Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's Church in Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 167:

"We came upon the largest (deserted) native encampment we had ever seen. One of the mia-mias (you know what that is by this time—the a is not sounded) was as large as an ordinary sized circular summer-house, and actually had rude seats all round, which is quite unusual. It had no roof, they never have, being mere break-weathers, not so high as a man's shoulder."

"They constructed a mimi, or bower of boughs on the other, leaving portholes amongst the boughs towards the road."

[Notice varied spelling in the same author.] "Many of the diggers resided under branches of trees made into small `miams' or `wigwams.'"

"The next day I began building a little `mi-mi,' to serve as a resting-place for the night in going back at any time for supplies."

"Of the mia-mias, some were standing; others had, wholly or in part, been thrown down by their late occupants."

"A few branches thrown up against the prevailing wind, in rude imitation of the native mia-mia."

"[The blacks] would compel [the missionaries] to carry their burdens while travelling, or build their mia-mias when halting to camp for the night; in fact, all sorts of menial offices had to be discharged by the missionaries for these noble black men while away on the wilds!"

[Footnote]: "Small huts, made of bark and leafy boughs, built so as to protect them against the side from which the wind blew."

<hw>Micky</hw>, n. young wild bull. "Said to have originated in Gippsland, Victoria. Probably from the association of bulls with Mickeys, or Irishmen." (Barere and Leland.)

<hw>Micky/2/</hw>, n. In New Zealand, a corruption of Mingi (q.v.).

<hw>Midwinter</hw>, n. The seasons being reversed in Australia, Christmas occurs in the middle of summer. The English word Midsummer has thus dropped out of use, and "Christmas," or Christmas-time, is its Australian substitute, whilst Midwinter is the word used to denote the Australian winter-time of late June and early July. See Christmas.

<hw>Mignonette, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian flower, Stackhousia linariaefolia, Cunn., N.O. Stackhouseae.

<hw>Mihanere</hw>, n. a convert to Christianity; a Maori variant of the English word Missionary.

"The mihanere natives, as a body, were distinctly inferior in point of moral character to the natives, who remained with their ancient customs unchanged. . . . A very common answer from a converted native, accused of theft, was, `How can that be? I am a mihanere.' . . . They were all mihanere, or converts."

<hw>Milk-bush</hw>, n. a tall Queensland shrub, Wrightia saligna, F. v. M., N.O. Apocyneae; it is said to be most valuable as a fodder-bush.

<hw>Milk-fish</hw>, n. The name, in Australia, is given to a marine animal belonging to the class Holothurioidea. The Holothurians are called Sea-cucumbers, or Sea-slugs. The Trepang, or be^che-de-mer, eaten by the Chinese, belongs to them. Called also Tit-fish (q.v.).

1880. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' vol. v. pt. ii. p. 128:

"Another species [of Trepang] is the `milk fish' or `cotton fish,' so called from its power of emitting a white viscid fluid from its skin, which clings to an object like shreds of cotton."

<hw>Milk-tree</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree, Epicarpurus microphyllus, Raoul.

"Milk-tree . . . a tall slender tree exuding a milky sap: wood white and very brittle."

<hw>Milk-wood</hw>, n. a Northern Territory name for Melaleuca leucadendron, Linn.; called also Paperbark-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Miller</hw>, n. a local name for the Cicada. See Locust (quotation, 1896).

<hw>Millet</hw>, n. The name is given to several Australian grasses. The Koda Millet of India, Paspalum scrobiculatum, Linn., is called in Australia Ditch Millet; Seaside Millet is the name given to Paspalum distichum, Linn., both of the N.O. Gramineae. But the principal species is called Australian Millet, Native Millet, and Umbrella Grass; it is Panicum decompositum, R. Br., N.O. Gramineae; it is not endemic in Australia.

"One of the very best of the grasses found in the hot regions of Central Australia is the Australian millet, Panicum decompositum. It is extremely hardy and stands the hot dry summers of the north very well; it is nutritious, and cattle and sheep are fond of it. It seeds freely, was used by the aborigines for making a sort of cake, and was the only grain stored by them. This grass thrives in poor soil, and starts into rapid growth with the first autumn rains."

<hw>Mimosa</hw>, n. a scientific name applied to upwards of two hundred trees of various genera in the Old World. The genus Mimosa, under which the Australian trees called Wattles were originally classed, formerly included the Acacias. These now constitute a separate genus. Acacia is the scientific name for the Wattle; though even now an old colonist will call the Wattles "Mimosa."

"This shrub is now not uncommon in our greenhouses, having been raised in plenty from seeds brought from Port Jackson. It generally bears its fragrant flowers late in the autumn, and might then at first sight be sooner taken for a Myrtus than a Mimosa."

1802. Jas. Flemming, `Journal of Explorations of Charles Grimes,' in `Historical Records of Port Phillip' (ed. 1879, J. J. Shillinglaw), p. 25:

"The mimosa is a very graceful tree; the foliage is of a light green colour. . . . The yellow flowers with which the mimosa is decked throw out a perfume sweeter than the laburnum; and the gum . . . is said not to be dissimilar to gum-arabic."

"But, Yarra, thou art lovelier now,
With clouds of bloom on every bough;
A gladsome sight it is to see,
In blossom thy mimosa tree.
Like golden-moonlight doth it seem,
The moonlight of a heavenly dream;
A sunset lustre, chaste and cold,
A pearly splendour blent with gold."

"The other exports of Australia Felix consist chiefly of tallow, cured beef and mutton, wheat, mimosa-bark, and gumwood."

"The mimosa—although it sadly chokes the country—when in flower, fills the air with fragrance. Its bark is much used for tanning purposes; and the gum that exudes from the stem is of some value as an export, and is used by the blacks as food."

"I have sat, and watched the landscape, latticed by the golden
curls,
Showering, like mimosa-blooms, in scented streams about my
breast."

<hw>Minah</hw>, n. (also <hw>Myna</hw>, <hw>Mina</hw>, and <hw>Minah-bird</hw>, and the characteristic Australian change of <hw>Miner</hw>). From Hindustani maina, a starling. The word is originally applied in India to various birds of the Starling kind, especially to Graculus religiosa, a talking starling or grackle. One of these Indian grackles, Acridotheres tristis, was acclimatised in Melbourne, and is now common to the house-tops of most Australian towns. He is not Australian, but is the bird generally referred to as the Minah, or Minah- bird. There are Minahs native to Australia, of which the species are—

"The mynah is a very entertaining bird, hopping about the house, and articulating several words in the manner of the starling."

"While at other times, like the miners (genus, Myzantha), it soars from tree to tree with the most graceful and easy movement."

"Myzantha garrula, Vig. and Horsf, Garrulous Honey-eater; miner, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land, M. flavigula, Gould, Yellow-Throated miner."

"His common name . . . is said to be given from his resemblance to some Indian bird called mina or miner."

"The Indian minah is as much at home, and almost as presumptuous, as the sparrow."

"A miner's right, a wonderful document, printed and written on parchment, precisely as follows."

"You produce your Miner's Right . . . The important piece of parchment, about the size of a bank-cheque, was handed to the Court."

<hw>Mingi</hw>, n. originally mingi mingi, Maori name for a New Zealand shrub or small tree, Cyathodes acerosa, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae. In south New Zealand it is often called Micky.

<hw>Minnow</hw>, n. name sometimes given to a very small fish of New Zealand, Galaxias attenuatus, Jenyns, family Galaxidae; called also Whitebait (q.v.). The Maori name is Inanga (q.v.).

<hw>Mint, Australian</hw> or <hw>Native</hw>, n. a plant, Mentha australis, R. Br., N.O. Labiatea. This herb was largely used by the early colonists of South Australia for tea. Many of the plants of the genus Mentha in Australia yield oil of good flavour, among them the common Pennyroyal.

<hw>Mint-tree</hw>, n. In Australia, the tree is Prostanthera lasiantha, Labill., N.O. Labiateae.

<hw>Mirnyong</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a shell-mound, generally supposed to be Victorian, but, by some, Tasmanian.

"With the exception of their rude inconspicuous flints, and the accumulated remains of their feasts in the `mirnyongs,' or native shell-mounds, along our coasts, which only have significance to the careful observer, we have no other visible evidence of their former existence."

1893. R. Etheridge, jun., `Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,' p. 21 [Title of Paper]:

<hw>Miro</hw>, n. (1) Maori name for a Robin (q.v.), and adopted as the scientific name of a genus of New Zealand Robins. The word is shortened form of Miro-miro.

"Miro-miro (Miro albifrons). A little black-and-white bird with a large head; it is very tame, and has a short melancholy song. The miro toi-toi (muscicapa toi-toi) is a bird not larger than the tom-tit. Its plumage is black and white, having a white breast and some of the near feathers of each wing tinged with white."

1879. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. art. vii. p. 119:

"Proverb 28: Ma to kanohi miro-miro, [signifying] `To be found by the sharp-eyed little bird.' Lit. `For the miro-miro's eye.' Used as a stimulus to a person searching for anything lost. The miro-miro is the little petroica toi-toi, which runs up and down trees peering for minute insects in the bark."

"The Petroeca Iongipes is confined to the North Island, where it is very common in all the wooded parts of the country; but it is represented in the South Island by a closely allied and equally common species, the miro albifrons."

(2) Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Podocarpus ferruginea, Don., N.O. Coniferae; the Black-pine of Otago.

"The miro-tree (Podocarpus ferruginea) is found in slightly elevated situations in many of the forests in New Zealand. Height about sixty feet. The wood varies from light to dark-brown in colour, is close in grain, moderately hard and heavy, planes up well, and takes a good polish."

"The Miro is a valuable tree, common in all parts of the colony. . . . It is usually distinguished by its ordinary native name."

<hw>Mistletoe</hw>, n. The name is given to various species of trees of several genera—

(1) In Australia, generally, to various species of Loranthus, N.O. Loranthaceae. There are a great number, they are very common on the Eucalypts, and they have the same viscous qualities as the European Mistletoes.

(2) In Western Australia, to Nuytsia floribunda, R. Br., N.O. Loranthaceae, a terrestrial species attaining the dimensions of a tree—the Flame-tree (q.v.) of Western Australia—and also curiously called there a Cabbage- tree.

"The English mistletoe is the well-known Viscum album, whereas all the Victorian kinds belong to the genus Loranthus, of which the Mediterranean L. Europaeus is the prototype. The generic name arose in allusion to the strap-like narrowness of the petals."

[Greek lowron, from Lat. lorum, a thong, and 'anthos, a flower.]

<hw>Mitchell-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Astrebla elymoides, A. triticoides, F. v. M., N.O. Gramineae. Two other species of Astrebla are also called "Mitchell-grasses." See Grass.

"Used for food by the natives. The most valuable fodder-grass of the colony. True Mitchell-grass."

"Mitchell-grass. The flowering spikes resemble ears of wheat.
. . . It is by no means plentiful."

<hw>Moa</hw>, n. The word is Maori, and is used by that race as the name of the gigantic struthious bird of New Zealand, scientifically called Dinornis (q.v.). It has passed into popular Australasian and English use for all species of that bird. A full history of the discovery of the Moa, of its nature and habits, and of the progress of the classification of the species by Professor Owen, from the sole evidence of the fossil remains of its bones, is given in the Introduction to W. L. Buller's `Birds of New Zealand,' Vol. i. (pp. xviii-xxxv).

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of New Zealand Language' (Church Missionary Society), p. 181:

[Description by Owen of Dinornis without the name of Moa. It contained the words—

"So far as my skill in interpreting an osseous fragment may be credited, I am willing to risk the reputation for it, on the statement that there has existed, if there does not now exist, in New Zealand a Struthious bird, nearly, if not quite equal in size to the Ostrich."]

[Description of Dinornis by Owen, in which he names the Moa, and quotes letter from Rev. W. (afterwards Bishop) Williams, dated Feb. 28, 1842, "to which they gave the name of Moa."]

"The new genus Dinornis, which includes also the celebrated moa, or gigantic bird of New Zealand, and bears some resemblance to the present Apteryx, or wingless bird of that country . . . The New Zealanders assert that this extraordinary bird was in existence in the days of their ancestors, and was finally destroyed by their grandfathers."

"First among them were the gigantic wingless Moas, Dinornis and Palapteryx, which seem to have been exterminated already about the middle of the seventeenth century."

"By the term `Moa' the natives signify a family of birds, that we know merely from bones and skeletons, a family of real giant-birds compared with the little Apterygides."

[Footnote]: "Moa or Toa, throughout Polynesia, is the word applied to domestic fowls, originating perhaps from the Malay word mua, a kind of peasants [sic]. The Maoris have no special term for the domestic fowl."

"I have remarked the following similarity between the names employed in the Fijian and Maori languages for the same or corresponding birds: Toa (any fowl-like kind of bird) = Moa (Dinornis)."

<hw>Mob</hw>, n. a large number, the Australian noun of multitude, and not implying anything low or noisy. It was not used very early, as the first few of the following quotations show.

1836. Dec. 26, Letter in `Three Years' Practical Experience of a Settler in New South Wales,' p.44:

"A man buying a flock of sheep, or a herd of cattle . . . While I watched the mop I had collected." [This, thus spelt, seems the earliest instance.]

"It doesn't seem possible to get a mob of steady men for work of that sort now."

"He, tho' living fifty miles away, was one of the `Dunmore mob,' and aided generally in the symposia which were there enjoyed."

"The settlers of 1822 remember a number of natives, who roamed about the district, and were known as the `tame mob'; they were absconders from different tribes."

1830. Newspaper (Tasmanian), March, (cited J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 42):

"A mob of some score or so of natives, men, women, and children, had been discovered by their fires."

"A whole crowd of men on horseback get together, with a mob of blacks to assist them."

"At the side of the crowd was a small mob of blacks with their dogs, spears, possum rugs, and all complete."

"It was more horrible to see the drowning, or just drowned, huddled-up `mob' (as sheep en masse are technically called) which had made the dusky patch we noticed from the hill."

"The army of sheep—about thirty thousand in fifteen flocks— at length reached the valley before dark, and the overseer, pointing to a flock of two thousand, more or less, said, `There's your mob.'"

"The stockman came suddenly on a mob of nearly thirty horses, feeding up a pleasant valley."

"The `old men' are always the largest and strongest in the flock, or in colonial language `mob.'"

"About a mile outside the town a four-rail fence skirted the rough track we followed. It enclosed a lucerne paddock. Over the grey rails, as we approached, came bounding a mob of kangaroos, headed by a gigantic perfectly white `old man,' which glimmered ghostly in the moonlight."

"If it was in your mob of books, give this copy to somebody that would appreciate it."

"A number of cattle together is here usually termed a `mob,' and truly their riotous and unruly demeanour renders the designation far from inapt; but I was very much amused at first, to hear people gravely talking of `a mob of sheep,' or `a mob of lambs,' and it was some time ere I became accustomed to the novel use of the word. Now, the common announcements that `the cuckoo hen has brought out a rare mob of chickens,' or that `there's a great mob of quail in the big paddock,' are to me fraught with no alarming anticipations."

"`There will be a great mob of things going down to-day,' said one to another, which meant that there would be a heavy cargo in number; we must remember that the Australians have a patois of their own."

<hw>Mocking-bird</hw>, n. The name is given in Australia to the Lyre-bird (q.v.), and in New Zealand to the Tui (q.v.).

<hw>Mock-Orange</hw>, n. an Australian tree, i.q. Native Laurel. See Laurel.

<hw>Mogo</hw>, n. the stone hatchet of the aborigines of New South Wales.

<hw>Moki</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Bastard Trumpeter (q.v.) of New Zealand, Latris ciliaris, Forst., family Cirrhitidae.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 182:

<hw>Mokihi</hw>, or <hw>Moki</hw>, n. Maori name for a raft; sometimes anglicised as Moguey.

"In the absence of canoes, a quantity of dried bulrushes are fastened together, on which the native is enabled to cross a stream by sitting astride and paddling with his hands; these humble conveyances are called moki, and resemble those made use of by the Egyptians in crossing among the islands of the Nile. They are extremely buoyant, and resist saturation for a longer period."

"We crossed the river on mokis. By means of large mokis, carrying upwards of a ton. . . . Moki navigation."

"For the benefit of the unlearned in such matters, let me here explain that a `Mokihi' is constructed of Koradies, Anglice, the flowering stalks of the flax,—three faggots of which lashed firmly in a point at the small ends, and expanded by a piece of wood at the stern, constitute the sides and bottom of the frail craft, which, propelled by a paddle, furnishes sufficient means of transport for a single individual."

<hw>Moko</hw>, n. the system of tattooing practised by the Maoris. See Tattoo. It is not a fact—as popularly supposed—that the "moko" was distinctive in different families; serving, as is sometimes said, the purpose of a coat-of-arms. The "moko" was in fact all made on the same pattern—that of all Maori carvings. Some were more elaborate than others. The sole difference was that some were in outline only, some were half filled in, and others were finished in elaborate detail.

"They had a much larger quantity of amoca [sic] or black stains upon their bodies and faces. They had almost universally a broad spiral on each buttock, and many had their thighs almost entirely black, small lines only being left untouched, so that they looked like striped breeches. In this particular, I mean the use of amoca, almost every tribe seems to have a different custom."

"In this handsome volume, `Moko or Maori Tattooing,' Major-General Robley treats of an interesting subject with a touch of the horrible about it which, to some readers, will make the book almost fascinating. Nowhere was the system of puncturing the flesh into patterns and devices carried out in such perfection or to such an extent as in New Zealand. Both men and women were operated upon among the Maoris."

<hw>Moko-moko</hw>, n. (1) Maori name for the Bell-bird (q.v.), Anthornis melanura, Sparrm.

(2) Maori name for the lizard, Lygosoma ornatum, Gray, or Lygosoma moko, Durn. and Bib.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 182:

<hw>Moloch</hw>, n. an Australian lizard, Moloch horridus, Gray; called also Mountain Devil (q.v.). There is no other species in the genus, and the adjective (Lat. horridus, bristling) seems to have suggested the noun, the name probably recalling Milton's line (`Paradise Lost,' i. 392)

Moloch was the national god of the Ammonites (1 Kings xi. 7), and was the personification of fire as a destructive element.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 41:

"Numerous lizards such as the strange Moloch horridus, the bright yellow, orange, red and black of which render it in life very different in appearance from the bleached specimens of museum cases."

<hw>Mongan</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the animal named in the quotation.

"Jimmy, however, had, to my great delight, found mongan (Pseudochirus herbertensis), a new and very pretty mammal, whose habitat is exclusively the highest tops of the scrubs in the Coast Mountains."

<hw>Monkey-Bear</hw>, or <hw>Monkey</hw>, n. i.q. Native Bear. See Bear.

1853. C. St. Julian and E. K. Silvester, `The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,' p. 30:

"The Kola, so called by the aborigines, but more commonly known among the settlers as the native bear or monkey, is found in brush and forest lands . . ."

"A little monkey-bear came cautiously down from the only gum-tree that grew on the premises, grunting and whimpering."

<hw>Monkey-shaft</hw>, n. "A shaft rising from a lower to a higher level (as a rule perpendicularly), and differing from a blind-shaft only in that the latter is sunk from a higher to a lower level." (Brough Smyth's `Glossary.')

"They began to think they might be already too deep for it, and a small `monkey'-shaft was therefore driven upwards from the end of the tunnel."

"No one felt better pleased than he did to see the last lot of `monkeys,' as the shearers usually denominated sheep, leave the head-station."

<hw>Monotreme</hw>, n. the scientific name of an order of Australian mammals (Monotremata). "The Monotremes derive their name from the circumstance that there is, as in birds and reptiles, but a single aperture at the hinder extremity of the body from which are discharged the whole of the waste-products, together with the reproductive elements; the oviducts opening separately into the end of this passage, which is termed the cloaca. [Grk. monos, sole, and traema, a passage or hole.] Reproduction is effected by means of eggs, which are laid and hatched by the female parent; after [being hatched] the young are nourished by milk secreted by special glands situated within a temporary pouch, into which the head of the young animal is inserted and retained. . . . It was not until 1884 that it was conclusively proved that the Monotremes did actually lay eggs similar in structure to those of birds and reptiles." (R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia and Monotremata,' 1894, p. 227.)

The Monotremes are strictly confined to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are the Platypus (q.v.), and the Echidna (q.v.), or Ant-eating Porcupine.

<hw>Moor-hen</hw>, n. common English bird-name (Gallinula). The Australian species are—

the Black, Gallinula tenebrosa, Gould; Rufous-tailed, G. ruficrissa, Gould.

"The Rail-like bird, the Black-tailed Tribonyx, or Moor-Hen of the colonists, which, when strutting along the bank of a river, has a grotesque appearance, with the tail quite erect like that of a domestic fowl, and rarely resorts to flight." [The Tribonyx is called Native Hen, not Moorhen.]

<hw>Moon</hw>, v. tr. a process in opossum-shooting, explained in quotations.

"`Mooning' opossums is a speciality with country boys. The juvenile hunter utilises the moon as a cavalry patrol would his field-glass for every suspected point."

"They had to go through the process known as `mooning.' Walking backwards from the tree, each one tried to get the various limbs and branches between him and the moon, and then follow them out to the uttermost bunch of leaves where the 'possum might be feeding."

<hw>Mopoke</hw>, n. aboriginal name for an Australian bird, from its note "Mopoke." There is emphasis on the first syllable, but much more on the second. Settlers very early attempted to give an English shape and sense to this name. The attempt took two forms, "More pork," and "Mopehawk"; both forms are more than fifty years old. The r sound, however, is not present in the note of the bird, although the form More-pork is perhaps even more popular than the true form Mopoke. The form Mope-hawk seems to have been adopted through dislike of the perhaps coarser idea attaching to "pork." The quaint spelling Mawpawk seems to have been adopted for a similar reason.

The bird is heard far more often than seen, hence confusion has arisen as to what is the bird that utters the note. The earlier view was that the bird was Podargus cuvieri, Vig. and Hors., which still popularly retains the name; whereas it is really the owl, Ninox boobook, that calls "morepork" or "mopoke" so loudly at night. Curiously, Gould, having already assigned the name Morepork to Podargus, in describing the Owlet Night-jar varies the spelling and writes, "little Mawepawk, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land." The New Zealand Morepork is assuredly an owl. The Podargus has received the name of Frogmouth and the Mopoke has sometimes been called a Cuckoo (q.v.). See also Boobook, Frogsmouth.

"Many a still night in the bush I have listened to the weird metallic call of this strange bird, the mopoke of the natives, without hearing it give expression to the pork-shop sentiments."

"We are lulled to sleep by the melancholy, sleep-inspiring, and not disagreeable voices of the night bird Podargus— `More-pork! more-pork!'"

"The distant monotone of the more-pork—the nocturnal cuckoo of the Australian wilds."

"On yonder gum a mopoke's throat
Out-gurgles laughter grim,
And far within the fern-tree scrub
A lyre-bird sings his hymn."

[This is confusion worse confounded. It would seem as if the poet confused the Laughing Jackass with the Mopoke, q.v.]

"A bird of the owl species, called by the colonists morepork, and by the natives whuck-whuck, derives both its names from the peculiarity of its note. At some distance it reminds one of the song of the cuckoo; when nearer it sounds hoarse and discordant."

"AEgotheles Novae-Hollandiae, Vig. and Horsf, Owlet Nightjar; Little Mawepawk, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

"The Mawpawk, More Pork, or Mope Hawk, is common in most parts of the colony, and utters its peculiar two-syllable cry at night very constantly. Its habits are those of the owl, and its rather hawkish appearance partakes also of the peculiarities of the goat-sucker tribe. . . . The sound does not really resemble the words `more pork,' any more than `cuckoo,' and it is more like the `tu-whoo' of the owl than either."

"Just as our sportsman, fresh from the legal precincts of Gray's Inn Square, was taking a probably deadly aim, the solitary and melancholy note of `More-pork! more-pork!' from the Cyclopean, or Australian owl, interfered most opportunely in warding off the shot."

"The locusts were silent, but now and then might be heard the greedy cry of the `morepork,' chasing the huge night-moths through the dim dewy air."

"Owls are also numerous, the Mopoke's note being a familiar sound in the midnight darkness of the forest."

"`A more-pork kind of a fellow' is a man of cut-and-dry phrases, a person remarkable for nothing new in common conversation. This by some is thought very expressive, the more-pork being a kind of Australian owl, notorious for its wearying nightly iteration, `More pork, more pork'"

"What a regular more-pork I was to be sure to go and run my neck agin' a roping-pole."

<hw>Morepork</hw>, n. (1) The Australian bird, or birds, described under Mopoke (q.v.).

(2) The New Zealand Owl, formerly Athene novae-zelandiae, Gray; now Spiloglaux novae-zelandiae, Kaup.

"This bird gave rise to a rather amusing incident in the Hutt Valley during the time of the fighting. . . . A strong piquet was turned out regularly about an hour before daybreak. On one occasion the men had been standing silently under arms for some time, and shivering in the cold morning air, when they were startled by a solemn request for `more pork.' The officer in command of the piquet, who had only very recently arrived in the country, ordered no talking in the ranks, which was immediately replied to by another demand, distinctly enunciated, for `more pork.' So malaprop a remark produced a titter along the ranks, which roused the irate officer to the necessity of having his commands obeyed, and he accordingly threatened to put the next person under arrest who dared make any allusion to the unclean beast. As if in defiance of the threat, and in contempt of the constituted authorities, `more pork' was distinctly demanded in two places at once, and was succeeded by an irresistible giggle from one end of the line to the other. There was no putting up with such a breach of discipline as this, and the officer, in a fury of indignation, went along the line in search of the mutinous offender, when suddenly a small chorus of `more pork' was heard on all sides, and it was explained who the real culprits were."

"The last cry of a very pretty little owl, called from its distinctly uttered words the `more-pork.'"

"Spiloglaux Novae-Zelandiae, Kaup., More-pork of the colonists. Every New Zealand colonist is familiar with this little owl, under the name of `morepork.'"

<hw>Moreton-Bay</hw>, n. the name formerly given to the district of New South Wales which is now the colony of Queensland. The Brisbane river (on which is situated Brisbane, the capital of Queensland) enters it. See below.

<hw>Moriori</hw>, n. a people akin to, but not identical with, the Maoris. They occupied the Chatham Islands, and were conquered in 1832 by the Maoris. In 1873, M. Quatrefages published a monograph, `Moriori et Maori.'

<hw>Morwong</hw>, n. the New South Wales name for the fish Chilodactylus macropterus, Richards.; also called the Carp (q.v.) and Jackass-fish, and in New Zealand by the Maori name of Tarakihi. The Melbourne fishermen, according to Count Castelnau, call this fish the Bastard Trumpeter (q.v.), but this name is also applied to Latris forsteri, Castln. See also Trumpeter and Paper-fish. The Red Morwong is Chilodactylus fuscus, Castln., also called Carp (q.v.). The Banded Morwong is Chilodactylus vittatus, Garrett.

"I cannot recommend . . . [for fishing rods] . . . that awful thing which our philosopher called `prickly moses.'"

<hw>Mound-bird</hw>, n. the jungle-hen of Australia. The birds scratch up heaps of soil and vegetable matter, in which they bury their eggs and leave them to be hatched by the heat of decomposition. Scientifically called Megapodes (q.v.).

"Next to these, as a special Australian type. . . . come the bush-turkeys or mound-makers . . . all these birds have the curious reptilian character of never sitting on their eggs, which they bury under mounds of earth or decaying vegetable matter, allowing them to be hatched by the heat of the sun, or that produced by fermentation."

Mountain-Apple-tree— Angophora lanceolata, Cav., N.O. Myrtaceae.

M.-Ash— A name applied to various Eucalypts, and to the tree Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss.

M.-Cypress-pine— The tree Frenela parlatori, F. v. M., N.0. Coniferae.

M.-Gentian— The name is applied to the Tasmanian species, Gentiana saxosa, Forst., N.O. Gentianeae.

M.-Rocket— The name is applied to the Tasmanian species Bellendena montana, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae.

<hw>Mountain-Devil</hw>, n. name given to the strange-looking Australian lizard, Moloch horridus, Gray. See Moloch. Also called Spiny Lizard.

1853. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. ii. p. 515 [November 9]:

"A spirit preparation of the Spiny Lizard (Moloch horridus) of Western Australia."

<hw>Mountain Thrush</hw>, n. an Australian thrush, Oreocincla lunulata, Gould. See Thrush.

"Oreocincla lunulatus, Mountain Thrush, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land. In all localities suitable to its habits and mode of life, this species is tolerably abundant, both in Van Diemen's Land and in New South Wales; it has also been observed in South Australia, where however it is rare."

<hw>Mountain-Trout</hw>, n. species of Galaxias, small cylindrical fishes inhabiting the colder rivers of Australasia, Southern Chili, Magellan Straits, and the Falkland Islands. On account of the distribution of these fish and of other forms of animals, it has been suggested that in a remote geological period the area of land above the level of the sea in the antarctic regions must have been sufficiently extended to admit of some kind of continuity across the whole width of the Pacific between the southern extremities of South America and Australia.

"There's half this fine body of veal, mud-fat and tender as a chicken, worth a shilling a pound there."

<hw>Mud-fish</hw>, n. a fish of Westland, New Zealand, Neochanna apoda, Gunth. Guenther says Neochanna is a "degraded form of Galaxias [see Mountain-Trout], from which it differs by the absence of ventral fins. This fish has hitherto been found only in burrows, which it excavates 1n clay or consolidated mud, at a distance from water."

<hw>Mud-lark</hw>, n. another name for the Magpie-lark, Grallina picata (q.v.).

<hw>Mulberry-bird</hw>, n. name given to the Australian bird Sphecotheres maxillaris, Lath.; called also Fig-bird (q.v.).

"Southern Sphecotheres. Mr. Grime informs me it is fairly common on the Tweed River, where it is locally known as the `Mulberry-bird,' from the decided preference it evinces for that species of fruit amongst many others attacked by this bird."

Hedycarya cunninghami, Tull., N.O. Monimiaceae. Called also Smooth Holly.

Piturus propinquus, Wedd., N.O. Urticeae. Called also Queensland Grasscloth Plant.

Litsaea ferruginea, Mart., N.O. Laurineae. Called also Pigeonberry-tree.

The common English garden fruit-tree is also acclimatised, and
the Victorian Silk Culture Association, assisted by the
Government, are planting many thousands of the White
Mulberry for silk culture.

<hw>Mulga</hw>, n. an aboriginal word. (1) Name given to various species of Acacia, but especially A. aneura, F. v. M., N.0. Leguminosae. See also Red Mulga.

"We arrived at the foot nearly naked, and got into open sandy rises and valleys, with mulga and plenty of grass, amongst which there is some spinifex growing."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 126, Note:

"Mulga is an Acacia. It grows in thick bushes, with thin twigs and small leaves. Probably it is the most extensively distributed tree in all Australia. It extends right across the continent."

"Acacia aneura, F. v. M. Arid desert interior of extra-tropic Australia. A tree never more than 25 feet high. The principal `Mulga' tree. . . . Cattle and sheep browse on the twigs of this and some allied species, even in the presence of plentiful grass, and are much sustained by such acacias in seasons of protracted drought."

"Not a drop of rain! And for many and many a day the jackaroo will still chop down the limbs of the mulga-tree, that of its tonic leaves the sheep may eat and live."

"Flax and tussock and fern,
Gum and mulga and sand,
Reef and palm—but my fancies turn
Ever away from land."

1878. `Catalogue of Ethnotypical Art in the National Gallery' (Melbourne), p. 19:

"Mulga. Victoria. Thirty-six inches in length. This specimen is 37 inches in length and 5 inches in breadth at the broadest part. The form of a section through the middle is nearly triangular. The aperture for the hand (cut in the solid wood) is less than 4 inches in length. Ornamentation :Herring-bone, the incised lines being filled in with white clay. Some figures of an irregular form are probably the distinguishing marks of the owner's tribe. This shield was obtained from Larne-Gherin in the Western District."

"Mulga is the name of a long narrow shield of wood, made by the aboriginals out of acacia-wood."

"The malga [sic] . . . with which these natives were provided, somewhat resembled a pick-axe with one half broken off."

<hw>Mulga-Apple</hw>, n. a gall formed on the Mulga-tree, Acacia aneura, F. v. M. (q.v.). See also Apple.

"In Western New South Wales two kinds of galls are found on these trees. One kind is very astringent, and not used; but the other is less abundant, larger, succulent and edible. These latter galls are called `mulga-apples,' and are said to be very welcome to the thirsty traveller."

"The mulga bears a small woody fruit called the mulga apple.
It somewhat resembles the taste of apples and is sweet."

<hw>Mulga-grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Danthonia penicillata, F. v. M.; also Neurachne mitchelliana, Nees. See also Grass.

"Mulga Grass. . . . Peculiar to the back country. It derives its vernacular name from being only found where the mulga-tree (Acacia aneura and other species) grows; it is a very nutritious and much esteemed grass."

"For the first three miles our course was through a very thick mulga scrub, with plenty of grass, and occasionally a little spinifex."

"Travelled till after dark through and over spinifex plains, wooded with acacia and mulga scrub, and camped without water and only a little scrub for the horses, having travelled nearly forty miles."

"The road for the next thirty miles, to Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station, is characterized by mulga-scrub, open plains, sand-hills, and stony rises poorly grassed."

"Still more dreaded by the explorer is the `Mulga' scrub, consisting chiefly of dwarf acacias. These grow in spreading irregular bushes armed with strong spines, and where matted with other shrubs form a mass of vegetation through which it is impossible to penetrate."

<hw>Mullet</hw>, n. Various species of this fish are present in Australasia, all belonging to the family Mugilidae, or Grey-Mullets. They are the—

Sand-M., or Talleygalanu— Myxus elongatus, Gunth. (called also Poddy in Victoria).

In New Zealand, the Mullet is Mugil perusii, called the Silver-Mullet (Maori name, Kanae); and the Sea-Mullet, Agonostoma forsteri (Maori name, Aua, q.v.); abundant also in Tasmanian estuaries.

The Sand-Mullet in Tasmania is Mugil cephalotus,
Cuv. and Val. See also Red-Mullet.

<hw>Mullock</hw>, n. In English, the word is obsolete; it was used by Chaucer in the sense of refuse, dirt. In Australia, it is confined to" `rubbish, dirt, stuff taken out of a mine—the refuse after the vein-stuff is taken away' (Brough Smyth's `Glossary')."

"A man each windlass-handle working slow,
Raises the mullock from his mate below."

"I affirm as a practical shearer, that no man could shear 321 sheep in eight hours, although I will admit he might do what we shearers call `mullock over' that number; and what is more, no manager or overseer who knows his work would allow a shearer to do that number of sheep or lambs in one day."

<hw>Munyeru</hw>, n. name given to the small black seeds of Claytonia balonnensis, F. v. M., N.O. Portulaceae, which are ground up and mixed with water so as to form a paste. It forms a staple article of diet amongst the Arunta and other tribes of Central Australia.

1896. E. C. Stirling, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Anthropology, p. 56:

"In these districts `Munyeru' takes the place of the spore cases of `Nardoo' (Marsilea quadrifolia), which is so much used in the Barcoo and other districts to the south and east, these being treated in a similar way."

<hw>Murray-Cod</hw>, n. an important fresh-water food-fish, Oligorus macquariensis, Cuv. and Val., called Kookoobal by the aborigines of the Murrumbidgee, and Pundy by those of the Lower Murray. A closely allied species is called the Murray-Perch. Has been known to reach a weight of 120 lbs.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. i. p. 95:

"We soon found that this river contained . . . the fish we first found in the Peel, commonly called by the colonists `the cod,' although most erroneously, since it has nothing whatever to do with malacopterygious fishes."

"The first (Oligorus macquariensis) is called by the colonists `Murray-cod,' being plentiful in the Murray River and other rivers of South Australia. It attains to a length of more than 3 feet and to a weight of nearly 100 lbs."

<hw>Murray-Perch</hw>, n. a freshwater fish, Oligorus mitchelli, Castln., closely allied to Oligorus macquariensis, the Murray-Cod, belonging to the family Percidae.

"Our noble old 1400-mile river, the Murray, well christened the Nile of Australia, . . . produces `snags,' and that finny monster, the Murray cod, together with his less bulky, equally flavourless congener, the Murray perch."

<hw>Murr-nong</hw>, n. a plant. The name used by the natives in Southern Australia for Microseris forsteri, Hook., N.O. Compositae.

"Murr-nong, or `Mirr-n'yong', a kind of yam (Microseris Forsteri) was usually very plentiful, and easily found in the spring and early summer, and was dug out of the earth by the women and children."

"Murr-nong, or `Mirr n'yong' of the aboriginals of New South Wales and Victoria. The tubers were largely used as food by the aboriginals. They are sweet and milky, and in flavour resemble the cocoa-nut."

<hw>Mushroom</hw>, n. The common English mushroom, Agaricus campestris, Linn., N.O. Fungi, abounds in Australia, and there are many other indigenous edible species.

<hw>Musk-Duck</hw>, n. the Australian bird, Biziura lobata, Shaw. See Duck.

"The ungainly musk-duck paddles clumsily away from the passing steamer, but hardly out of gunshot, for he seems to know that his fishy flesh is not esteemed by man."

"That's a musk duck: the plumage is very sombre and loose looking—not so thick as most other ducks; the tail, too, is singular, little more than a small fan of short quills. The head of the male has a kind of black leathery excrescence under the bill that gives it an odd expression, and the whole bird has a strange odour of musk, rendering it quite uneatable."

<hw>Musk-Kangaroo</hw>, n. See Hypsiprymnodon and Kangaroo.

<hw>Musk-Parrakeet</hw>, n. an Australian parrakeet. See Parrakeet.

"Trichoglossus Concinnus, Vig. and Horsf. (Australis, Wagl.), Musky-Parrakeet; Musk-Parrakeet, Colonists of New South Wales, from the peculiar odour of the bird."

<hw>Musk-tree</hw>, n. The name is applied to Marlea vitiense, Benth., N.O. Cornaceae, with edible nuts, which is not endemic in Australia, and to two native trees of the N.O. Compositae—Aster argophyllus, Labill., called also Musk-wood, from the scent of the timber; and Aster viscosus, Labill., called also the Dwarf Musk-tree.

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria during the Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 71:

"Also there is some pretty underwood, a good deal of the musk-tree—which is very different from our musk-plant, growing quite into a shrub and having a leaf like the laurel in shape."

<hw>Mussel</hw>, n. Some Australasian species of this mollusc are— Mytilus latus, Lamark., Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand; M. tasmanicus, Tenison Woods, Tasmania; M. rostratus, Dunker, Tasmania and Victoria; M. hirsutus, Lamark., Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, New Zealand; M. crassus, Tenison-Woods, Tasmania.

<hw>Mutton-bird</hw>, n. The word is ordinarily applied to the Antarctic Petrel, AEstrelata lessoni. In Australasia it is applied to the Puffin or Short-tailed Petrel, Puffinus brevicaudus, Brandt. The collection of the eggs of this Petrel, the preparation of oil from it, the salting of its flesh for food, form the principal means of subsistence of the inhabitants, half-caste and other, of the islands in Bass Straits.

"They are commonly called mutton birds, from their flavour and fatness; they are migratory,and arrive in Bass's Straits about the commencement of spring, in such numbers that they darken the air."

1843. J. Backhouse, `Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies' (1832), p. 73:

"Mutton birds were in such vast flocks, that, at a distance, they seemed as thick as bees when swarming."

"The Mutton-birds, or Sooty Petrels, are about the size of the Wood Pigeon of England; they are of a dark colour, and are called `Yola' by the natives."

"The principal occupation of these people during this month of the year is taking the Sooty Petrel, called by the Colonists the Mutton Bird, from a fancied resemblance to the taste of that meat."

"The mutton-bird, or sooty petrel . . . is about the size of the wood-pigeon of England, and is of a dark colour. These birds are migratory, and are to be seen ranging over the surface of the great southern ocean far from land . . . Many millions of these birds are destroyed annually for the sake of their feathers and the oil of the young, which they are made to disgorge by pressing the craws."

"The titi, or mutton-bird, is a seabird which goes inland at night just as the light wanes. The natives light a bright fire, behind which they sit, each armed with a long stick. The titis, attracted by the light, fly by in great numbers, and are knocked down as quickly as possible; thus in one night several hundreds are often killed, which they preserve in their own fat for future use."

"The young titi (mutton-bird), a species of puffin, is caught by the natives in great quantities, potted in its own fat, and sent as a sort of `pa^te de foie gras' to inland friends."

"The natives in the South [of Stewart's Island] trade largely with their brethren in the North, in supplies of the mutton- bird, which they boil down, and pack in its own fat in the large air-bags of sea-weed."

"Besides the prion, there is the `mutton-bird' of the whalers (AEstrelata lessoni), a large Procellanid, as big as a pigeon, white and brown and grey in colour."

"The crest of the Cape [Wollomai] is a favourite haunt of those elegant but prosaically-named sea-fowl, the `mutton-birds.'. . One of the sports of the neighbourhood is `mutton-birding.'

1888. A. Reischek, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. xlix. p. 378:

"Passing through Foveaux Strait, clothed with romantic little islands, we disturbed numerous flocks of mutton-birds (Puffinus tristis), which were playing, feeding, or sleeping on the water."

"The mutton-birds and burrowers come to the island in millions in the breeding season, and the nesting-place of the burrowers is very like a rabbit-warren; while the mutton-bird is content with a few twigs to do duty for a nest."

1891. Rev. J. Stack, `Report of Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' vol. iii. p. 379:

"Wild pigeons, koko, tui, wekas, and mutton-birds were cooked and preserved in their own fat."

<hw>Mutton-bird Tree</hw>, n. a tree, Senecio rotundifolius, Hook.: so called because the mutton-birds, especially in Foveaux Straits, New Zealand, are fond of sitting under it.

<hw>Mutton-fish</hw>, n. a marine univalve mollusc, Haliotis naevosa, Martyn: so called from its flavour when cooked. The empty earshell of Haliotis, especially in New Zealand, Haliotis iris, Martyn, is known as Venus' Ear; Maori name, Paua (q.v.). A species of the same genus is known and eaten at the Cape and in the Channel Islands. (French name Ormer, sc. Oreille de mer.)

"Then mutton fish were speared. This is the ear-shell fish (Haliotis naevosa), which was eagerly bought by the Chinese merchants. Only the large muscular sucking disc on foot is used. Before being packed it is boiled and dried. About 9d. per lb. was given."

Myall, n. and adj. aboriginal word with two different meanings; whether there is any connection between them is uncertain.

(1) n. An acacia tree, Acacia pendula, A. Cunn., and its timber. Various species have special epithets: Bastard, Dalby, True, Weeping, etc.

"The myall-tree (Acacia pendula) is the most picturesque tree of New South Wales. The leaves have the appearance of being frosted, and the branches droop like the weeping willow. . . . Its perfume is as delightful, and nearly as strong, as sandal-wood."

(p. 10): "They poison the fish by means of a sheet of bark stripped from the Myall-tree (Acacia pendula)."

"The myall-tree and salt-bush, Acacia pendula and salsolae [sic], so essential to a good run, are also there."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 193 [Note]:

"This acacia, which has much the habit of the weeping willow, is found very extensively on the wet, alluvial flats of the west rivers. It sometimes forms scrubs and thickets, which give a characteristic appearance to the interior of this part of Australia, so that, once seen, it can never be again mistaken for scenery of any other country in the world. The myall scrubs are nearly all of Acacia pendula."

"The myall-wood weapons made at Liverpool Plains were exchanged with the coast natives for others."

"Weeping or true Myall. . . . Stock are very fond of the leaves of this tree [Acacia pendula], especially in seasons of drought, and for this reason, and because they eat down the seedlings, it has almost become exterminated in parts of the colonies."

"A strip of the swaying, streaming myall, of a colour more resembling blue than black."

"Miall, a wood having a scent similar to raspberry jam, and very hard and well-grained."

(2) adj. and n. wild, wild natives, used especially in Queensland. The explanation given by Lumholtz (1890) is not generally accepted. The word mail, or myall, is the aboriginal term for "men," on the Bogan, Dumaresque, and Macintyre Rivers in New South Wales. It is the local equivalent of the more common form murrai.

"On my arrival I learnt from the natives that one party was still at work a considerable distance up the country, at the source of one of the rivers, called by the natives `Myall,' meaning, in their language, Stranger, or a place which they seldom or never frequent."

"This tribe gloried in the name of `Myall,' which the natives nearer to the colony apply in terror and abhorrence to the `wild blackfellows,' to whom they usually attribute the most savage propensities."

"Even the wildest of the Myall black fellows—as cannibals usually are—learned to appreciate him."

"Words quite as unintelligible to the natives as the corresponding words in the vernacular language of the white men would have been, were learned by the natives, and are now commonly used by them in conversing with Europeans, as English words. Thus corrobbory, the Sydney word for a general assembly of natives, is now commonly used in that sense at Moreton Bay; but the original word there is yanerwille. Cabon, great; narang little; boodgeree, good; myall, wild native, etc. etc., are all words of this description, supposed by the natives to be English words, and by the Europeans to be aboriginal words of the language of that district."

"A more intimate acquaintance with the ways and customs of the whites had produced a certain amount of contempt for them among the myalls."

"I had many conversations with native police officers on the subject of the amelioration of the wild myalls."

"Suddenly he became aware that half-a-dozen of these `myalls,' as they are called, were creeping towards him through the long grass. Armed with spears and boomerangs . . ."

"These so-called civilized blacks look upon their savage brethren with more or less contempt, and call them myall."

[Footnote]: "A tree (Acacia pendula) which grows extensively in the less civilized districts is called by the Europeans myall. This word was soon applied by the whites as a term for the wild blacks who frequented these large remote myall woods. Strange to say, the blacks soon adopted this term themselves, and used it as an epithet of abuse, and hence it soon came to mean a person of no culture."

"He himself had no faith in the myall blacks; they were treacherous, they were cruel."

"To secure these myalls we took down sixty or seventy head of quiet cows, as dead homers as carrier pigeons, some of them milking cows, with their calves penned up in the stockyard."

<hw>Myrmecobius</hw>, n. scientific name of the Australian genus with only one species, called the Banded Ant-eater (q.v.). (Grk. murmaex, an ant, and bios life.)

<hw>Myrtle</hw>, n. The true Myrtle, Myrtus communis, is a native of Asia, but has long been naturalised in Europe, especially on the shores of the Mediterranean. The name is applied to many genera of the family, N.O. Myrtaceae, and has been transferred to many other trees not related to that order. In Australia the name, with various epithets, is applied to the following trees—

Backhousia citriodora, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae, called the Scrub Myrtle and Native Myrtle.

Backhousia myrtifolia, Hook. and Herv., N.O. Myrtaceae, called Scrub Myrtle, or Native Myrtle, or Grey Myrtle, and also Lancewood.

Diospyrus pentamera, F. v. M., N.O. Ebenaceae, the Black Myrtle and Grey Plum of Northern New South Wales.

Eugenia myrtifolia, Sims, N.O. Myrtaceae, known as Native Myrtle, Red Myrtle and Brush Cherry.

Eugenia ventenatii, Benth., N.O. Myrtaceae, the Drooping Myrtle or Large-leaved Water-gum.

Melaleuca genistifolia, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae, which is called Ridge Myrtle, and in Queensland Ironwood.

Myoporum serratum, R. Br., N.O. Myoporineae, which is called Native Myrtle; and also called Blue-berry Tree, Native Currant, Native Juniper, Cockatoo-Bush, and by the aborigines Palberry.

Myrtus acmenioides, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae, which is the White Myrtle of the Richmond and Clarence Rivers (New South Wales), and is also called Lignum-vitae.

Rhodamnia argentea, Benth., N.O. Myrtaceae, called White Myrtle, the Muggle-muggle of the aboriginals of Northern New South Wales.

Syncarpia leptopetala, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae, which is called Myrtle and also Brush-Turpentine.

Tristania neriifolia, R. Br., N.O. Myrtaceae, called Water Myrtle, and also Water Gum.

Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae, called Brush-Myrtle, Beech and Brush Cherry.

In Tasmania, all the Beeches are called Myrtles, and there are extensive forests of the Beech Fagus cunninghamii, Hook., which is invariably called "Myrtle" by the colonists of Tasmania.

Table of Tasmanian Woods.

<hw>Nailrod</hw>, n. a coarse dark tobacco smoked by bushmen. The name alludes to the shape of the plug, which looks like a thin flat stick of liquorice. It is properly applied to the imported brand of "Two Seas," but is indiscriminately used by up-country folk for any coarse stick of tobacco.

<hw>Namma hole</hw>, n. a native well. Namma is an aboriginal word for a woman's breast.

"The route all the way from York to Coolgardie is amply watered, either `namma holes' native wells) or Government wells being plentiful on the road."

"The blacks about here [far west of N.S.W.] use a word nearly resembling `namma' in naming waterholes, viz., `numma,' pronounced by them `ngumma,' which means a woman's breast. It is used in conjunction with other words in the native names of some waterholes in this district, e.g., `Tirrangumma' = Gum-tree breast; and ngumma-tunka' = breast-milk, the water in such case being always milky in appearance. In almost all native words beginning with n about here the first n has the ng sound as above."

<hw>Nancy</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the flower Anguillaria (q.v.).

<hw>Nankeen Crane</hw>, or <hw>Nankeen Bird</hw>, or <hw>Nankeen Night Heron</hw>, n. the Australian bird Nycticorax caledonicus, Gmel. Both the Nankeen Bird and the Nankeen Hawk are so called from their colour. Nankeen is "a Chinese fabric, usually buff, from the natural colour of a cotton grown in the Nanking district" of China. (`Century.')

"The nankeen crane (Nycticorax caledonicus), a very handsome bright nankeen-coloured bird with three long white feathers at the back of the neck, very good eating."

<hw>Nankeen Hawk</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Tinnunculus cenchroides, Vig. and Hors., which is otherwise called Kestrel (q.v.).

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 184:

"`This bird,' as we are informed by Mr. Caley, `is called
Nankeen Hawk by the settlers. It is a migratory species.'"

<hw>Nannygai</hw>, n. aboriginal name for an Australian fish, Beryx affinis, Gunth.

"Amongst the early colonists it used also to be called `mother nan a di,' probably a corruption of the native name, mura ngin a gai."

"Known among the fishermen of Port Jackson as the `nannagai,' or as it is sometimes spelt `nannygy.' It is a most delicious fish, always brings a high price, but is seldom found in sufficient numbers."

<hw>Nardoo</hw>, or <hw>Nardu</hw>, n. aboriginal word for the sporocarp of a plant, Marsilea quadrifolia, Linn., used as food by the aboriginals, and sometimes popularly called Clover-fern. The explorers Burke and Wills vainly sought the means of sustaining life by eating flour made from the spore-cases of nardoo. "Properly Ngardu in the Cooper's Creek language (Yantruwunta)." (A. W. Howitt.) Cooper's Creek was the district where Burke and Wills perished. In South Australia Ardoo is said to be the correct form.

1861. `Diary of H. J. Wills, the Explorer,' quoted in Brough Smyth's `Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 216:

"I cannot understand this nardoo at all; it certainly will not agree with me in any form. We are now reduced to it alone, and we manage to get from four to five pounds a day between us. . . . It seems to give us no nutriment. . . . Starvation on nardoo is by no means very unpleasant, but for the weakness one feels and the utter inability to move oneself, for, as far as appetite is concerned, it gives me the greatest satisfaction."

1862. Andrew Jackson, `Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860,' p. 186:

"The [wheaten] flour, fifty pounds of which I gave them, they at once called `whitefellow nardoo,' and they explained that they understood that these things were given to them for having fed King."

"They now began to inquire of the blacks after the nardoo seed, imagining it the produce of a tree; and received from the natives some of their dried narcotic herbs, which they chew, called pitchery. They soon found the nardoo seed in abundance, on a flat, and congratulated themselves in the idea that on this they could subsist in the wilderness, if all other food failed, a hope in which they were doomed to a great disappointment."

"Of Marsiliaceae we have well known examples in the nardoo (Marsilea quadrifolia, with many varieties), the foliage resembling that of a clover with four leaflets."

"They seem to have been unacquainted generally with the use, as a food, of the clover-fern, Nardoo, though the natives of the North Western parts of Victoria must have had intercourse with the tribes who use it, and could have obtained it, sparingly, from the lagoons in their own neighbourhood."

"Ardoo, often described by writers as Nardoo. A very hard seed, a flat oval of about the size of a pea. It is crushed for food."

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway!
   Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!
Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse
   To carry me Westward Ho!
To carry me Westward Ho! my boys;
   That's where the cattle pay,
On the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo,
   A thousand miles away."

"Ardoo. Often described in news papers and by writers as Nardoo. A very hard seed, a flat oval of about the size of a split pea; it is crushed or pounded, and the husk winnowed. In bad seasons this is the mainstay of the native sustenance, but it is the worst food possible, possessing very little nourishment, and being difficult to digest."

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' p. 82 [Botanical Notes on Queensland]:

"Sesbania aculeata. The seeds of this plant are eaten by the natives. It grows in all warm or marshy places in Queensland. By many it is thought that this was the Nardoo which Burke and Wills thought came from the spores of a Marsilea. It is hard to suppose that any nourishment would be obtained from the spore cases of the latter plant, or that the natives would use it. Besides this the spore-cases are so few in number."

"The great thing with the blacks was nardoo. This is a plant which sends up slender stems several inches high; at the tip is a flower-like leaf, divided into four nearly equal parts. It bears a fruit, or seed, and this is the part used for food. It is pounded into meal between two stones, and is made up in the form of cakes, and baked in the ashes. It is said to be nourishing when eaten with animal food, but taken alone to afford no support."

<hw>Native</hw>, n. This word, originally applied, as elsewhere, to the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, is now used exclusively to designate white people born in Australia. The members of the "Australian Natives' Association" (A.N.A.), founded April 27, 1871, pride themselves on being Australian-born and not immigrants. Mr. Rudyard Kipling, in the `Times' of Nov. 1895, published a poem called " The Native-Born," sc. born in the British Empire, but outside Great Britain. As applied to Plants, Animals, Names, etc., the word Native bears its original sense, as in "Native Cabbage," "Native Bear," "Native name for," etc., though in the last case it is now considered more correct to say in Australia "Aboriginal name for," and in New Zealand "Maori name for."

"Three Sydney natives (`currency' not aboriginal) were in the coach, bound for Melbourne."

<hw>Native</hw>, or <hw>Rock-Native</hw>, n. a name given to the fish called Schnapper, after it has ceased to "school." See Schnapper.

<hw>Native Banyan</hw>, n. another name for Ficus rubiginosa. See Fig.

<hw>Native Cabbage</hw>, n. The Nasturtium palustre, De C., N.O. Cruciferae, is so called, but in spite of its name it is not endemic in Australia. In New Zealand, the name is sometimes applied to the Maori Cabbage (q.v.).

<hw>Native Celery</hw>, or <hw>Australian Celery</hw>, n. See Celery.

<hw>Native-Companion</hw>, n. an Australian bird-name, Grus australasianus, Gould. See also Crane.

"Here we saw the native-companion, a large bird of the crane genus . . . five feet high, colour of the body grey, the wings darker, blue or black."

"Grus Australasianus, Gould, Australian Crane; Native-Companion of the Colonists."

"A handsome tame `native-companion,' which had been stalking about picking up insects, drew near. Opening his large slate-coloured wings, and dancing grotesquely, the interesting bird approached his young mistress, bowing gracefully from side to side as he hopped lightly along; then running up, he laid his heron-like head lovingly against her breast."

"A row of native-companions, of course, standing on one leg— as is their wont—like recruits going to drill."

"In this paddock are some specimens of the Native Companion, whose curious habit of assembling in groups on the plains and fantastically dancing, has attracted much attention. This peculiarity is not confined to them alone, however, as some of the other large cranes (notably the crowned cranes of Africa) display the same trait."

<hw>Native Flag</hw>, n. See under Flax, Native, and New Zealand.

<hw>Native-hen</hw>, n. name applied to various species of the genus Tribonyx (q.v.). The Australian species are—

Tribonyx mortieri, Du Bus., called by Gould the Native Hen of the Colonists;

<hw>Native Ivy</hw>, n. See Ivy, and Grape, Macquarie Harbour.

<hw>Native Juniper</hw>, n. Same as Native Currant. See under Currant.

<hw>Native Lucerne</hw>, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp. See under Hemp.

<hw>Native Mangrove</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the Boobialla (q.v.).

<hw>Native Nectarine</hw>, n. another name for the Emu-Apple. See under Apple.

<hw>Native Quince</hw>, n. Another name for Emu-Apple. See Apple.

<hw>Native Sandalwood</hw>, n. See Sandalwood and Raspberry-Jam Tree.

<hw>Native Turkey</hw>, n. Same as Wild Turkey. A vernacular name given to Eupodotis australis, Gray, which is not a turkey at all, but a true Bustard. See Turkey.

<hw>Native Willow</hw>, n. See Boobialla and Poison-berry Tree.

<hw>Nectarine, Native</hw>, n. another name for Emu-Apple. See Apple.

<hw>Needle-bush</hw>, n. name applied to two Australian trees, Hakea leucoptera, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae; called also Pin-bush and Water-tree (q.v.) and Beefwood; Acacia rigens, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae (called also Nealie). Both trees have fine sharp spines.

<hw>Neinei</hw>, n. Maori name for New Zealand shrub, Dracophyllum longifolium, R. Br., also D. traversii, N.O. Epacrideae.

1865. J. Von Haast, `A Journey to the West Coast, 1865' (see `Geology of Westland,' p. 78):

"An undescribed superb tree like Dracophyllum, not unlike the D. latifolium of the North Island, began to appear here. The natives call it nene. (Named afterwards D. traversii by Dr. Hooker.) It has leaves a foot long running out into a slender point, of a reddish brown colour at the upper part, between which the elegant flower- panicle comes forth."

"Neinei, an ornamental shrub-tree, with long grassy leaves. Wood white, marked with satin-like specks, and adapted for cabinet-work."

1888. J. Adams, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 40:

<hw>Nestor</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of New Zealand Parrots. See Kaka and Kea.

"There was a kind of dusky, brownish-green parrot too, which the scientific call a Nestor. What they mean by this name I know not. To the unscientific it is a rather dirty-looking bird, with some bright red feathers under its wings. It is very tame, sits still to be petted, and screams like a parrot."

<hw>Nettle-tree</hw>, n. Two species of Laportea, N.O. Urticaceae, large scrub-trees, are called by this name—Giant Nettle, L. gigas, Wedd., and Small-leaved Nettle, L. photiniphylla, Wedd.; they have rigid stinging hairs. These are both species of such magnitude as to form timber-trees. A third, L. moroides, Wedd., is a small tree, with the stinging hairs extremely virulent. See also preceding words. /??/

"In the scrubs is found a tree, commonly called the nettle- tree (Urtica gigas). It is often thirty feet in height, and has a large, broad, green leaf. It is appropriately named; and the pain caused by touching the leaf is, I think, worse than that occasioned by the sting of a wasp."

<hw>Never, Never Country</hw>, or <hw>Never, Never Land</hw>. See quotations. Mr. Cooper's explanation (1857 quotation) is not generally accepted.

"With the aid of three stock-keepers, soon after my arrival at Illarrawarra, I had the cattle mustered, and the draft destined for the Nievah vahs ready for for the road."

[Footnote]: "Nievah vahs, sometimes incorrectly pronounced never nevers, a Comderoi term signifying unoccupied land."

"The `Never Never Land,' as the colonists call all that portion of it [Queensland] which lies north or west of Cape Capricorn."

"In very sparsely populated country, such as the district of Queensland, known as the Never Never Country—presumably because a person, who has once been there, invariably asseverates that he will never, never, on any consideration, go back."

1890. J. S. O'Halloran, Secretary Royal Colonial Institute, apud Barrere and Leland:

"The Never, Never Country means in Queensland the occupied pastoral country which is furthest removed from the more settled districts."

"The weird `Never, Never Land,' so called by the earliest pioneers from the small chance they anticipated, on reaching it, of ever being able to return to southern civilization."

<hw>Newberyite</hw>, n. [Named after J. Cosmo Newbery of Melbourne.] "A hydrous phosphate of magnesium occurring in orthorhombic crystals in the bat-guano of the Skipton Caves, Victoria." (`Century.')

<hw>New Chum</hw>, n. a new arrival, especially from the old country: generally used with more or less contempt; what in the United States is called a `tenderfoot.'

"`New Chum,' in opposition to `Old Chum.' The former `cognomen' peculiarizing [sic] the newly-arrived Emigrant; the latter as a mark of respect attached to the more experienced Colonist."

"They appear to suffer from an apprehension of being under- sold, or in some other way implicated by the inexperience of, as they call him, the `new chum.'"

"I was, however, comparatively speaking, a `new chum,' and therefore my explanation of the mystery met with scant respect."

"To be a new chum is not agreeable—it is something like being a new boy at school—you are bored with questions for some time after your arrival as to how you like the place, and what you are going to do; and people speak to you in a pitying and patronizing manner, smiling at your real or inferred simplicity in colonial life, and altogether `sitting upon' you with much frequency and persistence."

"I've seen such a lot of those new chums, one way and another.
They knock down all their money at the first go-off, and then
there's nothing for them to do but to go and jackaroo up in
Queensland."

"One man coolly told me it was because I was a new chum, just as though it were necessary for a fellow to rusticate for untold ages in these barbarous solitudes, before he is allowed to give an opinion on any subject connected with the colonies."

<hw>New Chumhood</hw>, n. the period and state of being a New Chum.

<hw>New Holland</hw>, n. the name, now extinct, first given to Australia by Dutch explorers.

"The vast regions to which this voyage was principally directed, comprehend, in the western part, the early discoveries of the Dutch, under the name of New Holland; and in the east, the coasts explored by British navigators, and named New South Wales."

"The Spaniards at the commencement of the seventeenth century were the discoverers of New Holland; and from them it received the name of Australia. It subsequently, however, obtained its present name of New Holland from the Dutch navigators, who visited it a few years afterwards."

[The Spaniards did not call New Holland Australia
(q.v.). The Spaniard Quiros gave the name of Australia del
Espiritu Santo to one of the New Hebrides (still known as
Espiritu Santo), thinking it to be part of the `Great South
Land.' See Captain Cook's remarks on this subject in
`Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 602.]

"Australasia, or Australia, consists of the continent of New
Holland, or Australia, the island of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's
Land, and the islands of New Zealand."

[In the map accompanying the above work `Australia' is
printed across the whole continent, and in smaller type `New
Holland' stretches along the Western half, and `New
South Wales' along the whole of the Eastern.]

<hw>New South Wales</hw>, n. the name of the oldest and most important colony in Australia. The name "New Wales" was first given by Captain Cook in 1770, from the supposed resemblance of the coast to that of the southern coast of Wales; but before his arrival in England he changed the name to "New South Wales." It then applied to all the east of the continent. Victoria and Queensland have been taken out of the parent colony. It is sometimes called by the slang name of Eastralia, as opposed to Westralia (q.v).

<hw>New Zealand</hw>, n. This name was given to the colony by Abel Jansz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who visited it in 1642. He first called it Staaten-land. It is now frequently called Maoriland (q.v.).

<hw>Ngaio, <i</hw>>n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Myoporum laetum, Forst.; generally corrupted into Kaio, in South Island.

1876. J. C. Crawford, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. art. xiv. p. 206:

"A common New Zealand shrub, or tree, which may be made useful for shelter, viz. the Ngaio."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. art. i. p. 33:

"The fruits of several species of Rubus, and of the Ngaio (Myoporum laetum), were also eaten, especially by children."

"Myoporum Laetum (Ngaio). This is generally called kio by colonists. It is a very rapid-growing tree for the first five or six years after it has been planted. They are very hardy, and like the sea air. I saw these trees growing at St. Kilda, near Melbourne, thirty years ago."

<hw>Nigger</hw>, n. an Australian black or aboriginal. [Of course an incorrect use. He is not a negro, any more than the Hindoo is.]

"The natives of Queensland are nearly always spoken of as `niggers' by those who are brought most directly in contact with them."

<hw>Nigger-head</hw>, n. (1) Name given in New Zealand to hard blackstones found at the Blue Spur and other mining districts. They are prized for their effectiveness in aiding cement-washing. The name is applied in America to a round piece of basic igneous rock.

1876. Capt. J. Moresby, R. N., `Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea,' pp. 2-3:

"The gigantic Barrier Reef is submerged in parts, generally to a shallow depth, and traceable only by the surf that breaks on it, out of which a crowd of `nigger heads,' black points of coral rock, peep up in places . . ."

"Abundantly on the Queensland coast, especially on the coral reefs, where all the outstanding blocks of coral (nigger-heads) are covered with them."

<hw>Nightjar</hw>, n. English bird-name, applied in Australia to the following species—

<hw>Nikau</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand palm-tree, Areca sapida, N.O. Palmeae. Spelt also Necho and Neko.

1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses, Session II. No. xvii. of the former legislative Council of New Zealand':

"Section 2. . . . there shall be levied in respect of every building constructed wholly or in part of raupo, nikau, toitoi, wiwi, kakaho, straw or thatch of any description [ . . . L20]."

[The house was] "covered with thick coating of the leaves of the nikau (a kind of palm) and tufts of grass."

"The necho or neko is a large tree-like plant known elsewhere as the mountain cabbage."

"I found growing, as I expected, amongst the trees abundance of the wild palm or nikau. The heart of one or two of these I cut out with my knife. The heart of this palm is about the thickness of a man's wrist, is about a foot long, and tastes not unlike an English hazel-nut, when roasted on the ashes of a fire. It is very nutritious."

"With the exception of the kauri and the nekau-palm nearly every tree which belongs to the colony grows in the `seventy-mile bush' of Wellington."

<hw>Nipper</hw>, n. local name in Sydney for Alphaeus socialis, Heller, a species of prawn.

<hw>Nobbler</hw>, n. a glass of spirits; lit. that which nobbles or gets hold of you. Nobble is the frequentative form of nab. No doubt there is an allusion to the bad spirits frequently sold at bush public-houses, but if a teetotaler had invented the word he could not have invented one involving stronger condemnation.

"The summit gained, he pulls up at the Valley,
To drain a farewell `nobbler' to his Sally."

"To pay for liquor for another is to `stand,' or to `shout,' or to `sacrifice.' The measure is called a `nobbler,' or a `break-down.'"

"When cruising about . . . with a crew of Kurnai . . . I heard two of my men discussing where we could camp, and one, on mentioning a place, said, speaking his own language, that there was `le-en (good) nobler.' I said, `there is no nobler there.' He then said in English, `Oh! I meant water.' On inquiry I learned that a man named Yan (water) had died shortly, before, and that not liking to use that word, they had to invent a new one."

"Only to pull up again at the nearest public-house, to the veranda of which his horse's bridle was hung until he had imbibed a nobbler or two."

"And oft a duffer-dealing digger there
Will nobblerize in jerks of small despair . ."

<hw>Noddy</hw>, n. common English name for the sea-bird. The species observed in Australia are—

<hw>Nonda</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a tree, Parinarium Nonda, F. v. M., N.O. Rosaceae, of Queensland. It has an edible, mealy fruit, rather like a plum.

"We called this tree the `Nonda,' from its resemblance to a tree so called by the natives in the Moreton Bay district."

<hw>Noogoora Bur</hw>, n. a Queensland plant, Xanthium strumarium, Linn., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Noon-flower</hw>, n. a rare name for the Mesembryanthemum. See Pig-face.

"The thick-leaved noon-flower that swings from chalk cliffs and creek banks in the auriferous country is a delectable salad."

<hw>Note</hw>, n. short for Bank-note, and always used for a one-pound note, the common currency. A note = L1.

"A note's so very trifling, it's no sooner chang'd than gone;
For it is but twenty shillings."

"I lent poor Dick Snaffle a trotting pony I had, and he sold him for forty notes."

<hw>Notornis</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand allied to the Porphyrio (q.v.), first described from a fossil skull by Professor Owen (1848), and then thought to be extinct, like the Moa. Professor Owen called the bird Notornis mantelli, and, curiously enough, Mr. Walter Mantell, in whose honour the bird was named, two years afterwards captured a live specimen; a third specimen was captured in 1879. The word is from the Greek notos, south, and 'ornis, bird. The Maori names were Moho and Takahe (q.v.).

<hw>Notoryctes</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus to which belongs the Marsupial Mole (q.v.).

<hw>Nugget</hw>, n. a lump of gold. The noun nugget is not Australian, though often so supposed. Skeat (`Etymological Dictionary,' s.v.) gives a quotation from North's `Plutarch' with the word in a slightly different shape, viz., niggot. "The word nugget was in use in Australia many years before the goldfields were heard of. A thick-set young beast was called `a good nugget.' A bit of a fig of tobacco was called `a nugget of tobacco.'" (G. W. Rusden.)

1852. Sir W. T. Denison, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen s Land,' vol. ii. p. 203:

`In many instances it is brought to market in lumps, or `nuggets' as they are called, which contain, besides the gold alloyed with some metal, portions of quartz or other extraneous material, forming the matrix in which the gold was originally deposited, or with which it had become combined accidentally."

"They lead a peaceful, happy, pastoral life—dig in a hole all day, and get drunk religiously at night. They are respected, admired, and esteemed. Suddenly they find a nugget, and lo! the whole tenor of their life changes."

"To nugget: in Australian slang, to appropriate your neighbours' unbranded calves."

"If he does steal a calf now and then, I know several squatters who are given to nuggeting."

<hw>Nuggety</hw>, adj. applied to a horse or a man. Short, thick-set and strong. See G. W. Rusden's note under Nugget.

"Nuggety is used in the same sense as Bullocky (q.v.), but with a slight difference of meaning, what we should say `compact.' Bullocky has rather a sense of over-strength inducing an awkwardness of movement. Nuggety does not include the last suggestion."

<hw>Nulla-nulla</hw>, n. (spellings various) aboriginal name. A battle club of the aborigines in Australia.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. i. p. 71:

"They would find fit weapons for ghastly warriors in the long white shank-bones gleaming through the grass—appropriate gnulla-gnullas and boomerangs."

"The nulla-nulla is another bludgeon which bears a distinctive character . . . merely a round piece of wood, three feet long and two and a half inches thick, brought to a blunt point at the end. The mallee is the wood from which it is generally made."

"I frequently saw another weapon, the `nolla-nolla' or club, the warlike weapon of the Australian native most commonly in use. It is a piece of hard and heavy wood sharpened to a point at both ends. One end is thick and tapers gradually to the other end, which is made rough in order to give the hand a more secure hold; in using he weapon the heavy end is thrown back before it is hurled."

"One of the simplest of Australian clubs, the `nulla-nulla' resembles the root of a grass-tree in the shape of its head . . . in shape something like a child's wicker-rattle."

"The peculiar type of the Australian native (I do not mean the aboriginal blackfellow, but the Australian white), which has received the significant sobriquet of `The Nut,' may be met with to all parts of Australia, but more particularly . . . in far-off inland bush townships. . . . What is a Nut? . . . Imagine a long, lank, lantern jawed, whiskerless, colonial youth . . . generally nineteen years of age, with a smooth face, destitute of all semblance of a crop of `grass,' as he calls it in his vernacular."

(2) Dare-devil, etc. "Tommy the Nut" was the alias of the prisoner who, according to the story, was first described as "a-larrikin," by Sergeant Dalton. See Larrikin.

<hw>Nut-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian plant, Cyperus rotundus, Linn., N.O. Cyperaceae. The specific and the vernacular name both refer to the round tubers of the plant; it is also called Erriakura (q.v.).

<hw>Nut-Palm</hw>, n. a tree, Cycas media, R. Br., N.O. Cycadeae.

"Nut-Palm. Employed by the aborigines as food. An excellent farina is obtained from it."

Oak, n. The Oak of the Northern Hemisphere (Quercus) is not found among the indigenous trees of Australia; but the name Oak is applied there to the trees of the genus Casuarina (q.v.), and usually in the curious form of She-Oak (q.v.). The species have various appellations in various parts, such as Swamp-Oak, River-Oak, Bull-Oak, Desert-Oak; and even the word He-Oak is applied sometimes to the more imposing species of She-Oak, though it is not recognised by Maiden, whilst the word Native Oak is indiscriminately applied to them all.

The word Oak is further extended to a few trees, not Casuarinae, given below; and in New Zealand it is also applied to Matipo (q.v.) and Titoki, or Alectryon (q.v.).

The following table of the various trees receiving the name of
Oak is compiled from J. H. Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'—

Forest-O.—
Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.;
C. suberosa; Otto and Diet.;
C. torulosa, Ait.

River-O.—
Callistemon salignus, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae;
Casuarina cunninghamii, Miq.;
C. distyla, Vent.;
C. stricta, Ait.;
C. torulosa, Ait.

Scrub Silky-O.— Villaresia moorei, F. v. M., N.O. Olacineae. Called also Maple.

Shingle-O.—
Casuarina stricta, Ait.;
C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.

Silky-O.— Stenocarpus salignus, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae; called also Silvery-Oak. See also Grevillea and Silky-Oak.

Swamp-O.—
Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.;
C. glauca, Sieb.;
C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.;
C. stricta, Ait.; called also Saltwater Swamp-Oak.

Botany-Bay Oak, or Botany-Oak, is the name given in the timber trade to the Casuarina .

The `Melbourne Museum Catalogue of Economic Woods' (1894) classes the She-Oak in four divisions—

1770. Captain Cook, `Journal,' Sunday, May 6 (edition Wharton, 1893, pp. 247, 248):

"The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botany Bay. . . . Although wood is here in great plenty, yet there is very little Variety; . . . Another sort that grows tall and Strait something like Pines—the wood of this is hard and Ponderous, and something of the Nature of America live Oak."

1770. R. Pickersgill, `Journal on the Endeavour' (in `Historical Records of New South Wales'), p. 215:

"May 5, 1770.—We saw a wood which has a grain like Oak, and would be very durable if used for building; the leaves are like a pine leaf."

1802. Jas. Flemming, `Journal of Explorations of Charles Grimes,' in `Historical Records of Port Phillip' (edition 1879, J. J. Shillinglaw), p. 22:

"The land is a light, black-sand pasture, thin of timber, consisting of gum, oak, Banksia, and thorn."

[This combination of timbers occurs several times in the `Journal.' It is impossible to decide what Mr. Flemming meant by Oak.]

"We found lofty blue-gum trees (Eucalyptus) growing on the flats near the Peel, whose immediate banks were overhung by the dense, umbrageous foliage of the casuarina, or `river-oak' of the colonists."

"The river-oak grows on the banks and rivers, and having thick foliage, forms a pleasant and useful shade for cattle during the heat of the day; it is very hard and will not split. The timber resembles in its grain the English oak, and is the only wood in the colony well adapted for making felloes of wheels, yokes for oxen, and staves for casks."

"Botany-Bay Oak, sometimes called Beef-wood, is from New South Wales. . . . In general colour it resembles a full red mahogany, with darker red veins."

"The Casuarina trees, with their leafless, thin, thread-like, articulated branches, have been compared to the arborescent horse-tails (Equisetaceae), but have a much greater resemblance to the Larch-firs; they have the colonial name of Oaks, which might be changed more appropriately to that of Australian firs. The dark, mournful appearance of this tree caused it to be planted in cemeteries. The flowers are unisexual; the fruit consists of hardened bracts with winged seeds. The wood of this tree is named Beef-wood by the colonists."

"It may here be remarked that the term `oak' has been very inaptly—in fact ridiculously—applied by the early Australian settlers; notably in the case of the various species of Casuarina, which are commonly called `she-oaks."

"A peculiar class of trees, called by the scientific name of Casuarina, is popularly known as oaks, `swamp-oaks,' `forest-oaks,' `she-oaks,' and so forth, although the trees are not the least like oaks. They are melancholy looking trees, with no proper leaves, but only green rods, like those of a pine-tree, except that they are much longer, and hang like the branches of a weeping-willow."

<hw>Oak-Apple</hw>, n. the Cone of the Casuarina or She-Oak tree.

"The small apple of this tree (she-oak) is also dark green . . . both apple and leaf are as acid as the purest vinegar.

"In cases of severe thirst, great relief may be obtained from chewing the foliage of this and other species [of Casuarina], which, being of an acid nature, produces a flow of saliva—a fact well-known to bushmen who have traversed waterless portions of the country. This acid is closely allied to citric acid, and may prove identical with it. Children chew the young cones, which they call `oak-apples.'"

<hw>Oamaru Stone</hw>, n. Oamaru is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It produces a fine building stone.

"A white, granular limestone, called the Oamaru stone, is worked in extensive quarries in the Oamaru district. . . . A considerable quantity has been exported to Melbourne."

<hw>Oat-Grass</hw>, n. Anthistiria avenacea, F. v. M., N.O. Gramineae. A species of Kangaroo- Grass (q.v.). See also Grass.

<hw>Oat-shell</hw>, n. the shell of various species of Columbella, a small marine mollusc used for necklaces.

<hw>Oats, Wild</hw>, an indigenous grass, Bromus arenarius, Labill, N.O. Gramineae.Called also Seaside Brome-Grass. "It makes excellent hay." (Maiden, p. 79.)

<hw>Officer Plant</hw>, n. another name for Christmas-Bush (q.v.), so called "because of its bright red appearance." (Maiden, p. 404.)

"`New chum,' in opposition to `old chum.' The former `cognomen' peculiarizing [sic] the newly-arrived emigrant; the latter as a mark of respect attached to the more experienced colonist."

"Mr. Frank Stephen was the author of the well-known epithet `Old Hats,' which was applied to the rank and file of Sir James M'Culloch's supporters. The phrase had its origin through Mr. Stephen's declaration at an election meeting that the electors ought to vote even for an old hat if it were put forward in support of the M'Culloch policy."

<hw>Old Man</hw>, n. a full-grown male Kangaroo. The aboriginal corruption is Wool-man.

"To your great relief, however, the `old man' turns out to possess the appendage of a tail, and is in fact no other than one of our old acquaintances, the kangaroos."

"If he (greyhound) has less ferocity when he comes up with an `old man,' so much the better. . . . The strongest and most courageous dog can seldom conquer a wool-man alone, and not one in fifty will face him fairly; the dog who has the temerity is certain to be disabled, if not killed."

"The settlers designate the old kangaroos as `old men' and `old women;' the full-grown animals are named `flyers,' and are swifter than the British hare."

"The large kangaroo, the `old man,' as he is called, timorous of every unwonted sound that enters his large, erected ears, has been chased far from every busy seat of colonial industry."

"The animals, like the timber, too, are strange. Kangaroo and wallaby are as fond of grass as the sheep, and after a pelican's yawn there are few things funnier to witness than the career of an `old man' kangaroo, with his harem after him, when the approach of a buggy disturbs the family at their afternoon meal. Away they go, the little ones cantering briskly, he in a shaggy gallop, with his long tail stuck out for a balance, and a perpetual see-saw maintained between it and his short front paws, while the hind legs act as a mighty spring under the whole construction. The side and the back view remind you of a big St. Bernard dog, the front view of a rat. You begin an internal debate as to which he most resembles, and in the middle of it you find that he is sitting up on his haunches, which gives him a secure height of from five to six feet, and is gravely considering you with the air of the old man he is named from."

"I stared at a man one day for saying that a certain allotment of land was `an old-man allotment': he meant a large allotment, the old-man kangaroo being the largest kangaroo."

<Mhw>Old-Man Salt-Bush</hw>, Atriplex nummularium, Lindl. See Salt-Bush.

"One of the tallest and most fattening and wholesome of Australian pastoral salt-bushes; also highly recommended for cultivation, as natural plants. By close occupation of the sheep and cattle runs, have largely disappeared, and as this useful bush is not found in many parts of Australia, sheep and cattle depastured on saltbush country are said to remain free of fluke, and get cured of Distoma-disease, and of other allied ailments (Mueller)."

<hw>Old-Wife</hw>, n. a New South Wales fish, Enoplosus armatus, White, family Percidae. The local name Old-Wife in England is given to a quite different fish, one of the Sea-Breams.

"The `old-wife' (Enoplosus armatus, White) is another fish which from its small size is not esteemed nearly so highly as it ought to be. It is a most exquisite fish."

Bursaria spinosa, Cav., N.O. Pittosporeae,; Elaeocarpus cyaneus, Ait., N.O. Tiliaceae; Notelaea ovala, R. Br., N.O. Jasmineae,; and, in Queensland, to Olea paniculata, R. Br., N.O. Jasmineae,, a tree of moderate size, with ovoid fruit resembling a small common Olive.

<hw>Olive, Spurious</hw>, n. another name for the tree Notelaea ligustrina, Vent. See Ironwood.

<hw>On</hw>, prep. Used for In, in many cases, especially of towns which sprang from Goldfields, and where the original phrase was, e.g. "on the Ballarat diggings, or goldfield." Thus, an inhabitant still speaks of living On Ballarat, On Bendigo; On South Melbourne (formerly Emerald Hill).

"After tea they would sit on a log of the wood-heap, . . and yarn about Ballarat and Bendigo—of the days when we spoke of being `on' a place oftener than `at' it: on Ballarat, on Gulgong, on Lambing Flat, on Creswick."

<hw>Onychogale</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus containing the Nail-tailed Wallabies (q.v.). They derive their name from the presence of a peculiar horny appendage to their tails. (Grk. 'onux, 'onuchos, a claw, and galae, a weasel.) For the species, see Wallaby.

<hw>Opossum</hw>, n. The marsupial animal, frequent all over Australia, which is called an Opossum, is a Phalanger (q.v.). He is not the animal to which the name was originally applied, that being an American animal of the family Didelphyidae. See quotations below from `Encycl. Brit.' (1883). Skeat (`Etym. Dict.') says the word is West Indian, but he quotes Webster (presumably an older edition than that now in use), "Orig. opassom, in the language of the Indians of Virginia," and he refers to a translation of Buffon's Natural History' (Lond. 1792), Vol. i. p. 214. By 1792 the name was being applied in Australia. The name opossum is applied in Australia to all or any of the species belonging to the following genera, which together form the sub-family Phalangerinae, viz.—Phalanger, Trichosurus, Pseudochirus, Petauroides, Dactylopsila, Petaurus, Gymnobelideus, Dromicia, Acrobates.

Tasmanian, or Sooty O.—
Trichosurus vulpecula, var. fuliginosus.

Of the rare little animal called Leadbeater's Opossum, only one specimen has been found, and that in Victoria; it is Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, and is the only species of this genus.

1608. John Smith, `Travels, Adventures, and Observations in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America, beginning about 1593, and continued to 1629;' 2 vols., Richmond, U.S., reprinted 1819; vol. i. p. 124 [On the American animal; in the part about Virginia, 1608]:

"An Opassom hath a head like a Swine,—a taile like a Rat, and is of the bigness of a Cat. Under the belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth and suckleth her young."

[This is the American opossum. There are only two known genera of living marsupials outside the Australian region.]

1770. `Capt. Cook's Journal' (edition Wharton, 1893), p. 294 [at Endeavour River, Aug. 4, 1770]:

"While botanising to-day I had the good fortune to take an animal of the opossum (Didelphis) tribe; it was a female, and with it I took two young ones. It was not unlike that remarkable one which De Buffon has described by the name of Phalanger as an American animal. It was, however, not the same. M. de Buffon is certainly wrong in asserting that this tribe is peculiar to America, and in all probability, as Pallas has said in his Zoologia, the Phalanger itself is a native of the East Indies, as my animals and that agree in the extraordinary conformation of their feet, in which they differ from all others."

"The pouch of the female, in which the young are nursed, is thought to connect it rather with the opossum tribe."

[p. 293]: "Black flying-opossum. [Description given.] The fur of it is so beautiful, and of so rare a texture, that should it hereafter be found in plenty, it might probably be thought a very valuable article of commerce."

"The opossum is also very numerous here, but it is not exactly like the American opossum: it partakes a good deal of the kangaroo in the strength of its tail and make of its fore-legs, which are very short in proportion to the hind ones; like that animal it has the pouch, or false belly, for the safety of its young in time of danger."

"At an early age the females wear round the waist a small line made of the twisted hair of the opossum, from the centre of which depend a few small uneven lines from two to five inches long. This they call bar-rin."

"A still more elegant kind of New Holland opossum is the petaurine opossum . . . has the general appearance of a flying-squirrel, being furnished with a broad furry membrane from the fore to the hind feet, by the help of which it springs from tree to tree. . . . Known in its native regions by the name of hepoona roo."

"Their food consists of fish when near the coasts, but when in the woods, of oppossums [sic], bandicoots, and almost any animal they can catch."

"The white man wanders in the dark,
We hear his thunder smite the bough;
The opossum's mark upon the bark
We traced, but cannot find it, now."

"The opossums usually abound where grass is to be found, lodging by day in the holes and hollows of trees. The most common species is the Phalangista vulpina (Shaw), under which are placed both the black and grey opossums. . . . The ringtail opossum (Phalangista or Hepoona Cookii, Desm.) is smaller, less common, and less sought after, for dogs will not eat the flesh of the ringtail even when roasted."

"Dogs, immediately on coming into the Australian forest, become perfectly frantic in the pursuit of opossums."

1883. `Encyclopaedia Britannica' (ed. 9) [On the Australian animal], vol. xv. p. 382:

"A numerous group, varying in size from that of a mouse to a large cat, arboreal in their habits and abundantly distributed throughout the Australian region . . . have the tail more or less prehensile. . . . These are the typical phalangers or `opossums,' as they are commonly called in Australia. (Genus Phalangista.)"

"The Didelphidae, or true opossums, differ from all other marsupials in their habitat, being peculiar to the American continent. They are mostly carnivorous or insectivorous in their diet, and arboreal in habits."

"Among the colonists the younger generation are very zealous opossum hunters. They hunt them for sport, going out by moonlight and watching the animal as it goes among the trees to seek its food."

"We see two fine pairs of the Tasmanian sooty opossum (Phalangista fuliginosa); this species is unapproached by any other in regard to size and the beauty of its fur, which is of a rich, fulvous brown colour. This opossum is becoming scarce in Tasmania on account of the value of its fur, which makes it much sought after. In the next compartment are a pair of short-eared opossums (P. canina), the mountain opossums of Southern Australia. The next is a pair of vulpine opossums; these are the common variety, and are found all over the greater part of Australia, the usual colour of this kind being grey."

"Kangaroo, wallaby, opossum, and rabbit skins. . . . Opossum skins, ordinary firsts to 7s. 6d; seconds to 3s.; thirds to 1s. 6d; silver greys up to 9s. per doz.; do. mountain, to 18s. per doz."

<hw>Opossum-Mouse</hw>, n. the small Australian marsupial, Acrobates pygmaeus, Shaw; more correctly called the Pigmy Flying-Phalanger. See Flying- Phalanger. This is the animal generally so denoted, and it is also called the Flying-Mouse. But there is an intermediate genus, Dromicia (q.v.), with no parachute expansion on the flanks, not "flying," of which the name of Dormouse-Phalanger is the more proper appellation. The species are the—

One genus, with only one species, the Pentailed-Phalanger, Distaechurus pennatus, Peters, is confined to New Guinea.

"Resembling a common mouse in size, and hence known to the colonists as the flying-mouse or opossum-mouse, this little animal is one of the most elegant of the Australian marsupials."

<hw>Opossum-Tree</hw>, n. a timber-tree, Quintinia sieberi, De C., N.O. Saxifrageae.

<hw>Orange</hw>, n. i.q. Native Lime, Citrus australis. See Lime.

<hw>Orange, Native</hw>, n. name given to two Australian trees. (1) Capparis mitchelli, Lindl., N.O. Capparideae.

"`Small Native Pomegranate,' `Native Orange.' The fruit is from one to two inches in diameter, and the pulp, which has an agreeable perfume, is eaten by the natives."

"`Native Orange,' `Orange Thorn.' The fruit is an orange berry with a leathery skin, about one inch and a half in diameter. It is eaten by the aboriginals."

<hw>Orange, Wild</hw>, n. i.q. Wild Lemon. See under Lemon.

<hw>Orange-spotted Lizard</hw> (of New Zealand), Naultinus elegans, Gray.

<hw>Orange-Tree</hw>, n. The New Zealand Orange-Tree is a name given to the Tarata (q.v.), from the aromatic odour of its leaves when crushed.

<hw>Organ-Bird</hw>, or <hw>Organ-Magpie</hw>, n. other names for one of the Magpies (q.v.).

"Gymnorrhina organicum, Gould, Tasmanian crow-shrike; Organ-Bird and White-Magpie of the Colonists. Resembling the sounds of a hand-organ out of tune."

"The burita, or Gymnorrhina, the organ-magpie, was here represented by a much smaller bird."

<hw>Orthonyx</hw>, n. a scientific name of a remarkable Australian genus of passerine birds, the spine-tails. It long remained of uncertain position . . . and finally it was made the type of a family, Orthonycidae. In the type species, O. spinacauda . . . the shafts of the tail-feathers are prolonged beyond the legs. (`Century.') Thename is from the Greek 'orthos, straight, and 'onux, a claw. See Log-Runner and Pheasant's Mother.

<hw>Ounce</hw>, n. used as adj. Yielding an ounce of gold to a certain measure of dirt, as a dish-full, a cradle-full, a tub-full, etc. Also used to signify the number of ounces per ton that quartz will produce, as "ounce-stuff," "three-ounce stuff," etc.

Out-run, n. a sheep-run at a distance from the Head-station (q.v.).

"They'd come off a very far out-run, where they'd been, as one might say, neglected."

<hw>Out-station</hw>, n. a sheep or cattle station away from the Head-station (q.v.).

"He . . . at last on an out-station in the Australian bush worked for his bread."

"Herds used to be taken from New South Wales to South Australia across what were once considered the deserts of Riverina. That used to be called `overlanding.'"

"Several gentlemen were away from the two nearest stations, `overlanding,' i.e. taking sheep, cattle, and flour to Melbourne."

<hw>Overlander</hw>, n. (1) In the days before railways, and when much of the intervening country was not taken up, to travel between Sydney and Melbourne, or Melbourne and Adelaide, was difficult if not dangerous. Those who made either journey were called Overlanders. In this sense the word is now only used historically, but it retains the meaning in the general case of a man taking cattle a long distance, as from one colony to another.

"Among the beings which, although not natives of the bush, appear to be peculiar to the wilds of Australia, the class of men called Overlanders must not be omitted. Their occupation is to convey stock from market to market, and from one colony to another."

"The Eastern extent of the country of South Australia was determined by the overlanders, as they call the gentlemen who bring stock from New South Wales."

"Overlanders from Sydney and Melbourne to Adelaide were making great sums of money."

"An `overlander,'—for, as you havn't any of the breed in New Zealand, I'll explain what that is,—is Queensland-English for a long-distance drover; and a rough, hard life it generally is. . . . Cattle have to be taken long distances to market sometimes from these `up-country' runs."

"Then came overlanders of another sort—practical men who went out to develop and not to explore."

In New Zealand, the species are—Laughing Jackass, or L. Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup (Maori name, Whekau, q.v.), and the Morepork, formerly Athene novae-zelandiae, Gray, now Spiloglaux novae-zelandiae, Kaup. (See Morepork.)

<hw>Oyster</hw>, n. The Australian varieties are—Mud-Oyster, Ostrea angasi, Sow. (sometimes considered only a variety of O. edulis, Linn., the European species): New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia. O. rutupina, Jeffreys, "the native" of Colchester, England, is a variety and occurs in Tasmania. Drift-O., O. subtrigona, Sow., called so because its beds are thought to be shifted by storms and tides: New South Wales and Queensland. Rock-O., O. glomerata, Gould, probably the same species as the preceding, but under different conditions: all Eastern Australia. And other species more or less rare. See also Stewart Islander. Australian oysters, especially the Sydney Rock-Oyster, are very plentiful, and of excellent body and flavour, considered by many to be equal if not superior to the Colchester native. They cost 1s. a dozen; unopened in bags, they are 6d. a dozen—a contrast to English prices.

1857. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 155:

"16 August, 1848 . . . A sample of the white resin of the Oyster Bay Pine (Callitris Australis, Brown) lay on the table. The Secretary stated that this tree has only been met with along a comparatively limited and narrow strip of land bordering the sea on the eastern coast of Tasmania, and upon Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in Bass's Straits; that about Swanport and the shores of Oyster Bay it forms a tree, always handsome and picturesque, and sometimes 120 feet in height, affording useful but not large timber, fit for all the ordinary purposes of the house carpenter and joiner in a country district."

"Those most picturesque trees, the Oyster Bay pines, which, vividly green in foliage, tapering to a height of eighty or one hundred feet, and by turns symmetrical or eccentric in form, harmonise and combine with rugged mountain scenery as no other of our trees here seem to do."

<hw>Oyster-catcher</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australasian species are—Pied, Haematopus longirostris, Vieill.; Black, H. unicolor, Wagler; and two other species—H. picatus, Vigors, and H. australasianus, Gould, with no vernacular name.

"Our game-bag was thinly lined with small curlews, oyster-catchers, and sanderlings."

<hw>Pa</hw>, or <hw>Pah</hw>, n. The former is now considered the more correct spelling. A Maori word to signify a native settlement, surrounded by a stockade; a fort; a fighting village. In Maori, the verb pa means, to touch, to block up. Pa = a collection of houses to which access is blocked by means of stockades and ditches.

"I rather think they are places of retreat or stronghold, where they defend themselves against the attack of an enemy, as some of them seemed not ill-design'd for that purpose."

"Have since learnt that they have strongholds—or hippas, as they call them—which they retire to in time of danger."

"[On the coast of New Zealand] they passed many huts and a considerable hippah, or fortified place, on a high round hill, from the neighbourhood of which six large canoes were seen coming towards the ship."

"A native pa, or enclosed village, is usually surrounded by a high stockade, or irregular wooden fence, the posts of which are often of great height and thickness, and sometimes headed by the frightful carving of an uncouth or indecent image."

"They seem, generally speaking, at present inveterate in their adherence to their dirty native habits, and to their residence in pas."

"The construction of the war pas . . . exhibits the inventive faculty of the New Zealanders better than any other of their works. . . . Their shape and size depended much on the nature of the ground and the strength of the tribe. They had double rows of fences on all unprotected sides; the inner fence, twenty to thirty feet high, was formed of poles stuck in the ground, slightly bound together with supple-jacks, withes, and torotoro creepers. The outer fence, from six to eight feet high, was constructed of lighter materials. Between the two there was a dry ditch. The only openings in the outer fence were small holes; in the inner fence there were sliding bars. Stuck in the fences were exaggerated wooden figures of men with gaping mouths and out-hanging tongues. At every corner were stages for sentinels, and in the centre scaffolds, twenty feet high, forty feet long, and six broad, from which men discharged darts at the enemy. Suspended by cords from an elevated stage hung a wooden gong twelve feet long, not unlike a canoe in shape, which, when struck with a wooden mallet, emitted a sound heard in still weather twenty miles off. Previously to a siege the women and children were sent away to places of safety."

"A pah is strictly a fortified village, but it has ceased to be applied to a fortified one only, and a collection of huts forming a native settlement is generally called a pah now-a-days."

"The celebrated Gate Pah, where English soldiers in a panic ran away from the Maoris, and left their officers to be killed."

"A sally was made from the pah, but it was easily repulsed.
Within the pah the enemy were secure."

<hw>Pachycephala</hw>, n. the scientific name for the typical genus of Pachycephalinae, founded in 1826 by Vigors and Horsfield. It is an extensive group of thick-headed shrikes, containing about fifty species, ranging in the Indian and Australian region, but not in New Zealand. The type is P. gutturalis, Lath., of Australia. (`Century.') They are singing-birds, and are called Thickheads (q.v.), and often Thrushes (q.v.). The name is from the Greek pachus, thick, and kephalae, the head.

<hw>Paddock</hw>. (1) 1n England, a small field; in Australia, the general word for any field, or for any block of land enclosed by a fence. The `Home-paddock' is the paddock near the Homestation, and usually very large.

"The paddocks are so arranged that hills may afford shelter, and plains or light-timbered flats an escape from the enormous flies and other persecuting enemies."

"`Paddocks,' as the various fields are called (some of these `paddocks' contain 12,000 acres)."

(2) An excavation made for procuring wash-dirt in shallow ground. A place built near the mouth of a shaft where quartz or wash-dirt is stored. (Brough Smyth, `Glossary of Mining Terms,' 1869.)

"When a run is paddocked shepherds are not required; but boundary riders are required."

<hw>Paddy Lucerne</hw>, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp. See under Hemp.

<hw>Paddymelon</hw>, n. the name of a small Wallaby (q.v.), Macropus thetidis, Less. It is certainly a corruption of an aboriginal name, and is spelt variously pademelon, padmelon, and melon simply. (See Melon-holes.) This word is perhaps the best instance in Australia of the law of Hobson-Jobson, by which a strange word is fitted into a language, assuming a likeness to existing words without any regard to the sense. The Sydney name for kangaroo was patagorang. See early quotations. This word seems to give the first half of the modern word. Pata, or pada, was the generic name: mella an adjective denoting the species. Paddymalla (1827) marks an intermediate stage, when one-half of the word had been anglicised. At Jervis Bay, New South Wales, the word potalemon was used for a kangaroo.

"The pattagorang and baggaray frequently supplied our colonists with fresh meals, and Governor Phillip had three young ones, which were likely to live: he has not the least doubt but these animals are formed in the false belly."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 548:

"The pat-ta-go-rang or kangooroo was (bood-yer-re) good, and they ate it whenever they were fortunate enough to kill one."

"Had hunted down a paddymelon (a very small species of kangaroo, which is found in the long grass and thick brushes)."

1845. Clement Hodgkinson, `Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay,' p. 45:

"A small species of the kangaroo tribe, called by the sealers paddymelon, is found on Philip Island, while none have been seen on French Island."

"The small kind of kangaroo, however, called by the natives `Paddy Melon,' and which inhabits the dense brushes or jungles, forms a more frequent, and more easily obtained article of food."

"In the scrub beyond, numbers of a small kind of kangaroo called `Paddy- Mellans,' resort."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' p. 62:

"Onychogale fraenatus and its ally O. lunatus. Mr. Le Souef reports that the former are fairly numerous in the Mallee country to the north-west of the Colony, and are there known as Pademelon." [This seems to be only a local use.]

"On either side is a forest, the haunt of wombats and tree-bears, and a few paddymelons."

<hw>Paddymelon-Stick</hw>, n. a stick used by the aborigines for knocking paddymelons (q.v.) on the head.

"These are hunted in the brushes and killed with paddy mellun sticks with which they are knocked down. These sticks are about 2 feet long and an inch or less in diameter."

"Nulla-mullahs, paddy-melon sticks, boomerangs, tomahawks, and heelimen or shields lay about in every direction."

<hw>Pake</hw>, n. Maori name for a coarse mat used against rain. A sack thrown over the shoulders is called by the settlers a Pake.

<hw>Pakeha</hw>, n. Maori word for a white man. The word is three syllables, with even accent on all. A Pakeha Maori is an Englishman who lives as a Maori with the Maoris. Mr. Tregear, in his `Maori Comparative Dictionary,' s.v. Pakepakeha, says: "Mr. John White [author of `Ancient History of the Maoris'] considers that pakeha, a foreigner, an European, originally meant `fairy,' and states that on the white men first landing sugar was called `fairy-sand,' etc." Williams' `Maori Dictionary' (4th edit.) gives, "a foreigner: probably from pakepakeha, imaginary beings of evil influence, more commonly known as patupaiarehe, said to be like men with fair skins." Some express this idea by "fairy." Another explanation is that the word is a corruption of the coarse English word, said to have been described by Dr. Johnson (though not in his dictionary), as "a term of endearment amongst sailors." The first a in Pakeha had something of the u sound. The sailors' word would have been introduced to New Zealand by whalers in the early part of the nineteenth century.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 187:

"The white taboo'd day, when the packeahs (or white men) put on clean clothes and leave off work" [sc. Sunday].

"We do not want the missionaries from the Bay of Islands, they are pakeha maori, or whites who have become natives."

<hw>Palberry</hw>, n. a South Australian name for the Native Currant. See Currant. The word is a corruption of the aboriginal name Palbri, by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

<hw>Palm, Alexandra</hw>, n. a Queensland timber-tree, Ptychosperma alexandrae, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae.

<hw>Palm, Black</hw>, n. a Queensland timber-tree, Ptychosperma normanbyi, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae.

<hw>Palm, Walking-Stick</hw>, n. a Queensland plant, Bacularia monostachya, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae. So called because the stem is much used for making walking-sticks.

<hw>Panel</hw>, n. the part between two posts in a post-and-rail fence. See also Slip-panel.

"In the jar of the panel rebounding,
In the crash of the splintering wood,
In the ears to the earth-shock resounding,
In the eyes flashing fire and blood."

<hw>Pan</hw>, or <hw>Pan-wash</hw>, <hw>Pan-out</hw>, <hw>Pan-off</hw>, verbs, to wash the dirt in the pan for gold. Some of the forms, certainly pan-out, are used in the United States.

"Others to these the precious dirt convey,
Linger a moment till the panning's through."

"These returned gnomes having been brought to light, at once commenced to pan off according to the recognized rule and practice."

<hw>Pannikin</hw>, n. a small tin cup for drinking. The word is not Australian. Webster refers to Marryat and Thackeray. The `Century' quotes Blackmore. This diminutive of pan is exceedingly common in Australia, though not confined to it.

"There is a well-known story of two bullock-drivers, who, at a country public-house on their way to the town, called for a dozen of champagne, which they first emptied from the bottles into a bucket, and then deliberately drank off from their tin pannikins."

"He was considered sufficiently rewarded in having the `honour' to drink his `pannikin' of tea at the boss's deal table."

<hw>Pannikin-boss</hw>, or <hw>Pannikin-overseer</hw>, n. The term is applied colloquially to a man on a station, whose position is above that of the ordinary station-hand, but who has no definite position of authority, or is only a `boss' or overseer in a small way.

<hw>Papa</hw>, n. Maori word for a bluish clay found along the east coast of the North Island.

<hw>Paper-bark Tree</hw>, or <hw>Paper-barked Tea-tree</hw>, n. Called also Milk-wood (q.v.). Name given to the species Melaleuca leucodendron, Linn. Its bark is impervious to water.

"There is no doubt, from the partial trial which has been made of it, that the wood of the Melaleuca, or tea-tree, could be rendered very serviceable. It is sometimes known by the name of the paper-bark tree from the multitudinous layers (some hundreds) of which the bark is composed. These layers are very thin, and are loosely attached to each other, peeling off like the bark of the English birch. The whole mass of the bark is readily stripped from the tree. It is used by the natives as a covering for their huts."

"The face of the country was well but not too closely covered with specimens of the red and white gum, and paper-bark tree."

"The dead bodies are burnt or buried, though some in North Australia place the corpse in the paper bark of the tea-tree, and deposit it in a hollow tree."

<hw>Paper-fish</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name. See Bastard Trumpeter and Morwong.

"The young [of the bastard trumpeter] are always coloured, more or less, like the red, and are known by some as `paper-fish.' The mature form of the silver bastard is alone caught. This is conclusive as favouring the opinion that the silver is simply the mature form of the red."

<hw>Paradise, Bird of</hw>, n. English bird-name, originally applied in Australia to the Lyre-bird (q.v.), now given to Manucoda gouldii, Gray. Called also the Manucode (q.v.).

"By him [Wilson, a convict] the first bird of paradise ever seen in this country had been shot." [This was the Lyre-bird.]

<hw>Paradise-Duck</hw>, n. bird-name applied to the New Zealand duck, Casarca variegata, Gmel. See Duck quotation, 1889, Parker.

"These (wild ducks of different sorts) are principally the black, the grey, the blue-winged, and the paradise-duck, or `pu tangi tangi,' as it is called by the natives. The last is nearly as large as a goose, and of beautiful plumage."

<hw>Paradoxus</hw>, n. a shortened form of the former scientific name of the Platypus, Paradoxus ornithorrhynchus. Sometimes further abbreviated to Paradox. The word is from the Greek paradoxos, `Contrary to opinion, strange, incredible.' (`L. & S.')

"In the reaches or pools of the Campbell River, the very curious animal called the paradox, or watermole, is seen in great numbers."

<hw>Paramatta</hw>/sic/, n. "A fabric like merino, of worsted and cotton. So named from Paramatta, a town near Sydney, New South Wales." (Skeat, `Etymological Dictionary,' s.v.) According to some, the place named Parramatta means, in the local Aboriginal dialect, "eels abound," or "plenty of eels." Others rather put it that para = fish, and matta= water. There is a river in Queensland called the Paroo, which means "fish-river."

NOTE.—The town Parramatta, though formerly often spelt with one r, is now always spelt with two.

"A peculiar tweed, made in the colony, and chiefly at Paramatta, hence the name."

"Paramattas, fine cloths originally made from the Paramatta wool, with silk warps, though now woollen."

<hw>Pardalote</hw>, n. anglicised form of the scientific bird-name Pardalotus (q.v.), generally called Diamond birds (q.v.); a genus of small short-tailed birds like the Flycatchers. The species are—

Forty-spotted P.— P. quadragintus, Gould; called also Forty-Spot (q.v.).

Spotted P.— P. punctatus, Temm.; the bird originally called the Diamond Bird (q.v.).

"No species of the genus to which this bird belongs is more widely and generally distributed than the spotted pardalote, Pardalotus punctatus."

<hw>Pardalotus</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian birds, called Diamond birds (q.v.), and also Pardalotes (q.v.), from Grk. pardalowtos, spotted like the pard.

"Family, Anatida—Parera, turuki (Anas superciliosa), the duck; very similar to the wild duck of England."

<hw>Parra</hw>, n. a popular use for the fuller scientific name Parra gallinacea. Called also the Jacana (q.v.), and the Lotus-bird (q.v.).

"The egg of the comb-crested parra shines amongst its neighbours so vividly that it at once catches the eye, and suggests a polished agate rather than an egg. The bird itself is something of a gem, too, when seen skipping with its long water-walking claws over the floating leaves of pink and blue water-lilies."

<hw>Parrakeet</hw>, n. (various spellings). From French. Originally from Spanish periquito, dim. of sp. perico, a little parrot. Hence used generally in English to signify any small parrot. The Australian species are—

Black-tailed P.— Polytelis melanura, Vig. and Hors.; called also Rock-pebbler.

Yellow-collared P.— P. semitorquatus, Quoy and Gaim.; called also Twenty-eight (q.v.).

See also Grass-Parrakeet, Musk-Parrakeet, Rosella, and Rosehill. The New Zealand Green Parrakeet (called also Kakariki, q.v.) has the following species—

"The cockatoo-parrakeet of the Gwyder River (Nymphicus
Novae-Hollandiae, Gould)."

"The bright parroquet, and the crow, black jet,
For covert, wing far to the shade."

"There are three species of parrakeet, the red-fronted (Platycercus Novae-Zelandiae), the yellow-fronted (P. auriceps), and the orange-fronted (P. alpinus). The genus Platycercus is found in New Zealand, New Guinea, and Polynesia."

<hw>Parrot-fish</hw>, n. name given in Australia to Pseudoscarus pseudolabrus; called in the Australian tropics Parrot-perch. In Victoria and Tasmania, there are also several species of Labricthys. In New Zealand, it is L. psittacula, Rich.

<hw>Parrot's-food</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the plant Goodenia ovata, Sm., N.O. Goodeniaceae.

<hw>Parsley, Wild</hw>, n. Apium leptophyllum, F. v. M., N.O. Umbelliferae. Parsley grows wild in many parts of the world, especially on the shores of the Mediterranean, and this species is not endemic in Australia.

<hw>Parsnip, Wild</hw>, n. a poisonous weed, Trachymene australis, Benth., N.O. Umbelliferae.

"Recently (Dec. 1887) the sudden death of numbers of cattle in the vicinity of Dandenong, Victoria, was attributed to their having eaten a plant known as the wild parsnip. . . . Its action is so powerful that no remedial measures seem to be of any avail."

<hw>Parson-bird</hw>, n. the New Zealand bird Prosthemadera novae-zelandiae, Gmel.; Maori name, Tui (q.v.). See also Poe.

"Cook named this beautiful and lively bird the parson and mocking-bird. It acquired the first name from its having two remarkable white feathers on the neck like a pair of clergyman's bands."

[Mr. Taylor is not correct. Cook called it the Poe-bird (q.v.). The name `Parson-bird' is later.]

"The most common, and certainly the most facetious, individual of the ornithology is the tui (parson-bird). Joyous Punchinello of the bush, he is perpetual fun in motion."

"So the parson-bird, the tui,
The white-banded songster tui,
In the morning wakes the woodlands
With his customary music.
Then the other tuis round him
Clear their throats and sing in concert,
All the parson-birds together."

"The tui, or parson-bird, most respectable and clerical-looking in its glossy black suit, with a singularly trim and dapper air, and white wattles of very slender feathers—indeed they are as fine as hair—curled coquettishly at each side of his throat, exactly like bands."

"Sitting on the branch of a tree, as a pro tempore pulpit, he shakes his head, bending to one side and then to another, as if he remarked to this one and to that one; and once and again, with pent-up vehemence, contracting his muscles and drawing himself together, his voice waxes loud, in a manner to awaken sleepers to their senses."

1890. W. Colenso, `Bush Notes,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxxiii. art. lvii. p. 482:

"It is very pleasing to hear the deep rich notes of the parson-bird—to see a pair of them together diligently occupied in extracting honey from the tree-flowers, the sun shining on their glossy sub-metallic dark plumage."

<hw>Partridge-wood</hw>, n. another name for the Cabbage-Palm (q.v.).

<hw>Passion-flower, Native</hw>, n. Several species of the genus Passiflora are so called in Australia; some are indigenous, some naturalised.

"The native passion-flower, scarlet and orange, was tangled up with the common purple sarsaparilla and the English honeysuckle and jessamine."

<hw>Pastoralist</hw>, n. The squatters are dropping their old name for this new one. A Pastoralist is a sheep or cattle-farmer, the distinction between him and an Agriculturist being, that cultivation, if he undertakes it at all, is a minor consideration with him.

"A combination has been formed by the squatters under the name of the Pastoralists' Union."

<hw>Patagorang</hw>, n. one of the aboriginal names for the Kangaroo (q.v.), and see Paddy-melon.

<hw>Pataka</hw>, n. Maori word for storehouse, supported on a post to keep off rats. See Whata.

<hw>Patiki</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Flounder (q.v.). The accent is on the first syllable of the word.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 190:

"Patiki, common name for the sole and flat-fish; the latter is found in rivers, but decreases in size as it retires from the sea."

1879. Captain Mair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. art. xlvi. p. 316:

"In 1796 the Prologue (erroneously imputed to a convict Barrington, but believed to have been written by an officer) declared:

`True patriots we, for be it understood
We left our country for our country's good.'"

<hw>Patter</hw>, v. to eat. Aboriginal word, and used in pigeon- English, given by Collins in his vocabulary of the Port Jackson dialect. Threlkeld says, ta is the root of the verb, meaning "to eat."

<hw>Patu</hw>, n. Maori generic term for all hand-striking weapons. The mere (q.v.) is one kind.

"It (fern-root) was soaked, roasted, and repeatedly beaten with a small club (patu) on a large smooth stone till it was supple."

<hw>Paua</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Mutton- fish (q.v.). Also used as the name for Maori fishhooks, made of the paua shell; the same word being adopted for fish, shell, and hook.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 191:

"Pawa (Haliotis iris), or mutton-fish. This beautiful shell is found of considerable size; it is used for the manufacture of fish-hooks."

1877. W. L. Buller, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. x. art. xix. p. 192:

"Immense piles of paua shells (Haliotis iris), heaped up just above the shore, show how largely these substantial molluscs were consumed."

<hw>Payable</hw>, adj. In Australia, able to be worked at a profit: that which is likely to pay; not only, as in England, due for payment.

"We . . . expect to strike a payable lead on a hill near . . . A shaft is bottomed there, and driving is commenced to find the bottom of the dip."

"Good payable reefs have been found and abandoned through ignorance of the methods necessary to obtain proper results."

<hw>Pea-plant</hw>, n. The term is applied sometimes to any one of various Australian plants of the N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Peach-berry</hw>, n. a Tasmanian berry, Lissanthe strigosa, Smith, N.O. Epacrideae.

<hw>Peach, Native</hw>, n. another name for the Quandong (q.v.), and for Emu-Apple (q.v.).

"The so-called native Peach-tree of our desert tracts is a true Santalum, S. acuminatum."

<hw>Peacocking</hw>, vb. n. Australian slang. To peacock apiece of country means to pick out the eyes of the land by selecting or buying up the choice pieces and water-frontages, so that the adjoining territory is practically useless to any one else.

"When the immediate advent of selectors to a run became probable, the lessees endeavoured to circumvent them by dummying all the positions which offered the best means of blocking the selectors from getting to water. This system, commonly known as `peacocking' . . ."

<hw>Pear, Native</hw>, name given to a timber-tree, Xylomelum pyriforme, Sm., N.O. Proteaceae (called also Wooden Pear), and to Hakea acicularis. See Hakea.

"The pear-tree is, I believe, an eucalyptus, and bears a pear of solid wood, hard as heart of oak."

<hw>Pearl-Perch</hw>, n. a rare marine fish of New South Wales, excellent for food, Glaucosoma scapulare, Ramsay, family Percidae.

<hw>Pee-wee</hw>, n. a New South Wales name for the Magpie-Lark (q.v.).

<hw>Peg-out</hw>, v. tr. to mark out a gold-claim under the Mining Act, or a Free-Selection (q.v.) under the Land Act, by placing pegs at the corners of the land selected. Used also metaphorically.

"I selected an unoccupied spot between two holes . . . pegged out eight square feet, paid the licence fee."

"He was in high hopes that he might be one of the first to peg out ground on the goldfield."

"The pegging out, that is, the placing of four stout sticks, one at each corner, was easy enough."

"Making their way to Heemskirk, where they were the first to peg out land for ten."

"The writer . . . should be called on to defend his conduct in pegging out an additional section on the outskirts of the field of literature."

<hw>Pelican</hw>, n. English bird-name. The pelicans occur in nearly all temperate or tropical regions. The Australian species is Pelecanus conspicillatus, Temm.

<hw>Penguin</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The species in Australia are—

"The Penguins are characteristic Southern Hemisphere sea-birds, being represented in the Northern by the Puffins. They are flightless, but their wings are modified into powerful fins or flappers. Among the most interesting forms are the following— the King Penguin, Aptenodytes longirostris; Rock Hopper P., Pygoscelis taeniatus; Yellow-Crowned P., Eudyptes antipodum; Crested P., E. pachyrhynchus; Little Blue P., E. minor and undina."

<hw>Pennyroyal, Native</hw>, n. Mentha gracilis, R. Br., N.O. Labiatae. Much more acrid than the European species of Mentha; but used widely as a herbal medicine. Very common in all the colonies. See also Mint.

<hw>Pepper, Climbing</hw>, n. Piper novae-hollandiae, Miq., N.O. Piperaceae. Called also Native Pepper, and Native Pepper-vine. A tall plant climbing against trees in dense forests.

<hw>Peppermint</hw>, or <hw>Peppermint-tree</hw>, n. a name given to various Eucalypts, from the aromatic nature of their leaves or extracted essence. See quotation below from White, 1790. There are many species, and various vernacular names, such as Brown Peppermint, Dandenong P., Narrow-leaved P., White P., etc. are given in various parts to the same species. See Maiden's note on Eucalyptus amygdalina, under Gum. Other vernacular names of different species are Bastard-Peppermint, Peppermint-Box, Peppermint-Gum.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales' (Appendix by Dr. Smith or John Hunter), pp. 226-27:

"The Peppermint Tree, Eucalyptus piperita. . . . The name of peppermint-tree has been given to this plant by Mr. White on account of the very great resemblance between the essential oil drawn from its leaves and that obtained from the Peppermint (Mentha piperita) which grows in England. This oil was found by Mr. White to be much more efficacious in removing all cholicky complaints than that of the English Peppermint, which he attributes to its being less pungent and more aromatic."

"The peppermint, so called from the leaves imparting to the taste that flavour, grows everywhere throughout the island."

"Well, mate, it's snug here by the logs
That's peppermint—burns like a match."

"The peppermints rose like pillars, with funereal branches
hung,
Where the dirge for the dead is chanted,
And the mourning hymn is sung."

"It [Eucalyptus capitella, Smith] is one of the numerous `peppermints' of New South Wales and Victoria, and is noteworthy as being the first eucalypt so called, at any rate in print."

<hw>Pepper, Native</hw>, i.q. Climbing Pepper (see above), Piper Novae-Hollandiae, Miq.

"`Native Pepper.' An excellent tonic to the mucous membrane. . . . One of the largest native creepers, the root being at times from six inches to a foot in diameter. The plant climbs like ivy to the tops of the tallest trees, and when full-grown weighs many tons, so that a good supply of the drug is readily obtainable."

<hw>Pepper-tree</hw>, n. The name is given to two trees, neither of which are the true pepper of commerce (Piper). They are—

(1) Schinus molle, which is a native of South America, of the Cashew family, and is largely cultivated for ornament and shade in California, and in the suburbs and public parks and gardens of all Australian towns where it has been naturalised. It is a very fast growing evergreen, with feathery leaves like a small palm or fern, drooping like a weeping willow. It flowers continuously, irrespective of season, and bears a cluster of red-berries or drupes, strongly pungent,-whence its name.

(2) The other tree is indigenous in Australia and Tasmania; it is Drimys aromatica, F. v. M., formerly called Tasmania aromatica, R. Br., N.O. Magnoliaceae. In New Zealand the name is applied to Drimys /corr./ axillaris, Forst. (Maori, Horopito; q.v.).

"A thick grove of the pepper-shrub, Tasmania fragrans of Smith. It grows in a close thicket to the height of from six to ten feet. When in blossom, in the spring months of November or December, the farina of the flower is so pungent, especially if shaken about by the feet of horses or cattle, that it is necessary to hold a handkerchief to the nose in order to avoid continual sneezing."

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. ii. p. 280:

"We also found the aromatic tree, Tasmania aromatica. . . . The leaves and bark of this tree have a hot, biting, cinnamon-like taste, on which account it is vulgarly called the pepper-tree."

"The handsome red-stemmed shrub known as native pepper. . . . Something like cayenne and allspice mixed, . . . the aromatic flavour is very pleasant. I have known people who, having first adopted its use for want of other condiments, continue it from preference."

<hw>Peragale</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Australian marsupial animals called Rabbit- Bandicoots. See Bandicoot. (Grk. paera, a bag or wallet, and galae, a weasel.)

<hw>Perameles</hw>, n. scientific name for the typical genus of the family of Australian marsupial animals called Bandicoots (q.v.), or Bandicoot-Rats. The word is from Latin pera (word borrowed from the Greek), a bag or wallet, and meles (a word used by Varro and Pliny), a badger.

<hw>Perch</hw>, n. This English fish-name is applied with various epithets to many fishes in Australia, some of the true family Percidae, others of quite different families. These fishes have, moreover, other names attached to them in different localities. See Black Perch, Fresh-water P., Golden P., Magpie P., Murray P., Pearl P., Red P., Red Gurnet P., Rock P., Sea P., Parrot Fish, Poddly, Burramundi, Mado, and Bidyan Ruffe.

"Lates colonorum, the perch of the colonists . . , really a fresh-water fish, but . . . often brought to the Sydney market from Broken Bay and other salt-water estuaries. . . . The perch of the Ganges and other East Indian rivers (L. calcarifer) enters freely into brackish water, and extends to the rivers of Queensland."

[See Burramundi. L. colonorum is called the Gippsland Perch, in Victoria.]

"The other genus (Chilodactylus) is also largely represented in Tasmania and Victoria, one species being commonly imported from Hobart Town in a smoked and dried state under the name of `perch.'"

"When a man (or party) has nearly died through want of water he is said to have `done a perish.'"

<hw>Perpetual Lease</hw>, though a misnomer, is a statutory expression in New Zealand. Under the former Land Acts, the grantee of a perpetual lease took a term of thirty years, with a right of renewal at a revalued rent, subject to conditions as to improvement and cultivation, with a right to purchase the freehold after six years' occupation.

<hw>Perriwinkle</hw>, n. See quotation. The most popular form in Melbourne is Turbo undulatus, Chemnitz. T. constricta is also called the Native Whelk.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' p. 122:

"Trochocochlea constricta, Lam., is used as a substitute for the British perriwinkle, but it is only consumed to a very small extent."

<hw>Petaurist</hw>, n. the general name for a Flying-Phalanger (q.v.), Flying-Opossum (q.v.), Australian Flying-Squirrel (q.v.). (Grk. petauristaes, a rope-dancer or tumbler). See Petaurus.

<hw>Petauroides</hw>, n. a genus closely allied to Petaurus (q.v.), containing only one species, the Taguan Flying-Phalanger.

<hw>Petaurus</hw>, n. the scientific name given by Shaw in 1793 to the Australian genus of Petaurists (q.v.), or so-called Flying-Squirrels (q.v.), or Flying-Phalangers (q.v.), or Flying-Opossums. The name was invented by zoologists out of Petaurist. In Greek, petauron was the perch or platform from which a "rope-dancer" stepped on to his rope. `L. & S.' say probably from pedauros, Aeolic for meteowros, high in air.

<hw>Pething-pole</hw>, n. a harpoon-like weapon used for pething (pithing) cattle; that is, killing them by piercing the spinal cord (pith, or provincial peth).

"So up jumps Tom on the bar overhead with a long pething-pole, like an abnormally long and heavy alpenstock, in his hand; he selects the beast to be killed, stands over it in breathless . . . silence, adjusts his point over the centre of the vertebra, and with one plunge sends the cruel point with unerring aim into the spinal cord."

<hw>Petrogale</hw>, n. the scientific name for a Rock-Wallaby (q.v.). The name was given by J. E. Gray, in the `Magazine of Natural History' (vol. i. p. 583), 1837. (Grk. petra, rock, and galae, a weasel.)

<hw>Pezoporus</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of Parrakeets peculiar to Australia, of which one species only is known, P. formosus, the Ground Parrakeet, or Swamp Parrakeet. From Grk. pezoporos, "going on foot." It differs from all the other psittaci in having a long hind toe like that of a lark, and is purely terrestrial in its habits.

"Pezoporus Formosus, Ill., Ground-parrakeet; Swamp-parrakeet, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land; Ground-parrakeet, New South Wales and Western Australia."

<hw>Phalanger</hw>, n. the scientific name for the animal called an Opossum (q.v.) in Australia, and including also the Flying-squirrel (q.v.), and other Marsupials. See also Flying-Phalanger. The word is sometimes used instead of Opossum, where precise accuracy is desired, but its popular use in Australia is rare. The Phalangers are chiefly Australian, but range as far as the Celebes. The word is from the Greek phalanx, one meaning of which is the bone between the joints of the fingers or toes. (The toes are more or less highly webbed in the Phalanger.)

"The cry of the night-bird, the rustle of the phalangers and the smaller marsupials, as they glided through the wiry frozen grass or climbed the clear stems of the eucalypti."

"A pair of the Short-headed Phalanger (Belideus breviceps) occupy the next division."

"The second great family of the herbivorous Diprotodont Marsupials is typically represented by the creatures properly known as phalangers, which the colonists of Australia persist in misnaming opossums. It includes however several other forms, such as the Flying-Phalangers [q.v.] and the Koala [q.v.]."

<hw>Phascolarctus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Koala (q.v.) or Native Bear, of which there is only one species, P. cinereus. It is, of course, marsupial.(Grk. phaskowlos, a leather apron, and 'arktos, a bear.) See Bear.

<hw>Phascologale</hw>, n. contracted often to Phascogale: the scientific name for the genus of little marsupials known as the Kangaroo-Mouse or Pouched-Mouse (q.v.). (Grk. phaskowlos, a leather apron, and galae, a weasel.) "The pretty little animals belonging to the genus thus designated, range over the whole of Australia and New Guinea, together with the adjacent islands and are completely arboreal and insectivorous in their habits. The [popular] name of Pouched-Mouse is far from being free from objection, yet, since the scientific names of neither this genus nor the genus Sminthopsis lend themselves readily for conversion into English, we are compelled to use the colonial designation as the vernacular names of both genera. . . . The largest of the thirteen known species does not exceed a Common Rat in size, while the majority are considerably smaller." (R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 166.)

"The phascogales are small insectivorous animals found on the mountains and in the dense forest-parts of the island, and little is known of their habits."

<hw>Phascolome</hw>, and <hw>Phascolomys</hw>, n. The first is the anglicised form of the second, which is the scientific name of the genus called by the aboriginal name of Wombat (q.v.) (Grk. phaskowlos = leathern bag, and mus = mouse.)

<hw>Phasmid</hw>, n. the name for the insects of the genus Phasma (Grk. phasma = an appearance), of the family Phasmidae, curious insects not confined to Australia, but very common there. The various species are known as Leaf-insects, Walking leaves, Stick-caterpillars, Walking-sticks, Spectres, etc., from the extraordinary illusion with which they counterfeit the appearance of the twigs, branches, or leaves of the vegetation on which they settle. Some have legs only, which they can hold crooked in the air to imitate twigs; others have wings like delicate leaves, or they are brilliant green and covered with thorns. They imitate not only the colour and form of the plant, but its action or motion when swayed slightly by the wind.

"A span-long Phasmid then he knew,
Stretching its fore-limbs like a branching twig."

<hw>Pheasant</hw>, n. This common English bird-name is applied in Australia to two birds, viz.—

1877 (before). Australie, `From the Clyde to Braidwood,' quoted in `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (edition Sladen, p. 10):

". . . Echoing notes
Of lyre-tailed pheasants, in their own rich notes,
Mocking the song of every forest-bird."

<hw>Pheasant-Cuckoo</hw>, n. another name for the Coucal (q.v.), Centropus phasianellus, Gould. See also Swamp-Pheasant.

"I shot over the island and enjoyed some very fair sport, especially with the pheasant-cuckoo."

<hw>Pheasant's Mother</hw>, n. an old name of an Australian bird. See Orthonyx.

"That remarkable little bird, the `Pheasant's Mother' of the colonists, or Spine-tailed Orthonyx (Orthonyx spinicauda), about which also ornithologists have some difference of opinion respecting its situation in the natural system:'

<hw>Philander</hw>, n. an old scientific name, now abandoned, for certain species of the Kangaroo family. The word was taken from the name of the explorer, Philander de Bruyn. See quotation.

"Aru Island Wallaby. Macropus brunnii, Cuvier (1817). Didelphys brunnii, Schreber (1778). . . Distribution.— Aru and Kei Islands. This species has an especial interest as being the first member of the Kangaroo-family known to Europeans, specimens having been seen in the year 1711 by [Philander de] Bruyn living in the gardens of the Dutch Governor of Batavia. They were originally described under the name of Philander or Filander."

<hw>Phormium</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus to which New Zealand Flax (P. tenax) belongs. See Flax. (Grk. phormion, dim. of phormos, anything plaited of reeds or rushes.)

<hw>Pialler</hw>, v. used as pigeon-English, especially in Queensland and New South Wales, in the sense of yabber, to speak.

"Hester seized the shrinking black and led him forward, wildly crying that she would `pialla' the Great Spirit, so that no evil should befall him."

<hw>Piccaninny</hw>, and <hw>Pickaninny</hw>, n. a little child. The word is certainly not Australian. It comes from the West Indies (Cuban piquinini, little, which is from the Spanish pequeno, small, and nino, child). The English who came to Australia, having heard the word applied to negro children elsewhere, applied it to the children of the aborigines. After a while English people thought the word was aboriginal Australian, while the aborigines thought it was correct English. It is pigeon-English.

"Bilge introduced several old warriors . . . adding always the number of piccaninies that each of them had."

"We can even trace words which the Europeans have imported from the natives of other countries—for example picaninny, a child. This word is said to have come originally from the negroes of Africa, through white immigrants. In America the children of negroes are called picaninny. When the white men came to Australia, they applied this name to the children of the natives of this continent."

[An Englishman, speaking to blacks] "would produce from his pocket one of his pistols, and say, `Picaninny gun, plenty more.'"

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' part ii. Zoology, Aves, p. 69:

"Pardalotus ornatus and Pardalotus affinis give forth a treble note which has secured for them the name of `Pick-it-up' from our country boys."

<hw>Picnic</hw>, n. Besides the ordinary meaning of this word, there is a slang Australian use denoting an awkward adventure, an unpleasant experience, a troublesome job. In America the slang use is "an easy or agreeable thing." (`Standard.') The Australasian use is an ironical inversion of this.

"If a man's horse is awkward and gives him trouble, he will say, `I had a picnic with that horse,' and so of any misadventure or disagreeable experience in travelling. So also of a troublesome business or other affair; a nursemaid, for instance, will say, `I had a nice picnic with Miss Nora's hair.'"

<hw>Picton Herring</hw>, n. a name for several fishes when dried (like "kipper"), especially for the Sea-Mullet, or Makawhiti or Aua (q.v.) (Maori names); and for the New South Wales fish called Maray (q.v.).

"The pig-dogs are of rather a mongrel breed, partaking largely of the bull-dog, but mixed with the cross of mastiff and greyhound, which forms the New South Wales kangaroo-dog" [q.v.]

1877. R. Gillies, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. x. art. xliii. p. 321:

Flock or Harlequin Bronze-wing (called also Squatter, q.v.)— Phaps histrionica, Gould.

Red-plumed Pigeon— Lophophaps ferruginea, Gould. [He gives vernacular "Rust-coloured."]

See also Fruit-Pigeon, Harlequin Pigeon, Partridge-Pigeon, Torres Straits Pigeon.

<hw>Pigeon-berry Tree</hw>, n. i.q. Native Mulberry. See Mulberry.

<hw>Pig-face</hw>, <hw>Pig-faces</hw>, and <hw>Pig's-face, or Pig's-faces. Names given to an indigenous "iceplant," Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale, Haw., N.O. Ficoideae, deriving its generic name from the habit of expanding its flower about noon.

"Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale, pig faces; called by the aborigines by the more elegant name of canagong. The pulp of the almost shapeless, but somewhat ob-conical, fleshy seed vessel of this plant, is sweetish and saline; it is about an inch and a half long, of a yellowish, reddish, or green colour."

"Great green mat-like plants of the pretty Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale, or fig-marigold, adorned the hot sandy banks by the road-side. It bears a bright purple flower, and a five-sided fruit, called by the children `pig-faces.'"

"The pig's face is an extremely common production of the Australian soil, growing like a thick and fleshy grass, with its three-sided leaf and star-shaped pink or purple flower, occupying usually a rocky or dry light soil."

"Though this country is almost entirely destitute of indigenous fruits of any value to an European, yet there are various kinds which form very valuable and extensive articles of food for the aborigines; the most abundant and important of these is the fruit of a species of cactus, very elegantly styled pig's-faces by the white people, but by the natives called karkalla. The size of the fruit is rather less than that of a walnut, and it has a thick skin of a pale reddish colour, by compressing which, the glutinous sweet substance inside slips into the mouth."

"Pig-faces. It was the canajong of the Tasmanian aboriginal. The fleshy fruit is eaten raw by the aborigines: the leaves are eaten baked."

<hw>Pig-faced Lady</hw>, n. an old name in Tasmania for the Boar-fish (q.v.).

<hw>Pig-fish</hw>, n. name given to the fish Agriopus leucopaecilus, Richards., in Dunedin; called also the Leather-jacket (q.v.). In Sydney it is Cossyphus unimaculatus, Gunth., a Wrasse, closely related to the Blue-groper. In Victoria, Heterodontus phillipi, Lacep., the Port Jackson Shark. See Shark.

<hw>Pig-footed Bandicoot</hw>, n. name given to Choeropus castanotis, Gray, an animal about the size of a rabbit, belonging to the family Peramelidae, which includes all the bandicoots. It lives in the sandy, dry interior of the continent, making a small nest for itself on the surface of the ground out of grass and twigs. The popular name is derived from the fact that in the fore-feet the second and third toes are alone well developed, the first and fifth being absent, and the fourth very rudimentary, so that the foot has a striking resemblance to that of a pig. See also Bandicoot.

"The feet, and especially the fore feet, were singularly formed, the latter resembling those of a hog."

<hw>Pigmeater</hw>, n. a beast only fit for pigs to eat: one that will not fatten.

"Among them was a large proportion of bullocks, which declined with fiendish obstinacy to fatten. They were what are known by the stock-riders as `ragers' [q.v.] or `pig-meaters.'"

"`Pig-meaters!' exclaimed Ernest; `what kind of cattle do you call those? Do bullocks eat pigs in this country?' `No, but pigs eat them, and horses too, and a very good way of getting rid of rubbish.'"

<hw>Piharau</hw>, n. Maori name for Geotria chilensis, Gray, a New Zealand Lamprey (q.v.).

"We procured an abundant supply of piarau, a `lamprey,' which is taken in large numbers in this river, and some others in the neighbourhood, when the waters are swollen."

<hw>Pihoihoi</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand bird, the Ground-lark (q.v.). The word has five syllables.

<hw>Pike</hw>, n. name applied in Australia and Tasmania to two species of marine fish—Sphyraena obtusata, Cuv. and Val.; S. novae-hollandiae; Gunth. See also Sea-pike.

<hw>Pilchard</hw>, n. The fish which visits the Australian shores periodically, in shoals larger than the Cornish shoals, is Clupea sagax, Jenyns, the same as the Californian Pilchard, and closely related to the English Pilchard, which is Clupea pilchardus.

<hw>Pilgrims, Canterbury</hw>, n. The first settlers in Canterbury, New Zealand, were so called in allusion to the pilgrims to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. Chaucer's `Canterbury Tales' were told by such pilgrims. The name was given probably by Mr. William Lyon, who in 1851 wrote the `Dream.' See quotation, 1877.

"The `Pilgrims,' as the first comers are always called.
I like the name; it is so pretty and suggestive."

1877. W. Pratt, `Colonial Experiences or Incidents of Thirty-four Years in New Zealand,' p. 234:

"In the `Dream of a Shagroon,' which bore the date Ko Matinau, April 1851, and which first appeared in the `Wellington Spectator' of May 7, the term `Pilgrim' was first applied to the settlers; it was also predicted in it that the `Pilgrims' would be `smashed,' and the Shagroons left in undisputed possession of the country for their flocks and herds."

<hw>Pilot-bird</hw>, n. This name is given to a sea-bird of the Caribbean Islands. In Australia it is applied to Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould.

"Here, close together, are eggs of the lyre-bird and the pilot-bird—the last very rare, and only found quite lately in the Dandenong Ranges, where the lyre-bird, too, has its home."

<hw>Pimelea</hw>, n. scientific name for a large genus of shrubs or herbs, N.O. Thymeleaceae. There are over seventy species, all confined to Australia and New Zealand. They bear terminal or axillary clusters of white, rose, or yellow flowers, and being very beautiful plants, are frequently cultivated in conservatories. A gardener's name for some of the species is Rice-flower. Several of the species, especially P. axiflora, F. v. M., yield excellent fibre, and are among the plants called Kurrajong (q.v.); another name is Toughbark. For etymology, see quotation, 1793.

"Gaertner . . . adopted the name of Pimelea from the manuscripts of Dr. Solander. It is derived from pimelae, fat, but is rather a pleasantly sounding than a very apt denomination, unless there may be anything oily in the recent fruit."

<hw>Pinch-out</hw>, v. to thin out and disappear (of gold-bearing). This use is given in the `Standard,' but without quotations; it may be American.

"Sometimes 100 to 200 tons of payable quartz would be raised from one of these so-called reefs, when they would pinch out, and it would be found that they were unconnected with other leaders or veins."

<hw>Pine</hw>, n. The Pines are widely distributed in Australasia, and include some of the noblest species. The name, with various epithets, is given to a few other trees besides those of the Natural Order Coniferae,; the following is a list of the various Pines in Australasia. They belong to the Natural Order Coniferae,, unless otherwise indicated—

Black Pine—
Frenela endlicheri, Parlat.
Irenela robusta,A. Cunn.

(Of Otago)— Podocarpus ferruginea,Don.; Maori name, Miro (q.v.).; P. spicata, R. Br.; Maori name, Mai, or Matai (q.v.).

Celery-topped P. (q.v.)— (In Australia)— Phyllocladus rhomboidalis, Rich.

P. trichomanoides, Don.; Maori name, Tanekaha
(q.v.);
P. glauca, and
P. alpinus; Maori name, Toatoa, and often also
called Tanekaha.

Cypress P.—
Frenela endlicheri, Parlat.
F. rhomboidea, Endl.
F. robusta (var. microcarpa), A. Cunn.
F. robusta (var. verrucosa), A. Cunn.

Mahogany Pine— Podocarpus totara, A. Cunn.; Maori name, Totara, (q.v.).

New Caledonian P.—
(Of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides)—
Araucaria cookii, Cook.

Prickly P.—
(In Queensland)—
Flindersia maculosa, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae;
called also Leopard Tree (q.v.).

Red P.—
(In Australia)—
Frenela endlicheri, Parlat.
(In New Zealand)—
Dacrydium cupressinum, Soland; called also Rimu
(q.v.).

Rock P.—
(In Western New South Wales)—
Frenela robusta (var. verrucosa), A. Cunn.

Screw P.— Pandanus odoratissimus, Linn., N.O. Pandaneae; not endemic in Australia.

Toatoa P.— Phyllocladus alpinus, Hook.; Maori name, Toatoa (q.v.).

White P.—
(In Australia)—
Frenela robusta, A. Cunn.
F. robusta (var. microcarpa), A. Cunn.
Podocarpus elata, R. Br.

(In New Zealand)— P. dacryoides, A. Rich.; Maori name, Kahikatea (q.v.).

Yellow P.— Dacrydium colensoi, Hook.; Maori name, Manoao (q.v.).

"The Green Forest . . . comprises myrtle, sassafras, celery-top pine, with a little stringy-bark."

"On the little hill beside the river hung pines (Callitris pyramidalis) in great abundance."

"The King River is only navigable for small craft . . . Piners' boats sometimes get in."

<hw>Pinkwood</hw>, n. a name for a Tasmanian wood of a pale reddish mahogany colour, Eucryphia billardieri, Sparrm., N.O. Saxifrageae,, and peculiar to Tasmania; also called Leatherwood; and for the Wallaby- bush, Beyera viscosa, Miq., N.O. Euphorbiaceae, common to all the colonies of Australasia.

<hw>Piopio</hw>, n. Maori name for a thrush of New Zealand, Turnagra crassirostris, Gmel. See Thrush.

"These were the days of `pipes.' Certain supposed home truths . . . were indited in clear and legible letters on a piece of paper which was then rolled up in the form of a pipe, and being held together by twisting at one end was found at the door of the person intended to be instructed on its first opening in the morning."

"Malice or humour in the early days expressed itself in what were called pipes—a ditty either taught by repetition or circulated on scraps of paper: the offences of official men were thus hitched into rhyme. These pipes were a substitute for the newspaper, and the fear of satire checked the haughtiness of power."

<hw>Pipe-fish</hw>, n. common fishname. The species present in Australia and New Zealand is Ichthyocampus filum, Gunth., family Syngnathidae, or Pipe-fishes.

<hw>Piper</hw>, n. an Auckland name for the Garfish (q.v.). The name is applied to other fishes in the Northern Hemisphere.

"Angling for garfish in Auckland Harbour, where it is known as the piper, is graphically described in `The Field,' London, Nov. 25, 1871. . . . the pipers are `just awfu' cannibals,' and you will be often informed on Auckland wharf that `pipers is deeth on piper.'"

<hw>Pipi</hw>, n. Maori name of a shellfish, sometimes (erroneously) called the cockle, Mezodesma novae-zelandiae.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 193:

"Each female is busily employed in scraping the potatoes thoroughly with pipi-shells."

<hw>Piping-Crow</hw>, n. name applied sometimes to the Magpie (q.v.).

"The warbling melops and the piping crow,
The merry forest fill with joyous song."

<hw>Pitau</hw>, n. Maori name for the Tree-fern. In Maori, the word means—(1) Soft, tender, young shoots. The verb pihi means "begin to grow"; pi means "young of birds," also "the flow of the tide." (2) Centre-fronds of a fern. (3) Name of a large fern.

"The pitau, or tree-ferns, growing like a palm-tree, form a distinguishing ornament of the New Zealand forest."

<hw>Pitchi</hw>, n. name given to a wooden receptacle hollowed out of a solid block of some tree, such as the Batswing Coral (Erythrina vespertio), or Mulga (Acacia aneura), and carried by native women in various parts of Australia for the purpose of collecting food in, such as grass seed or bulbs, and sometimes for carrying infants. The shape and size varies much, and the more concave ones are used for carrying water in. The origin of the word is obscure; some think it aboriginal, others think it a corruption of the English word pitcher.

1896. E. C. Stirling, `Home Expedition in Central Australia, Anthropology, pt. iv. p. 99:

"I do not know the origin of the name `Pitchi,' which is in general use by the whites of the parts traversed by the expedition, for the wooden vessels used for carrying food and water and, occasionally, infants."

<hw>Pitta</hw>, n. The name is Telugu for the Indian Ant-thrush; a few species are confined to Australia; they are—

"Pitta strepitans, Temm., Noisy Pitta. There are also Rainbow Pitta, Pitta iris, and Vigor's Pitta, P. Macklotii.

<hw>Pittosporum</hw>, n. a genus of plants so called from the viscous pulp which envelops the seeds. (Grk. pitta, pitch, and sporos, seed.) There are about fifty species, which are found in Africa and Asia, but chiefly in Australasia. They are handsome evergreen shrubs, and some grow to a great height; the white flowers, being very fragrant, have been sometimes likened to orangeblossoms, and the rich evergreen leaves obtain for some of them the name of Laurels. They are widely cultivated in the suburbs of cities as ornamental hedges. See Mock-Orange, Hedge-Laurel, Native Laurel, etc.

<hw>Pituri</hw>, or <hw>Pitchery</hw>, n. Native name for Duboisia hopwoodii, F. v. M., a shrub growing in the sand-hills of certain districts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Central Australia. The leaves are chewed as a narcotic by the natives of many parts, and form a valuable commodity of barter. In some parts of Central Australia the leaf is not chewed, but is only used for the purpose of making a decoction which has the power of stupefying emus, which under its influence are easily captured by the natives. Other spellings are Pitchiri, Pedgery, and Bedgery. Perhaps from betcheri, another form of boodjerrie, good, expressing the excellent qualities of the plant. Compare Budgerigar.

"`Pitcherry,' a narcotic plant brought by King, the explorer, from the interior of Australia, where it is used by the natives to produce intoxication. . . . In appearance it resembled the stem and leaves of a small plant partly rubbed into a coarse powder. . . . On one occasion Mr. King swallowed a small pinch of the powder, and described its effects as being almost identical with those produced by a large quantity of spirits."

"Pitury of the natives. The leaves are used by the natives of Central Australia to poison emus, and is chewed by the natives as the white man does the tobacco."

"In one part of Central Australia the leaves and twigs of a shrub called pidgery by the natives are dried and preserved in closely woven bags. . . . A small quantity has an exhilarating effect, and pidgery was highly prized."

"The leaves contain a stimulant, which possesses qualities similar to those of tobacco and opium, and are chewed by several tribes in the interior of Australia. Pituri is highly valued as a stimulant, and is taken for barter far and wide."

"One of the virtues that the native drug Pitchurie is supposed to possess when used by the old men is the opening up of this past life, giving them the power and perquisites of seers."

"Mr. Purcell had travelled over nearly the whole of Queensland, and had only seen the plant growing in a very limited area west of the Mullyan River, 138th meridian of east long., and on the ranges between the 23rd and 24th parallel of south latitude. He had often questioned the Darling blacks about it, and they always replied by pointing towards the north west. The blacks never, if they could possibly help it, allowed white men to see the plant. He himself had not been allowed to see it until he had been initiated into some of the peculiar rites of the aborigines. Mr. Purcell showed what he called the pitchery letter, which consisted of a piece of wood covered with cabalistic marks. This letter was given to a pitchery ambassador, and was to signify that he was going to the pitchery country, and must bring back the amount of pitchery indicated on the stick. The talisman was a sure passport, and wherever he went no man molested the bearer. This pitchery was by no means plentiful. It grew in small clumps on the top of sandy ridges, and would not grow on the richer soil beneath. This convinced him that it never grew in any other country than Australia. The plant was cooked by being placed in an excavation in which a fire had been burning. It then became light and ready for transport. As to its use in the form of snuff, it was an excellent remedy for headaches, and chewed it stopped all craving for food. It had been used with success in violent cases of neuralgia, and in asthma also it had proved very successful. With regard to its sustaining properties, Mr. Purcell mentioned the case of a blackboy who had travelled 120 miles in two days, with no other sustenance than a chew of pitchery."

"The Pivot City is a sobriquet invented by the citizens to symbolize it as the point on which the fortunes of the colony would culminate and revolve. They also invented several other original terms—a phraseology christened by the Melbourne press as the Geelongese dialect."

<hw>Piwakawaka</hw>, n. Maori name for the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura flabellifera, Gray).

"Piwakawaka, or tirakaraka. This restless little bird is continually on the wing, or hopping from twig to twig."

"Piwakawaka, tirakaraka, the fantailed fly-catcher, a pretty, restless, lively bird; very sociable, and fond of displaying its beautiful little fan-tail. It has a head like the bullfinch, with one black-and-white streak under the neck coming to a point in the centre of the throat. Wings very sharp and pointed. It is very quick and expert in catching flies, and is a great favourite, as it usually follows the steps of man. It was sacred to Maui."

1885. A. Reischek, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. xviii. p. 102:

"Rhipidura—fantail (Piwakawaka). Every one admires the two species of these fly-catchers, and their graceful evolutions in catching their prey."

1890. C. Colenso, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute: Bush Notes,' vol. xxiii. art. lvii. p. 482:

"During this extended visit of mine to the woods, I have noticed the piwakawaka, or fly-catcher (Rhipidura flabellifera). This interesting little flycatcher, with its monotonous short cry, always seems to prefer making the acquaintance of man in the forest solitudes."

"The pied fantail, Piwakawaka (Rhipidura flabellifera) is the best flycatcher New Zealand possesses, but it will not live in confinement. It is always flitting about with broadly expanded tail in pursuit of flies. It frequently enters a house and soon clears a room of flies, but if shut in all night it frets itself to death before morning."

<hw>Plain</hw>, n. In Australian use, the word not only implies flatness, but treelessness.

"The district called Macquarie Plains, the greater part of which rises into hills of moderate height, with open and fertile valleys interspersed, while the plains bear a strong resemblance to what are called sheep downs in England."

"The country was grassy, and so open as almost to deserve the colonial name of `plain.'"

"Squatters who look after their own runs always live in the bush, even though their sheep are pastured on plains."

<hw>Plain Currant</hw>, n. a wild fruit, Grewia polygama, Roxb., N.O. Tiliaceae.

"I found a great quantity of ripe Grewia seeds, and on eating many of them, it struck me that their slightly acidulous taste, if imparted to water, would make a very good drink; I therefore . . . boiled them for about an hour; the beverage . . . was the best we had tasted on our expedition."

<hw>Plain Wanderer</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Pedionomus torquatus, Gould.

<hw>Plant</hw>, v. tr. and n. common in Australia for to hide, and for the thing hidden away. As remarked in the quotations, the word is thieves' English.

"A number of the slang phrases current in St. Giles's Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in the dictionary of this colony: plant, swag, pulling up, and other epithets of the Tom and Jerry school, are established— the dross passing here as genuine, even among all ranks."

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in `Canon Goodman's Church in Victoria during the Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 78:

". . . Shady Creek, where he `planted' some tea and sugar for his brother on his return. Do you know what `planting' is? It is hiding the tea, or whatever it may be, in the hollow of a tree, or branch, or stone, where no one is likely to find it, but the one for whom it is meant."

"Some refreshments planted there for us by the Major—for that is the colonial phrase, borrowed from the slang of London burglars and thieves, for any article sent forward or left behind for consumption in spots only indicated to those concerned—after the manner of the ca^ches of the French Canadian trappers on the American prairies. To `spring' a plant is to discover and pillage it."

"The way he could hide, or, as it is called in the bush, `plant' himself, was something wonderful."

"The gold had not been handed over to the Commissioner at all, but was planted somewhere in the tent."

[Title of short article giving an account of an old lady during the bank panic concealing her money in the ground and being unable to find it.]

<hw>Plantain, Native</hw>, an Australian fodder plant, Plantago varia, R. Br., N.O. Plantagineae.

<hw>Plant-Caterpillar</hw>, n. name given in Australasia to species of caterpillars which are attacked by spores of certain fungi; when chrysalating in the earth the fungus grows inside the body of the caterpillar, kills the latter, and then forces its way out between the head joints, and sends an upgrowth which projects beyond the surface of the ground and gives rise to fresh spores. Many examples are known, of which the more common are—Cordyceps robertsii, Hook., in New Zealand; Cordyceps gunnii, Berk, in Tasmania; Cordyceps taylori, Berk, in Australia. See Aweto.

"The New Zealanders' name for this plant-caterpillar is `Hotete,' `Aweto,' `Weri,' and `Anuhe.'. . The interior of the insect becomes completely filled by the inner plant, orthallus (mycelium): after which the growing head of the outer plant or fungus, passing to a state of maturity, usually forces its way out through the tissue of the joint between the head and the first segment of the thorax . . . it is stated that this caterpillar settles head upward to undergo its change, when the vegetable developes /sic/ itself."

<hw>Planter</hw>, n. a cattle-thief, so called from hiding the stolen cattle.

"What's a little money . . . if your children grow up duffers [sc. cattle-duffers, q.v.] and planters?"

<hw>Platycercus</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of Parrakeets, represented by many species. The word is from the shape of the tail. (Grk. platus, broad, and kerkos, tail.) The genus is distributed from the Malay Archipelago to the Islands of the Pacific. The name was first given by Vigors and Horsfield in 1825.

<hw>Platypus</hw>, n. a remarkable Monotreme (q.v.), in shape like a Mole, with a bill like a Duck. Hence its other names of Duck-bill or Duck-Mole. It has received various names—Platypus anatinus, Duck-billed Platypus, Ornithorhynchus, Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Paradoxus, Water-mole, etc. (Grk. platus = broad, pous = foot, 'ornithos = of a bird, runchos = beak or bill.) The name Platypus is now the name by which it is always popularly known in Australia, but see quotation from Lydekker below (1894). From the British Museum Catalogue of Marsupials and Monotremes (1888), it will be found that the name Platypus, given by Shaw in 1799, had been preoccupied as applied to a beetle by Herbst in 1793. It was therefore replaced, in scientific nomenclature, by the name Ornithorhynchus, by Blumenbach in 1800. In view of the various names, vernacular and scientific, under which it is mentioned by different writers, all quotations referring to it are placed under this word, Platypus. The habits and description of the animal appear in those quotations. From 1882 to 1891 the Platypus figured on five of the postage stamps of Tasmania.

"This animal, which has obtained the name of Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, is still very little known."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 35:

"This genus, which at present consists but of a single species and its supposed varieties, is distinguished by the title of Platypus or Ornithorhynchus. . . Its English generic name of duckbill is that by which it is commonly known."

"In the reaches or pools of the Campbell River, the very curious animal called the paradox, or watermole, is seen in great numbers."

"I cannot omit to mention likewise the Ornithorynchus, that remarkable animal which forms a link between the bird and beast, having a bill like a duck and paws webbed similar to that bird, but legs and body like those of a quadruped, covered with thick coarse hair, with a broad tail to steer by."

"Had the good fortune to see several of the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. . . . Certainly it is a most extraordinary animal; a stuffed specimen does not at all give a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when fresh, the latter becoming hard and contracted."

"The specimen which has excited the greatest astonishment is the Ornithorynchus paradoxus, which, fitted by a series of contrivances to live equally well in both elements, unites in itself the habits and appearance of a bird, a quadruped, and a reptile."

"The Ornithorhynchus is known to the colonists by the nme of the watermole, from some resemblance which it is supposed to bear to the common European mole (Talpa Europoea, Linn.)"

"When first a preserved skin was sent to England, it excited great distrust, being considered a fraud upon the naturalist. . . It was first described and figured by Shaw in the year 1799, in the `Naturalist's Miscellany,' vol. x., by the name of Platypus anatinus, or Duck-billed Platypus, and it was noticed in Collins's `New South Wales' 2nd ed. [should be vol. ii. not 2nd ed.], 4to. p. 62, 1802, where it is named Ornithorhyncus paradoxus, Blum. . . There is a rude figure given of this animal in Collins's work."

"The Platypus Club is in Camomile Street, and the Platypi are very haughty persons."

"In the Dee river . . . I observed several times the remarkable platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) swimming rapidly about after the small water-insects and vegetable particles which constitute its food. It shows only a part of its back above water, and is so quick in its movements that it frequently dives under water before the shot can reach it."

"In the next division the platypus and its burrows are shown. These curious oviparous animals commence their long burrows under water, and work upwards into dry ground. The nest is constructed in a little chamber made of dry leaves and grass, and is very warm and comfortable; there is a second entrance on dry ground. The young are found in the months of September and October, but occasionally either a little earlier or later; generally two or three at a time."

"The platypus is covered with fur like an otter, and has four webbed feet, like those of a duck, and a black duck-like bill. It makes a burrow in a river bank, but with an opening below the level of the water. It swims and dives in quiet shady river-bends, and disappears on hearing the least noise."

"The duck-bill was originally described under the name of Platypus anatinus, which was Anglicised into duck-billed platypus, but since the generic name [Platypus] had been previously employed for another group of animals, it had, by the rules of zoological nomenclature, to give place to the later Ornithorhynchus, although Shaw's specific name ofanatina still holds good. On these grounds it is likewise preferable to discard the Anglicised term Duck-billed Platypus in favour of the simpler Duck-bill or Duck-Mole."

[Mr. Lydekker is a scientific Englishman, who has not lived in Australia, and although the names of Duck-bill and Duck-mole are perhaps preferable for more exact scientific use, yet by long usage the name Platypus has become the ordinary vernacular name, and is the one by which the animal will always be known in Australian popular language.]

<hw>Plover</hw>, n. The bird called the Plover exists all over the world. The species present in Australia are—

And in New Zealand—Red-breasted Plover, Charadrius obscurus, Gmel. (Maori name, Tututuriwhata); Crook-billed, Anarhynchus frontalis, Quoy and Gaim. The authorities vary in the vernacular names and in the scientific classification. See also Sand-Plover and Wry-billed-Plover.

<hw>Plum</hw>, n. sometimes called Acacia Plum, a timber tree, Eucryphia moorei, F. v. M., N.O. Saxifrageae; called also Acacia and "White Sally."

<hw>Plum, Black</hw>, n. the fruit of the tree Cargillia australis, R. Br., N.O. Ebenaceae.

"The fruits are of the size of a large plum and of a dark purple colour. They are eaten by the aboriginals."

<hw>Plum, Burdekin</hw>, or <hw>Sweet Plum</hw>, n. a timber tree, Spondias pleiogyna, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiaceae. Wood like American walnut.

<hw>Plum, Grey</hw>, n. (1) A timber-tree. One of the names for Cargillia pentamera, F. v. M., N.O. Ebenaceae. Wood used for tool-handles. (2) Provincial name for the Caper-Tree (q.v.).

<hw>Plum, Native</hw>, or <hw>Wild Plum</hw>, n. another name for the Brush-Apple. See Apple. The Native Plum, peculiar to Tasmania, and called also Port-Arthur Plum, is Cenarrhenes nitida, Lab., N.O. Proteaceae.

<hw>Plum, Sweet</hw>, n. a wild fruit, Owenia venosa, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae.

"Queensland Plum, Sweet Plum. This plant bears a fine juicy red fruit with a large stone. . . . It is both palatable and refreshing."

<hw>Plum-tree</hw>, n. the tree, Buchanania mangoides, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiaceae.

<hw>Podargus</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of Australian birds, called the Frogsmouth (q.v.) and Mopoke. From Grk. podargos, swift or white-footed. (Hector's horse in the `Iliad' was named Podargus.—`Il.' viii. 185.)

<hw>Poddly</hw>, n. a New Zealand and Australian fish, Sebastes percoides, Richards.; called in Victoria Red-Gurnet Perch. The name is applied in England to a different fish.

"The pohuia-karou is the proper sea-perch of these waters, that name having been applied by mistake to a small wrasse, which is generally called the spotty or poddly."

<hw>Poddy</hw>, n. a Victorian name for the Sand-Mullet. See Mullet.

<hw>Poe</hw>, n. same as Tui (q.v.) and Parson-bird (q.v.). The name, which was not the Maori name, did not endure.

17]7. Cook's' Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World' [2nd Voyage], vol. i. pp. 97, 98:

"Amongst the small birds I must not omit to particularise the wattlebird, poy-bird. . . . The poy-bird is less than the wattle-bird; the feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except those of its neck, which are of a most beautiful silver-grey. . . . Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled snow-white feathers, called its poies, which being the Otaheitean word for ear-rings occasioned our giving that name to the bird, which is not more remarkable for the beauty of its plumage than for the sweetness of its note."

[In the illustration given it is spelt poe-bird, and in the list of plates it is spelt poi.]

"This bird they called the Wattlebird, and also the Poy-bird, from its having little tufts of curled hair under its throat, which they called poies, from the Otaheitan word for ear-rings. The sweetness of this bird's note they described as extraordinary, and that its flesh was delicious, but that it was a shame to kill it."

<hw>Pohutukawa</hw>, n. Maori name for a magnificent New Zealand tree, Metrosideros tomentosa, A. Cunn., N.O. Myrtaceae, called Christmas-tree and Fire-tree by the settlers. There is a Maori verb, pohutu, to splash. Kawa (n.) is a sprig of any kind used in religious ceremonies; the name would thus mean Splashed sprig. The wood of the tree is very durable, and a concoction of the inner bark is useful in dysentery.

"Pohutukawa (Callistemon ellipticus). This is a tree of remarkably robust habits and diffuse irregular growth."

"On arrival of Arawa canoe, the red flowers of the pohutakawa were substituted for the red ornaments in the hair."

1862. `All the Year Round,' `From the Black Rocks on Friday,' May 17, 1862, No. 160:

"In the clefts of the rocks were growing shrubs, with here and there the larger growth of a pohutukawa, a large crooked-limbed evergreen tree found in New Zealand, and bearing, about Christmas, a most beautiful crimson bloom. The boat-builders in New Zealand use the crooked limbs of this tree for the knees and elbows of their boats."

"Pohutukawa for knees, ribs, and bent-pieces, invaluable to ship-builder. It surpasses English oak. Confined to Province of Auckland."

"The pohutukawa-tree (Metrosideros tomentosa) requires an exposed situation . . . is crooked, misshapen. . . . The natives speak of it (the timber) as very durable."

"Low down on the shore the graceful native Pokutukawa [sic] was left undisturbed, the finest of the Rata tribe—at a distance like an ilex, only larger than any ilex I ever saw, the branches twisted into the most fantastic shapes, stretching out till their weight bears them to the ground or to the water. Pokutukawa, in Maori language, means `dipped in the sea-spray.' In spring and summer it bears a brilliant crimson flower."

"Twelve bullocks is the usual number in a team, the two polers and the leaders being steady old stagers; the pair next to the pole are called the `pointers,' and are also required to be pretty steady, the remainder being called the `body bullocks,' and it is not necessary to be so particular about their being thoroughly broken in."

<hw>Poison-berry Tree</hw>, n. Pittosporum phillyroides, De C., N.O. Pittosporeae.

"Butter-Bush of Northern Australia; Willow-Tree of York
Peninsula; Native Willow, Poison-berry Tree (South Australia).
The berries are not poisonous—only bitter."

<hw>Poison-Bush</hw>, n. name given to a genus of poisonous Australian shrubs, Gastrolobium (q.v.).

Out of the thirty-three described species of the genus Gastrolobium, only one is found out of Western Australia; G. grandiflorum, F. v. M., is the poison-bush of the Queensland interior and of Central Australia. The name is also given to Swainsonia Greyana, Lindl., N.O. Leguminosae.

The Darling-Pea (q.v.), or Indigo-Plant (q.v.), has similar poisonous effects to the Gastrolobium. These species of Gastrolobium go under the various names of Desert Poison-Bush, York-Road Poison-Bush, Wallflower; and the names of Ellangowan Poison-Bush (Queensland), and Dogswood Poison-Bush (New South Wales), are given to Myoporum deserti, A. Cunn., N.O. Myoporineae, while another plant, Trema aspera, Blume., N.O. Urticaceae, is called Peach-leaved Poison-Bush.

"These plants are dangerous to stock, and are hence called `Poison Bushes.' Large numbers of cattle are lost annually in Western Australia through eating them. The finest and strongest animals are the first victims; a difficulty of breathing is perceptible for a few minutes, when they stagger, drop down, and all is over with them. . . . It appears to be that the poison enters the circulation, and altogether stops the action of the lungs and heart."

"This plant [S. greyana] is reported to cause madness, if not death itself, to horses. The poison seems to act on the brain, for animals affected by it refuse to cross even a small twig lying in their path, probably imagining it to be a great log. Sometimes the poor creatures attempt to climb trees, or commit other eccentricities."

<hw>Poison-Tree</hw>, or <hw>Poisonous Tree</hw>, n. another name for the Milky Mangrove. See Mangrove. The Scrub Poison-Tree is Exsaecaria dallachyana, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

<hw>Pomegranate, Native</hw>, n. another name for the Caper-tree(q.v.).

<hw>Pomegranate, Small Native</hw>, n. another name for the Native Orange. See Orange.

<hw>Pongo</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the Flying-Squirrel (q.v.).

"Then an old 'possum would sing out, or a black-furred flying-squirrel—pongos, the blacks call `em—would come sailing down from the top of an ironbark tree, with all his stern sails spread, as the sailors say, and into the branches of another, looking as big as an eagle-hawk."

<hw>Poor-Soldier</hw>, or <hw>Soldier-Bird</hw> (q.v.), n. another name for the Friar-bird (q.v.), and so named from its cry.

<hw>Poplar</hw>, n. In Queensland, a timber-tree, Carumbium populifolium, Reinw., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. In Central Australia, the Radish-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Porangi</hw>, adj. Maori word for sad, sorry, or sick; cranky.

"The combatants . . . took especial pains to tell us that it was no fault of ours, but the porangi or `foolishness' of the Maori."

"`Twas nothing—he was not to mind her—she
Was foolish—was `porangi'—and would be
Better directly—and her tears she dried."

1882. R. C. Barstow, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xv. art. liii. p. 423:

"A man who told such marvellous stories that he was deemed to be porangi or insane."

<hw>Porcupine-Bird</hw>, n. a bird inhabiting the Porcupine-Grass (q.v.) of Central Australia; the Striated Grass Wren, Amytis striata, Gould. See Wren.

1886. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Part ii. Zoology, Aves, p. 79:

"Amytis Striata, Gould. Striated Wren. . . . They are found almost throughout Central Australia wherever the porcupine grass abounds, so much so, that they are generally known as the `Porcupine bird.'"

<hw>Porcupine-Fish</hw>, n. name given to several species of the genus Diodon, family Gymnodontes, poisonous fishes; also to Dicotylichthys punctulatus, Kaup., an allied fish 1n which the spines are not erectile as in Diodon, but are stiff and immovable. Chilomycterus jaculiferus, Cuv., another species, has also stiff spines, and Atopomycterus nycthemerus, Cuv., has erectile spines. See Toad-fish and Globe-fish.

<hw>Porcupine-Grass</hw>, n. the name given to certain species of Triodia, of which the more important are T. mitchelli, Benth., T. pungens, R. Br., and T. irritans, R. Br. This grass forms rounded tussocks, growing especially on the sand-hills of the desert parts of Australia, which may reach the size of nine or ten feet in diameter. The leaves when dry form stiff, sharp-pointed structures, which radiate in all directions, like knitting-needles stuck in a huge pincushion. In the writings of the early Australian explorers it is usually, but erroneously, called Spinifex (q.v.). The aborigines collect the resinous material on the leaves of T. pungens, and use it for various purposes, such as that of attaching pieces of flint to the ends of their yam-sticks and spear-throwers.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 284:

"It [Triodia] grows in tufts like large beehives, or piles of thrift grass, and the leaves project out rigidly in all directions, just like Chevaux-de-frise. Merely brushing by will cause the points to strike into the limbs, and a very short walk in such country soon covers the legs with blood. . . . Unfortunately two or three species of it extend throughout the whole continent, and form a part of the descriptions in the journal of every explorer."

1880 (before). P. J. Holdsworth, `Station-hunting on the Warrego,' quoted in `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (ed. Sladen), p. 115:

"Throughout that night,
Cool dews came sallying on that rain-starved land,
And drenched the thick rough tufts of bristly grass,
Which, stemmed like quills (and thence termed porcupine),
Thrust hardily their shoots amid the flints
And sharp-edged stones."

"No porcupine, but real green grass made up a really pretty picture, to the explorer at least."

"These were covered with spinifex, or porcupine-grass, the leaves of which are needle-pointed."

"In the Larapintine Region . . . a species of Triodia (`porcupine grass' or, incorrectly, `spinifex' of explorers and residents) dominates sand ground and the sterile slopes and tops of the sandstone table-lands."

<hw>Porcupine-grass Ant</hw>, n. popular name given to Hypoclinea flavipes, Kirby, an ant making its nest round the root of the Porcupine grass (Triodia pungens), and often covering the leaves of the tussock with tunnels of sandgrains fastened together by resinous material derived from the surface of the leaves.

"Watching the Porcupine-grass ants, which are very small and black bodies with yellowish feet, I saw them constantly running in and out of these chambers, and on opening the latter found that they were always built over two or more Coccidae attached to the leaf of the grass."

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Report of the Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Part ii. Zoology, Aves, p. 107:

"Geopsittacus occidentalis. Western Ground Parrakeet. . . .
As they frequent the dense porcupine grass, in which they
hide during the day, a good dog is necessary to find them.
They are locally known as the `Porcupine Parrot.'"

<hw>Poroporo</hw>, n. Maori name for the flowering shrub Solanum aviculare, Forst.; called in Australia, Kangaroo Apple. Corrupted into Bullybul (q.v.). /See, rather, Bull-a-bull/

"The poroporo, the nicest or least nasty of the wild fruits, is a sodden strawberry flavoured with apple-peel; but if rashly tasted an hour before it is ripe, the poroporo is an alum pill flavoured with strychnine."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. art. i. p. 32:

"The large berry of the poro-poro (Solanum aviculare) was also eaten; it is about the size of a small plum, and when ripe it is not unpleasant eating, before it is ripe it is very acrid. This fruit was commonly used by the early colonists in the neighbourhood of Wellington in making jam."

<hw>Porphyrio</hw>, n. the Sultana-bird, or Sultana. The bird exists elsewhere. In Australia it is generally called the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

"The crimson-billed porphyrio, that jerking struts
Among the cool thick rushes."

[Close Season.] ". . . Land-rail, all other members of the
Rail family, Porphyrio, Coots, &c. From the First day of
August to the Twentieth day of December following."

<hw>Port-Jackson Shark</hw>, Heterodontus phillipii, Lacep., family Cestraciontidae; called also the Shell-grinder.

"It was supposed that Port Jackson alone had this shark . . .
It has since been found in many of the coast bays of
Australia."

<hw>Port-Jackson Thrush</hw>, n. the best known bird among the Australian Shrike-thrushes (q.v.), Colluricincla harmonica, Lath.; called also the Austral Thrush, and Harmonic Thrush by Latham. It is also the C. cinerea of Vigors and Horsfield and the Turdus harmonicus of Latham, and it has received various other scientific and vernacular names; Colonel Legge has now assigned to it the name of Grey Shrike-Thrush. Gould called it the "Harmonious Colluricincla."

"The Port-Jackson thrush, of which a plate is annexed, inhabits the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. The top of head blueish-grey; back is a fine chocolate brown; wings and tail lead-colour; under part dusky white. . . . The bill, dull yellow; legs brown."

[Latham describes two other birds, the Port Jackson Thrush and the Harmonic Thrush, and he uses different scientific names for them. But Gould, regarding Latham's specimens as all of the same species, takes all Latham's scientific and vernacular names as synonyms for the same bird.]

"The Colluricincla harmonica is one of the oldest known of the
Australian birds, having been described in Latham's `Index
Ornithologicus,' figured in White's `Voyage' and included in
the works of all subsequent writers."

<hw>Post-and-Rail Tea</hw>, slang name for strong bush-tea: so called because large bits of the tea, or supposed tea, float about in the billy, which are compared by a strong imagination to the posts and rails of the wooden fence so frequent in Australia.

"Hyson-skin and post-and-rail tea have been superseded by Mocha, claret, and cognac."

"A hot beverage in a tin pot, which richly deserved the colonial epithet of `post-and-rail' tea, for it might well have been a decoction of `split stuff,' or `ironbark shingles,' for any resemblance it bore to the Chinese plant."

"The shepherd's wife kindly gave us the invariable mutton-chop and damper and some post-and-rail tea."

"Then took a drink of tea. . . .
Such as the swagmen in our goodly land
Have with some humour named the `post-and-rail.'"

<hw>Potato-Fern</hw>, n. a fern (Marattia fraxinea, Smith) with a large part edible, sc. the basal scales of the frond. Called also the Horseshoe-fern.

<hw>Potato, Native</hw>, n. a sort of Yam, Gastrodia sesamoides, R. Br., N.O. Orchideae.

"Produces bulb-tubers growing one out of another, of the size, and nearly the form, of kidney potatoes; the lowermost is attached by a bundle of thick fleshy fibres to the root of the tree from which it derives its nourishment. These roots are roasted and eaten by the aborigines; in taste they resemble beet-root, and are sometimes called in the colony native potatoes."

"And the tubers of several plants of this tribe were largely consumed by them, particularly those of Gastrodi sessamoides [sic], the native potato, so called by the colonists, though never tasted by them, and having not the most remote relation to the plant of that name, except in a little resemblance of the tubers, in shape and appearance, to the kidney potato."

<hw>Potoroo</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a Kangaroo-Rat (q.v.). See also Potorous and Roo.

"The Poto Roo, or Kangaroo Rat." [Figure and description.] "It is of a brownish grey colour, something like the brown or grey rabbit, with a tinge of a greenish yellow. It has a pouch on the lower part of its belly."

<hw>Potorous</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Kangaroo-Rats (q.v.). The aboriginal name was Potoroo; see Roo. They are also called Rat-Kangaroos.

<hw>Pouched-lion</hw>, or <hw>Marsupial Lion</hw>, n. a large extinct Phalanger (q.v.), Thylacoleo carnifex, Owen. The popular name was given under the idea, derived from the presence of an enormous cutting-tooth, that the animal was of fierce carnivorous habits. But it is more generally regarded as closely allied to the phalangers, who are almost entirely vegetarians.

<hw>Pouched-Mouse</hw>, n. the vernacular name adopted for species of the genera Phascologale (q.v.), Sminthopsis, Dasyuroides and Antechinomys. They are often called Kangaroo-mice (q.v.). The species are—

The Narrow-footed Pouched-Mice belong to the genus Sminthopsis, and differ from the Phascologales in being entirely terrestrial in their habits, whereas the latter are usually arboreal; the species are—

The third genus, Dasyuroides, has only one species—
Byrne's Pouched-Mouse, D. byrnei, Spencer.

The fourth genus, Antechinomys, has only one known species—the Long-legged Jumping Pouched-Mouse, A. laniger, Gould.

<hw>Pounamu</hw>, or <hw>Poenamu</hw>, n. the Maori name for Nephrite, Jade, or Greenstone (q.v.). In the second spelling the e is hardly sounded.

"Two Whennuas or islands [afterwards called New Zealand] which might be circumnavigated in a few days, and which he called Tovy Poenammoo; the literal translation of this word is `the water of green talc,' and probably if we had understood him better we should have found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of some particular place where they got the green talc or stone of which they make their ornaments and tools, and not a general name for the whole southern district."

"A magnificent Mere punamu, a battle-axe, fifteen inches long, and cut out of the most beautiful, transparent nephrite, an heirloom of his illustrious ancestors, which he kept as a sacred relic."

<hw>Pratincole</hw>, n. The bird called a Pratincole (inhabitant of meadows: Lat. pratum and incola) exists elsewhere, and more often under the familiar name of Chat. The Australian species are—Glareola grallaria, Temm.; Oriental, G. orientalis, Leach.

<hw>Pretty-Faces</hw>, n. a fancy name for a small kangaroo. Not very common.

"Kangaroos are of several different kinds. First, the large brown variety, known as kangaroo proper; next the smaller kind, known as pretty faces or whip tails, which are rather smaller and of a grey colour, with black and white on the face."

<hw>Prickfoot</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, Eryngium vesiculosum, Lab., N.O. Umbelliferae.

<hw>Prickly Fern</hw>, n. Alsophila australis, R. Br., N.O. Filices.

"Prickly fern-tree (Alsophila Australis, Br.). This very handsome ferntree occasionally attains a height of thirty feet. It is not, by any means, so common a fern-tree as Dicksonia antarctica (Lab.)."

<hw>Prickly Mimosa</hw>, n. See Mimosa and Prickly Moses, under Moses.

Acacia verticillata. Whorl leaved Acacia, or Prickly Mimosa, so called from its sharp pointed leaves standing out in whorls round the stem like the spokes of a wheel."

<hw>Primage</hw>, n. The word is of old commercial use, for a small sum of money formerly paid to the captain or master of the ship, as his personal perquisite, over and above the freight charges paid to the owners or agents, by persons sending goods in a ship. It was called by the French pot-de-vin du maitre,—a sort of pourboire, in fact. Now-a-days the captain has no concern with the freight arrangements, and the word in this sense has disappeared. It has re-appeared in Australia under a new form. In 1893 the Victorian Parliament imposed a duty of one per cent. on the Prime, as the Customs laws call the first entry of goods. This tax was called Primage, and raised such an outcry among commercial men that in 1895 it was repealed.

<hw>Primrose, Native</hw>, n. The name is given in Tasmania to Goodenia geniculata, R. Br., N.O. Goodeniaceae. There are many species of Goodenia in Australia, and they contain a tonic bitter which has not been examined.

<hw>Prion</hw>, n. a sea-bird. See Dove-Petrel. (Grk. priown, a saw.) The sides of its bill are like the teeth of a saw.

1885. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 448:

"The name Prion, as almost universally applied elsewhere to the
Blue Petrels, has been kept [in Australia] as an English name."

"Another man used to teach his horse (which was free from vice) to gallop full speed up to the verandah of a house, and when almost against it, the animal would stop in his stride (or prop), when the rider vaulted lightly over his head on to the verandah."

"How on a sudden emergency the sensible animal will instantaneously check his impetuosity, `prop,' and swing round at a tangent."

"The `touchy' mare gave so sudden a `prop,' accompanied by a desperate plunge, that he was thrown."

<hw>Prospect</hw>, v. to search for gold. In the word, and in all its derivatives, the accent is thrown back on to the first syllable. This word, in such frequent use in Australia, is generally supposed to be of Australian origin, but it is in equal use in the mining districts of the United States of America.

"Behold him, along with his partner set out,
To prospect the unexplor'd ranges about."

"A promising place for prospecting. Yet nowhere did I see the shafts and heaps of rock or gravel which tell in a gold country of the hasty search for the precious metal."

"The uses of the tin dish require explanation. It is for prospecting. That is to say, to wash the soil in which you think there is gold."

<hw>Prospect</hw>, n. the result of the first or test-dish full of wash-dirt.

"The first prospect, the first pan of alluvial gold drift, was sent up to be tested."

<hw>Prospecting Claim</hw> = the first claim marked in a gold-lead. See Reward Claim.

"This, however, would be but half the size of the premier or prospecting claim."

<hw>Prospector</hw>, n. one who searches for gold on a new field. See Prospect, v.

"He incidentally mentioned his gold find to another prospector
. . . The last went out to the grounds and prospected, with
the result that he discovered the first payable gold on the
West Coast, for which he obtained a reward claim."

<hw>Pseudochirus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Ring-tailed Phalangers. (See Opossum.) They have prehensile tails, by which they hold in climbing, as with a hand. (Grk. pseudo-, false, and cheir, hand.)

<hw>Psophodes</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of birds peculiar to Australia, and represented there by two species. See Coach-whip Bird. The name comes from the bird's peculiar note. (Grk. psophowdaes, noisy.)

<hw>Ptilonorhynchinae</hw>, n. pl. scientific name assigned to the Australian group of birds called the Bower-birds (q.v.). (Grk. ptilon, a feather, rhunchos, a beak.)

<hw>Pudding-ball</hw>, n. a fish; corruption of the aboriginal name of it, puddinba (q.v.), by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

"The species of fish that are commonest in the Bay (Moreton) are mullet, bream, puddinba (a native word corrupted by the colonists into pudding-ball) . . . The puddinba is like a mullet in shape, but larger, and very fat; it is esteemed a great delicacy."

"`Pudding-ball' is the name of a fish. It has nothing to do with pudding, nothing with any of the various meanings of ball. The fish is not specially round. The aboriginal name was `pudden-ba.' Voila tout."

<hw>Pukeko</hw>, n. Maori name for the bird Porphyrio melanonotus, the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

<hw>Punga</hw>, n. the trunk of the tree-fern that is known as Cyathea medullaris, the "black fern " of the settlers. It has an edible pith.

"Some of the trees were so alarmed that they held down their heads, and have never been able to hold them up since; amongst these were the ponga (a fern-tree) and the kareao (supple-jack), whose tender shoots are always bent."

"When Tara-ao left his pa and fled from the vengeance of Karewa, he and his people were hungry and cut down ponga, and cooked and ate them."

1888. J. Adams, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 36:

"The size and beauty of the puriri, nikau, and ponga (Cyathea medullaris) are worthy of notice."

"The Survey Department graded a zigzag track up the side to the top, fixing in punga steps, so that horses could climb up."

<hw>Punga-punga</hw>, n. Maori name for the pollen of the raupo (q.v.).

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. art. i. p. 28:

"Another curious article of vegetable food was the punga-punga, the yellow pollen of the raupo flowers. To use it as food it is mixed with water into cakes and baked. It is sweetish and light, and reminds one strongly of London gingerbread."

<hw>Puriri</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand tree, Vitex littoralis, A. Cunn., N.O. Verbenaceae; called also New Zealand Oak, New Zealand Teak, and Ironwood. It is very hard.

"Puriri, misnamed Vitex littoralis, as it is not found near the sea-coast."

"The Puriri Tree (Vitex littoralis). The stems . . . vary from straight to every imaginable form of curved growth. . . The fruit, which is like a cherry, is a favourite food of the woodpigeon."

"A deep ravine, over which grey-stemmed purtris stretched out afar their gnarled trunks, laden with deep green foliage, speckled with the warm gleam of ruddy blossoms."

"The darker, crimped and varnished leaf of the puriri, with its bright cherry-like berry."

"The Puriri . . . on account of the strength of its timber it is sometimes termed by the settlers `New Zealand Oak,' but it would be far more correct to name it `New Zealand Teak.'"

<hw>Purple Berry</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for Billardiera longiflora, Lab., N.O. Pittosporeae. See Pittosporum.

"Billardiera longiflora, the well-known beautiful climber, with pale greenish bell-flowers and purple fruit." [Also pl. i.]

<hw>Push</hw>, n. a gang. The word is of late very common in Australia. It was once a prison term. Barrere and Leland quote from M. Davitt's `Leaves from a Prison Diary,' "the upper ten push." In Thieves' English it is—(1) a crowd; (2) an association for a particular robbery. In Australia, its use began with the larrikins (q.v.), and spread, until now it often means clique, set, party, and even jocularly so far as "the Government House Push."

"`Doolan's push' were a party of larrikins working . . . in a potato paddock near by."

"He [the young clergyman] is actually a member of every `push' in his neighbourhood, and the effect has been not to degrade the pastor, but to sweeten and elevate the `push.'"

"For a long time past the `push' at Miller's Point, which consists of young fellows for the most part under twenty-one years of age, have been a terrible source of annoyance, and, indeed, of actual danger. A few years ago the police by resolute dealings with the larrikin pest almost put it down in the neighbourhood, the part of it which was left being thoroughly cowed, and consequently afraid to make any disturbance. Within the past eighteen months or two years the old `push' has been strengthened by the addition of youths just entering on manhood, who, gradually increasing in numbers, have elbowed their predecessors out of the field. Day by day the new `push' has become more daring. From chaffing drunken men and insulting defenceless women, the company has taken to assault, to daylight robbery."

"The Premier, in consultation with the inspector-general of the police, has made arrangements to protect life and property against the misconduct of the lawless larrikin `pushes' now terrorising Sydney."

"The word larrikin is excellently descriptive of the irresponsible, mischievous, anti-social creature whose eccentric action is the outcome of too much mutton. This immoral will-o'-the-wisp, seized with a desire to jostle, or thump, or smash, combines for the occasion with others like himself, and the shouldering, shoving gang is well called a push."

<hw>Pyrrholaemus</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus of the Australian birds called the Red-throats; from Grk. purros, "flame-coloured," "red," and laimos, "throat."

<hw>Quail</hw>, n. a bird which exists under some form all over the world. The Australian species are—

In New Zealand there is a single species, Coturnix novae-zelandiae, Quoy and Gaim.

"It is known to the colonists as the painted quail; and has been called by Mr. Gould . . . Haemipodius melinatus."

"The painted quail, and the brush quail, the largest of Australian gamebirds, I believe, whirred away from beneath their horses' feet."

"This group also is represented by a single species, the New Zealand quail (Coturnix Novae-Zelandiae), belonging to a widely distributed genus. It was formerly very abundant in New Zealand; but within the last fifteen or twenty years has been completely exterminated, and is now only known to exist on the Three Kings Island, north of Cape Maria Van Diemen."

<hw>Quail-Hawk</hw>, n. name given to the bird Falco, or Harpa novae-zelandiae. See Hawk.

"In New Zealand the courageous family of the Raptores is very feebly represented; the honourable post of head of the family in all fairness must be assigned to the falcon, which is commonly known by the name of the quail- or sparrow-hawk, not that it is identical with, or that it even bears much resemblance to, the bold robber of the woods of Great Britain—`the hardy sperhauke eke the quales foe,' as Chaucer has it."

<hw>Quandong</hw>, n. (various spellings) aboriginal name for—(1) a tree, Santalum acuminatum, De C., S. persicarium, F. v. M., N.O. Santalaceae. In the Southern Colonies it is often called the Southern Quandong, and the tree is called the Native Peach-Tree (q.v.). The name is given to another large scrub-tree, Elaeocarpus grandis, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae. The fruit, which is of a blue colour and is eaten by children, is also called the Native Peach.

"In all these scrubs on the Murray the Fusanus acuminatus is common, and produces the quandang nut (or kernel)."

"Abundance of fig, and medlar and quince trees, cherries, loquots, quondongs, gooseberry, strawberry, and raspberry trees."

"Speed thee, Ganook, with these swift spears—
This firebrand weeping fiery tears,
And take this quandang's double plum,
'Twill speak alliance tho' 'tis dumb."

"They came upon a quantong-tree, and pausing beneath it, began to pick up the fallen fruit. . . . There were so many berries, each containing a shapely nut, that Honoria might string a dozen necklaces."

"I have forgotten to mention the quandong, a shrub bearing a fruit the size and colour of cherries."

[Footnote]: "A berry growing in the scrub, the kernels of which are strung into necklaces."

"Another fruit of fraudulent type growing on the plains is the quandong. Something in shape and colour like a small crab-apple, it is fair enough to the eye, but in taste thoroughly insipid."

<hw>Quart-pot</hw>, n. a tin vessel originally imported as a measure, and containing an exact imperial quart. It had no lid, but a side handle. Before 1850 the word Quart-pot, for a kettle, was as universal in the bush as "Billy" (q.v.) is now. The billy, having a lid and a wire handle by which to suspend it over the fire, superseded the quart-pot about 1851. In addition to the Billy, there is a Quart-pot still in use, especially in South Australia and the back-blocks. It has two sidehandles working in sockets, so as to fold down flat when travelling. The lid is an inverted pannikin fitted into it, and is used as a drinking-cup.

"`Look out there!' he continued; `quart-pot corroborree,' springing up and removing with one hand from the fire one of the quart-pots, which was boiling madly."

<hw>Quart-pot Tea</hw>, n. Explained in quotations. Cf. Billy-tea.

"Ralph, taking a long draught of the quart-pot tea, pronounced that nothing was ever like it made in teapots, and Ethel thought it excellent, excepting that the tea-leaves were troublesome."

"`Quart-pot' tea, as tea made in the bush is always called, is really the proper way to make it. . . . The tea is really made with boiling water, which brings out its full flavour, and it is drunk before it has time to draw too much."

<hw>Quartz</hw>, n. a mineral; the common form of native silica. It is abundantly diffused throughout the world, and forms the common sand of the sea-shore. It occurs as veins or lodes in metamorphic rocks, and it is this form of its presence in Australia, associated with gold, that has made the word of such daily occurrence. In fact, the word Quartz, in Australian mining parlance, is usually associated with the idea of Gold-bearing Stone, unless the contrary be stated. Although some of the following compound words may be used elsewhere, they are chiefly confined to Australia.

"Quartz is the mother of gold, and wherever there is an abundance of it, gold may reasonably be expected to exist somewhere in the neighbourhood."

1890. R. A. F. Murray, `Reports and Statistics of the Mining Department [of Victoria] for the Quarter ending 31st December':

"The quartz here is very white and crystalline, with ferruginous, clayey joints, and—from a miner's point of view—of most unpromising or `hungry' appearance."

<hw>Quartz-battery</hw>, n. a machine for crushing quartz, and so extracting gold.

<hw>Quartz-blade</hw>, n. blade of a miner's knife used for picking lumps of gold out of the stone.

"He chose the piece which the New North Clunes now occupy for quartz-mining; but the quartz-lodes were very difficult to follow."

<hw>Quartz-reefer</hw>, n. a miner engaged in Quartz-reefing, as distinguished from one digging in alluvial. See above.

<hw>Quartz-reefing</hw>, n. (1) The operation of mining. See Reef, verb. (2) A place where there is gold mixed with quartz.

"You'd best go to a quartz-reefin'. I've been surfacing this good while; but quartz-reefin's the payinest game, now."

<hw>Queensland</hw>, n. a colony named after the Queen, on the occasion of its separation from New South Wales, in 1859. Dr. J. D. Lang wanted to call it "Cooksland," and published a book under that title in 1847. Before separation it was known as "the Moreton Bay District."

<hw>Queensland Kauri</hw>, n. another name for Dundathu Pine. See Kauri and Pine.

<hw>Queensland Nut</hw>, n. a wild fruit-tree, Macadamia ternifolia, F. v. M., N.O. Proteaceae.

"`Queensland Nut.' This tree bears an edible nut of excellent flavour, relished both by Aborigines and Europeans. As it forms a nutritious article of food to the former, timber-getters are not permitted to fell the trees. It is well worth extensive cultivation, for the nuts are always eagerly bought."

<hw>Queensland Nutmeg</hw>, n. a timber-tree, Myristica insipida, R. Br., N.O. Myristiceae. Not so strongly aromatic as the true nutmeg.

<hw>Queensland Sorrel</hw>, n. a plant, Hibiscus heterophyllus, Vent., N.O. Malvaceae, chewed by the aborigines, as boys chew English Sorrel.

<hw>Queenwood</hw>, n. a timber-tree, Davidsonia pruriens, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Quince, Native</hw>, n. i.q. Bitter-bark, Emu-Apple, and Quinine-tree, all which see.

<hw>Quince, Wild</hw>, n. another name for the Black Ash-tree. See Ash.

<hw>Quinine-Tree</hw>, n. i.q. Horseradish Tree (q.v.), and used also for the Bitter-bark or Emu-Apple Tree (q.v.).

<hw>Quoll</hw>, n. the aboriginal name for the Native Cat (q.v.), but not now in use.

"Another animal was called by the natives je-quoll; it is about the size of, and something like, a pole-cat, of a light brown, spotted with white on the back, and white under the belly. . . . I took only one individual."

"They very often use the article ge, which seems to answer to our English a, as ge gurka—a rope."

<hw>Rabbiter</hw>, n. a man who lives by trapping rabbits, or who is employed to clear stations from them.

"He would give him a billet. He would take him on as a rabbiter, and rig him out with a tent, camp fixings, traps, and perhaps even a dog or two."

<hw>Rabbit-rat</hw>, n. name sometimes given to ahapalote (q.v.), in New South Wales.

<hw>Radish-Tree</hw>, n. an Australian timber-tree, Codonocarpus cotinifolius, F. v. M., N.O. Phytolaceae; called also Poplar in Central Australia.

"Radish-Tree: occurs in the Mallee-scrub very sparingly; attaining a height of thirty feet. The poplar of the Central Australian explorers. Whole tree strong-scented."

<hw>Rager</hw>, n. an old and fierce bullock or cow, that always begins to rage in the stock-yard.

"Amongst them was a large proportion of bullocks, which declined with fiendish obstinacy to fatten. They were what are known by the stockriders as `ragers,' or `pig-meaters'" [q.v.].

<hw>Rail</hw>, n. common English birdname. There are many varieties in New Zealand and Australia, especially in the former colony, and the authorities differ as to whether some should be classed as distinct species. Some are common to Australasia, others endemic in New Zealand or Australia; their distribution in this respect is marked below in parentheses. Several species receive more than one vernacular name, as the following list shows—

"Dieffenbach's Rail. . . . This beautiful Rail was brought from the Chatham Islands by Dr. Dieffenbach in 1842, and named by Mr. Gray in compliment to this enterprising naturalist. The adult specimen in the British Museum, from which my description was taken, is unique, and seems likely to remain so."

"Hutton's rail, the third of the endemic rails . . . is confined to the Chatham Islands."

<hw>Rain-bird</hw>, n. The name is popularly given in many parts of the world to various birds. The Rain-bird of Queensland and the interior is the Great Cuckoo or Channel-bill (Scythrops novae-hollandiae, Lath., q.v.).

"We discovered a nest of full-fledged birds of the Australian Shrike or Butcher-bird, also called Rain-bird by the colonists (Vanga destructor). They were regarded by our companions as a prize, and were taken accordingly to be caged, and instructed in the art of whistling tunes, in which they are great adepts."

<hw>Rainbow-fish</hw>, n. a New Zealand fish, Heteroscharus castelnaui, Macl.

<hw>Rama-rama</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand shrub, Myrtus bullata, Banks and Sol. The name is used in the North Island. It is often corrupted into Grama.

<hw>Rangatira</hw>, n. Maori word for a chief, male or female; a master or mistress (Williams); therefore an aristocrat, a person of the gentle class, distinguished from a tau-rikarika, a nobody, a slave.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 200:

"I took care to tell them that the rangatira, or `chief' missionaries, would come out with the settlers."

"Rangatira is Maori for `chief,' and Rangatira-tango is therefore truly rendered `chieftainship.'"

"Te Kooti is at Puketapu with many Rangatiras; he is a great warrior,—a fighting chief. They say he has beaten the pakehas" (q.v.).

<hw>Ranges</hw>, n. the usual word in Australia for "mountains." Compare the use of "tiers" in Tasmania.

"The country being rangy, somewhat scrubby, and destitute of prominent features."

<hw>Raspberry, Wild</hw>, or <hw>Native</hw>, n. Rubus gunnianus, Hook., N.O. Rosaceae; peculiar to Tasmania, and so called there. In Australia, the species is Rubus rosafolius, Smith. See also Lawyer and Blackberry.

<hw>Raspberry-jam Tree</hw>, n. name given to Acacia acuminata, Benth., especially of Western Australia. Though Maiden does not give the name, he says (Useful Native Plants,' p. 349), "the scent of the wood is comparable to that of raspberries."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 68:

"The other trees besides the palm were known to the men by colonial appellations, such as the bloodwood and the raspberry-jam. The origin of the latter name, let me inform my readers, has no connection whatever with any produce from the tree."

"The raspberry-jam-tree is so called on account of the strong aroma of raspberries given out when a portion is broken."

[On the same page is an illustration of these trees growing near Perth, Western Australia.]

<hw>Rasp-pod</hw>, n. name given to a large Australian tree, Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae.

<hw>Rat</hw>, n. True Rodents are represented in Australia and Tasmania by six genera; viz., Mus, Conilurus (= Hapalotis), Xeromys, Hydromys, Mastacomys, Uromys, of which the five latter are confined to the Australian Region.

The genus Hydromys contains the Eastern Water Rat, sometimes called the Beaver Rat (Hydromys chrysogaster, Geoffroy), and the Western Water Rat (H. fulvolavatus, Gould).

Xeromys contains a single species, confined to Queensland, and called Thomas' Rat (Xeromys myoides, Thomas).

Mastacomys contains one species, the Broad-toothed Rat (M. fuscus, Thomas), found alive only in Tasmania, and fossil in New South Wales.

Uromys contains two species, the Giant Rat (U. macropus, Gray), and the Buff-footed Rat (U. cervinipes, Gould).

Mus contains twenty-seven species, widely distributed over the Continent and Tasmania.

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 301:

"The Secretary read the following extracts from a letter of the Rev. W. Colenso to Ronald C. Gunn, Esq., of Launceston, dated Waitangi, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, 4th September, 1850:— `I have procured two specimens of the ancient, and all but quite extinct, New Zealand Rat, which until just now (and notwithstanding all my endeavours, backed, too, by large rewards) I never saw. It is without doubt a true Mus, smaller than our English black rat (Mus Rattus), and not unlike it. This little animal once inhabited the plains and Fagus forests of New Zealand in countless thousands, and was both the common food and great delicacy of the natives— and already it is all but quite classed among the things which were."

"The Maoris say that before Europeans came to their country a forest rat abounded, and was largely used for food . . . Several specimens have been caught . . . which have been declared by the natives to be the true Kiore Maori—as they term it; but these have usually proved on examination to be either the European black rat or some of the native Australian rats . . . but within the last few years many skulls of a rat have been obtained from the old Maori cooking-places and from a cave associated with moa bones, and Captain Hutton, who has examined them, states that they belong to a true Mus, but differ from the Mus rattus."

<hw>Rata</hw>, n. Maori name for two New Zealand erect or sub-scandent flowering trees, often embracing trunks of forest trees and strangling them: the Northern Rata, Metrosideros robusta, A. Cunn., and the Southern Rata, M. lucida, Menz., both of the N.O. Myrtaceae. The tree called by the Maoris Aka, which is another species of Metrosederos (M. florida), is also often confused with the Rata by bushmen and settlers.

In Maori, the adj. rata means red-hot, and there may be a reference to the scarlet appearance of the flower in full bloom. The timber of the Rata is often known as Ironwood, or Ironbark. The trees rise to sixty feet in height; they generally begin by trailing downwards from the seed deposited on the bark of some other tree near its top. When the trailing branches reach the ground they take root there and sprout erect. For full account of the habit of the trees, see quotation 1867 (Hochstetter), 1879 (Moseley), and 1889 (Kirk).

"The venerable rata, often measuring forty feet in circumference and covered with scarlet flowers—while its stem is often girt with a creeper belonging to the same family (metrosideros hypericifolia?)."

"Rata, a tree; at first a climber; it throws out aerial roots; clasps the tree it clings to and finally kills it, becoming a large tree (metrosideros robusta). A hard but not durable wood."

"The Rata (Metrosideros robusta), the trunk of which, frequently measuring forty feet in circumference, is always covered with all sorts of parasitical plants, and the crown of which bears bunches of scarlet blossoms."

"Nay, not the Rata! howsoe'er it bloomed,
Paling the crimson sunset; for you know,
Its twining arms and shoots together grow
Around the trunk it clasps, conjoining slow
Till they become consolidate, and show
An ever-thickening sheath that kills at last
The helpless tree round which it clings so fast."

"The Rata-Tree (Metrosideros robusta). This magnificent tree. . . . height 80 to 100 feet . . . a clear stem to 30 and even 40 feet . . . very beautiful crimson polyandrous flowers . . . wood red, hard, heavy, close-grained, strong, and not difficult to work."

One of the most remarkable trees . . . is the Rata. . . . This, though a Myrtaceous plant, has all the habits of the Indian figs, reproducing them in the closest manner. It starts from a seed dropped in the fork of a tree, and grows downward to reach the ground; then taking root there, and gaining strength, chokes the supporting tree and entirely destroys it, forming a large trunk by fusion of its many stems. Nevertheless, it occasionally grows directly from the soil, and then forms a trunk more regular in form."

"The foliage of many of the large trees is quite destroyed by the crimson flowering rata, the king of parasites, which having raised itself into the upper air by the aid of some unhappy pine, insinuates its fatal coils about its patron, until it has absorbed trunk and branch into itself, and so gathered sufficient strength to stand unaided like the chief of forest trees, flaunting in crimson splendour."

"It is invariably erect, never climbing, although bushmen and settlers frequently state that it climbs the loftiest trees, and sooner or later squeezes them to death in its iron clasp. In proof of this they assert that, when felling huge ratas, they often find a dead tree in the centre of the rata: this is a common occurrence, but it by no means follows that this species is a climber. This error is simply due to imperfect observation, which has led careless observers to confuse Metrosideros florida [the Akal which is a true climber, with M. robusta."

"Rata, or Ironwood. It would be supposed that almost every colonist who has seen the rata in bloom would desire to possess a plant."

"The critic becomes to the original author what the New Zealand rata is to the kauri. That insidious vine winds itself round the supporting trunk and thrives on its strength and at its expense, till finally it buries it wholly from sight and flaunts itself aloft, a showy and apparently independent tree."

<hw>Rat-tail Grass</hw>, n. name given to— (1) Ischaemum laxum, R. Br., N.O. Gramineae.

"Rat-tail Grass. An upright, slender growing grass; found throughout the colony, rather coarse, but yielding a fair amount of feed, which is readily eaten by cattle."

"Rat-tail Grass. A fine, open, pasture grass, found throughout the colonies. Its numerous penetrating roots enable it to resist severe drought. It yields a fair amount of fodder, much relished by stock, but is too coarse for sheep. The seeds form the principal food of many small birds. It has been suggested as a paper-making material."

<hw>Raupo</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand bulrush, Typha angustifolia, Linn. The leaves are used for building native houses. The pollen, called Punga-Punga (q.v.), was collected and made into bread called pua. The root was also eaten. It is not endemic in New Zealand, but is known in many parts, and was called by the aborigines of Australia, Wonga, and in Europe "Asparagus of the Cossacks." Other names for it are Bulrush, Cat's Tail, Reed Mace, and Cooper's Flag.

1827. Augustus Earle, `Narrative of Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand,' `New Zealand Reader,' p. 67:

"Another party was collecting rushes, which grow plentifully in the neighbourhood, and are called raupo."

1842. W. R. Wade, `A Journey in the North Island of New Zealand,' `New Zealand Reader,' p. 122:

"The raupo, the reed-mace of New Zealand, always grows in swampy ground. The leaves or blades when full grown are cut and laid out to dry, forming the common building material with which most native houses are constructed."

1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses, Session II. No. xvii. of the former Legislative Council of New Zealand':

"Section 2. . . . there shall be levied in respect of every building constructed wholly or in part of raupo, nikau, toitoi, wiwi, kakaho, straw or thatch of any description [ . . . L20]."

"These [the walls], nine feet high and six inches thick, were composed of neatly packed bunches of raupo, or bulrushes, lined inside with the glazed reeds of the tohe-tohe, and outside with the wiwi or fine grass."

"Before a war or any other important matter, the natives used to have recourse to divination by means of little miniature darts made of rushes or reeds, or often of the leaf of the cooper's flag (raupo)."

"The favourite material of the Maoris for building purposes is Raupo (Typha), a kind of flag or bulrush, which grows in great abundance in swampy places."

1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences, or Incidents of Thirty-Four Years in New Zealand,' p. 10:

"It was thatched with raupo or native bulrush, and had sides and interior partitions of the same material."

<hw>Raven</hw>, n. English bird-name. The Australian species is Corvus coronoides, Vig. and Hors.

<hw>Razor-grinder</hw>, n. a bird-name, Seisura inquieta, Lath. Called also Dishwasher and Restless Fly-catcher. See Fly-catcher.

"Neither must you be astonished on hearing the razor-grinder ply his vocation in the very depths of our solitudes; for here he is a flying instead of a walking animal."

"Seisura Inquieta, Restless Flycatcher; the Grinder of the Colonists of Swan River and New South Wales."

"The razor-grinder, fitly so called from making a grinding noise as it wavers in one position a foot or two from the ground."

"Mr. Purees: A statement has been made that is very serious. It has been said that a great deal has been `readied up' for the jury by the present commissioners. That is a charge which, if true, amounts to embracery.

"Mr. Purves: It is a colonial expression, meaning that something is prepared with an object. If you `ready up' a racehorse, you are preparing to lose, or if you `ready up' a pack of cards, you prepare it for dealing certain suits."

<hw>Red Bass</hw>, n. a fish of Moreton Bay (q.v.), Mesoprion superbus, Castln., family Percidae.

<hw>Redberry</hw>, n. name given to Australian plants of the genus Rhagodia, bearing spikes or panicles of red berries. Called also Seaberry. See also Saloop-bush.

<hw>Red-bill</hw>, n. bird-name given to Estrelda temporalis, Lath. It is also applied to the Oyster-catchers (q.v.); and sometimes to the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

"Lieut. Flinders taking up his gun to fire at two red-bills . . . the natives, alarmed, ran to the woods."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 259:

"`This bird,' says Mr. Caley, `which the settlers call Red-bill, is gregarious, and appears at times in very large flocks. I have killed above forty at a shot.'"

`<hw>Red Bream</hw>, n. name given to the Schnapper when one year old. See Schnapper.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 434:

"M'Leay river, New South Wales, Lat. 30 degrees 40'. This forest was found to contain large quantities of red cedar (Cedrela toona) and white cedar (Melia azederach), which, though very different from what is known as cedar at home, is a valuable wood, and in much request by the colonists."

<hw>Red Currant</hw>, n. another name for the Native Currant of Tasmania, Coprosma nitida, Hook., N.O. Rubiaceae. See Currant, Native.

<hw>Red Gum</hw>, n. (1) A tree. See Gum. The two words are frequently made one with the accent on the first syllable; compare Blue-gum.

(2) A medicinal drug. An exudation from the bark of Eucalyptus rostrata, Schlecht, and other trees; see quotation, 1793. Sir Ranald Martin introduced it into European medical practice.

"At the heart they [the trees] are full of veins, through which an amazing quantity of an astringent red gum issues. This gum I have found very serviceable in an obstinate dysentery."

"A very powerfully astringent gum-resin, of a red colour, much resembling that known in the shops as Kino, and, for all medical purposes, fully as efficacious."

"This, Mr. White informs us, is one of the trees (for there are several, it seems, besides the Eucalyptus resinifera, mentioned in his Voyage, p. 231) which produce the red gum."

[The tree is Ceratopetalum gummiferum, Smith, called by him Three-leaved Red-gum Tree. It is now called Officer Plant or Christmas-bush (q.v.).]

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 42:

"The usual red gum was observed oozing out from the bark, and this attracted their notice, as it did that of every explorer who had landed upon the continent. This gum is a species of kino, and possesses powerful astringent, and probably staining, qualities."

<hw>Red Gurnet-Perch</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to the fish Sebastes percoides, Richards., family Scorpaenidae. It is also called Poddly; Red Gurnard, or Gurnet; and in New Zealand, Pohuikaroa. See Perch and Gurnet.

"Sebastes percoides, a fish of a closely allied genus of the same family [as Scorpaena cruenta, the red rock-cod]. It is caught at times in Port Jackson, but has no local name. In Victoria it is called the Red Gurnet-perch."

<hw>Red-knee</hw>, n. sometimes called the Red-kneed Dottrel, Charadrius ruftveniris, formerly Erythrogonys cinctus, Gould. A species of a genus of Australian plovers.

<hw>Red Mulga</hw>, n. name given to a species of Acacia, A. cyperophylla, F. v. M., owing to the red colour of the flakes of bark which peel off the stem. See Mulga.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Home Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, pt. i. p. 16:

"We crossed a narrow belt of country characterized by the growth along the creek sides of red mulga. This is an Acacia (A. cyperophylla) reaching perhaps a height of twenty feet, the bark of which, alone amongst Acacias, is deciduous and peels off, forming little deep-red coloured flakes."

<hw>Red Mullet</hw>, n. New South Wales, Upeneoides vlamingii, Cuv. and Val., and Upeneus porosus, Cuv. and Val., family Mullidae. See Mullet.

"The name of this family is a source of much confusion. It is derived from the Latin word mullus, which in the form of `Mullet' we apply to the well-known fishes of quite a different family, the Mugilidae. Another fish to which the term `Red-Mullet' is applied is of the family Cottidae or Gurnards."

<hw>Red Perch</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Anthias rasor, Richards.; also called the Barber. In Australia, it is Anthias longimanus, Gunth.

<hw>Red Rock-Cod</hw>, n. name given in New South Wales to the fish Scorpaena cardinalis, Richards., family Scorpaenidae, marine fishes resembling the Sea-perches. S. cardinalis is of a beautiful scarlet colour.

<hw>Red-streaked Spider</hw>, or <hw>Black-and-red Spider</hw>, an Australasian spider (Latrodectus scelio, Thorel.), called in New Zealand the Katipo (q.v.).

<hw>Red-throat</hw>, n. a small brown Australian singing-bird, with a red throat, Pyrrholaemus brunneus, Gould.

<hw>Reef</hw>, n. term in gold-mining; a vein of auriferous quartz. Called by the Californian miners a vein, or lode, or ledge. In Bendigo, the American usage remains, the words reef, dyke, and vein being used as synonymous, though reef is the most common. (See quotation, 1866.) In Ballarat, the word has two distinct meanings, viz. the vein, as above, and the bed-rock or true-bottom. (See quotations, 1869 and 1874.) Outside Australia, a reef means "a chain or range of rocks lying at or near the surface of the water." (`Webster.')

"If experience completely establishes the fact, at least, under existing systems, that the best-paying reefs are those that are largely intersected with fissures—more inclined to come out in pebbles than in blocks—or, if I might coin a designation, `rubble reefs,' as contradistinguished from `boulder reefs,' showing at the same time a certain degree of ignigenous discoloration . . . still, where there are evidences of excessive volcanic effect . . . the reef may be set down as poor . . ."

1866. A. R. Selwyn, `Exhibition Essays,' Notes on the Physical Geography, Geology, and Mineralogy of Victoria:

"Quartz occurs throughout the lower palaeozoic rocks in veins, `dykes' or `reefs,' from the thickness of a thread to 130 feet."

"Reef. The term is applied to the tip-turned edges of the palaeozoic rocks. The reef is composed of slate, sandstone, or mudstone. The bed-rock anywhere is usually called the reef. A quartz-vein; a lode."

1874. Reginald A. F. Murray, `Progress Report, Geological Survey, Victoria,' vol. i. p. 65 [Report on the Mineral Resources of Ballarat]:

"In looking for reefs the experienced miner commences on the top of the range and the spurs, for the reason that storm-waters have carried the soil into the gullies and left the bed-rock exposed."

"The University graduate . . . was to be seen patiently sluicing, or reefing, as the case might be."

<hw>Regent-bird</hw>, n. (1) An Australian Bower-bird, Sericulus melinus, Lath., named out of compliment to the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. (therefore named before 1820).

"Zanthomyza Phrygia, Swains., Warty-faced Honey-eater [q.v.]; Mock Regent-Bird, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Remittance-man</hw>, n. one who derives the means of an inglorious and frequently dissolute existence from the periodical receipt of money sent out to him from Europe.

"Remittance men, as we call them here, are not so rare in my experience; and in such cases I act upon a system."

<hw>Rewa-rewa</hw>, n. pronounced raywa, Maori name for the New Zealand tree Knightia excelsa, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae, the Honey-suckle of the New Zealand settlers. Maori verb, rewa, to float. The seed-vessel is just like a Maori canoe.

"Rewarewa (honeysuckle), a handsome flowering tree common on the outskirts of the forests. Wood light and free-working: the grain handsomely flowered like the Baltic oak."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `On the Maori Canoe,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. iv. p. 73:

1880. W. Colenso, `Traditions of the Maoris,' `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. p. 53:

"The boy went into the forest, and brought back with him a seed-pod of the rewarewa tree (Knightia excelsa). . . . He made his way to his canoe, which was made like the pod of the rewarewa tree."

"Rewarewa, a lofty, slender tree, 100 feet high. Wood handsome, mottled red and brown, used for furniture and shingles, and for fencing, as it splits easily. It is a most valuable veneering wood."

<hw>Reward-Claim</hw>, n. the Australian legal term for the large area granted as a "reward" to the miner who first discovers valuable gold in a new district, and reports it to the Warden of the Goldfields. The first great discovery of gold in Coolgardie was made by Bayley in 1893, and his reward-claim, sold to a syndicate, was known as "Bayley's Reward." See also Prospecting Claim, and Claim.

"Prospected with the result that he discovered the first payable gold on the West Coast, for which he obtained a reward claim."

<hw>Rhipidura</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australasian birds, called Fantail (q.v.). They are Fly-catchers. The word is from Grk. rhipidos, `of a fan,' and 'oura, `a tail.'

<hw>Ribbonwood</hw>, n. All species of Plagianthus and Hoheria are to the colonists Ribbonwood, especially Plagianthus betulinus, A. Cunn., and Hoheria populnea, A. Cunn., the bark of which is used for cordage, and was once used for making a demulcent drink. Alpine Ribbon-wood, Plagianthus lyalli, Hook. Other popular names are Houhere, Houi (Maori), Lace-bark (q.v.), and Thousand-Jacket (q.v.).

<hw>Ribgrass</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Native Plantain. See Plantain.

<hw>Rice-flower</hw>, n. a gardeners' name for the cultivated species of Pimalea (q.v.). The Rice-flowers are beautiful evergreens about three feet high, and bear rose-coloured, white, and yellow blooms.

<hw>Rice-shell</hw>, n. The name is applied elsewhere to various shells; in Australia it denotes the shell of various species of Truncatella, a small marine mollusc, so called from a supposed resemblance to grains of rice, and used for necklaces.

<hw>Richea</hw>, n. a Tasmanian Grasstree (q.v.), Richea pandanifolia, Hook., N.O. Liliaceae.

1850. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' May 8, vol. i. p. 278:

"A section . . . of the stem of the graceful palm-like Richea (Richea pandanifolia), found in the dense forests between Lake St. Clair and Macquarie Harbour, where it attains the height of 40 to 50 feet in sheltered positions,—the venation, markings, and rich yellow colouring of which were much admired."

Richea pandanifolia, H. Giant Grass Tree. Peculiar to
Tasmania. Dense forests in the interior and SW."

<hw>Rifle-bird</hw>, n. sometimes called also Rifleman (q.v.); a bird of paradise. The male is of a general velvety black, something like the uniform of the Rifle Brigade. This peculiarity, no doubt, gave the bird its name, but, on the other hand, settlers and local naturalists sometimes ascribe the name to the resemblance they hear in the bird's cry to the noise of a rifle being fired and its bullet striking the target. The Rifle-bird is more famed for beauty of plumage than any other Australian bird. There are three species, and they are of the genus Ptilorhis, nearly related to the Birds of Paradise of New Guinea, where also is found the only other known species of Ptilorhis. The chief species is Ptilorhis paradisea, Lath., the other two species were named respectively, after the Queen and the late Prince Consort, Victoriae and Alberti, but some naturalists have given them other generic names.

"Rifleman-Bird, or Rifle-Bird, names given . . . probably because in coloration it resembled the well-known uniform of the rifle-regiments of the British army, while in its long and projecting hypochondriac plumes and short tail a further likeness might be traced to the hanging pelisse and the jacket formerly worn by the members of those corps."— [Footnote]: "Curiously enough its English name seems to be first mentioned in ornithological literature by Frenchmen—Lesson and Garnot—in 1828, who say (Voy. `Coquille,' Zoologie, p. 669) that it was applied `pour rappeler que ce fut un soldat de la garnison [of New South Wales] qui le tua le premier,' which seems to be an insufficient reason, though the statement as to the bird's first murderer may be true."

"It was an Australian bird of paradise, the celebrated
Rifle-bird (Ptilorhis victoriae), which, according to
Gould, has the most brilliant plumage of all Australian birds."

<hw>Rifleman</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand, Acanthidositta chloris, Buller; Maori name, Titipounamu. See quotation. The name is sometimes applied also to the Rifle-bird (q.v.).

"Acanthidositta chloris, Buller. The rifleman is the smallest of our New Zealand birds. It is very generally distributed."

[Footnote]: "This has hitherto been written Acanthisitta; but Professor Newton has drawn my attention to the fact of its being erroneous. I have therefore adopted the more classic form of Acanthidositta, the etymology of which is 'akanthid,—crude form of 'akanthis = Carduelis, and sitta = sitta."

1888. W. Smith, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. xxi. p. 214:

"Acanthisitta chloris (Rifleman). The feeble note of this diminutive bird is oftener heard in the bush than the bird is seen."

<hw>Right-of-Way</hw>, n. a lane. In England the word indicates a legal right to use a particular passage. In Australia it is used for the passage or lane itself.

"The main body of the men was located in the right-of-way, which is overlooked by the side windows of the bureau."

<hw>Rimu</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Dacrydium cupressinum, N.O. Coniferae; also called Red pine. Rimu is generally used in North Island; Red pine more generally in the South. See Pine.

"Rimu. This elegant tree comes to its greatest perfection in shaded woods, and in moist, rich soil."

"The Rimu Tree. Height, eighty to 100 feet, fully forty to fifty feet clear of branches . . . moderately hard . . . planes up smoothly, takes a good polish, would be useful to the cabinetmaker."

"Some of the trees, especially the rimu, a species of yew, here called a pine, were of immense size and age."

<hw>Ring</hw>, v. tr. (1) To cut the bark of a tree round the trunk so as to kill it. The word is common in the same sense in English forestry and horticulture, and only seems Australasian from its more frequent use, owing to the widespread practice of clearing the primeval forests and generally destroying trees. "Ringed" is the correct past participle, but "rung" is now commonly used.

"What they call ringing the trees; that is to say, they cut off a large circular band of bark, which, destroying the trees, renders them easier to be felled."

"Trees to be `rung.' The ringing of trees consists of cutting the bark through all round, so that the tree cease to suck up the strength of the earth for its nutrition, and shall die."

"The trees are `rung,' that there may be more pasture for the sheep and cattle."

(2) To make cattle move in a circle. [Though specifically used of cattle in Australia, the word has a similar use in England as in Tennyson's `Geraint and Enid'

"They are generally `ringed,' that is, their galop is directed into a circular course by the men surrounding them."

"I'll tell you what, you'll have to ring them. Pass the word round for all hands to follow one another in a circle, at a little distance apart."

"The selector in a timbered country, without troubling himself about cause and effect, is aware that if he destroys the tree the grass will grow, and therefore he `ring-barks' his timber."

"Our way led us through a large but not dense wood of leafless gumtrees. My companion told me that the forest was dead as a result of `ring-barking.' To get the grass to grow better, the settler removes a band of bark near the root of the tree. In a country where cattle-raising is carried on to so great an extent, this may be very practical, but it certainly does not beautify the landscape. The trees die at once after this treatment, and it is a sad and repulsive sight to see these withered giants, as if in despair, stretching their white barkless branches towards the sky."

"We were going through ring-barked country. You don't know what that is? Well, those giant gum-trees absorb all the moisture and keep the grass very poor, so the squatters kill them by ring-barking—that is, they have a ring described round the trunk of each tree by cutting off a couple of feet of bark. Presently the leaves fall off; then the rest of the bark follows, and eventually the tree becomes nothing but a strange lofty monument of dry timber."

<hw>Ring-dollar</hw>, n. See quotation; and see Dump and Holy Dollar.

"The Spanish dollar was much used. A circular piece was struck out of the centre about the size of a shilling . . . and the rest of the dollar, called from the circular piece taken out a `ring-dollar,' was valued at four shillings."

<hw>Ring-eye</hw>, n. one of the many names for the birds of the genus Zosterops (q.v.).

<hw>Ringer</hw>, n. a sheep-shearing term. See quotations. Mr. Hornung's explanation of the origin (quotation, 1894) is probably right. See Rings.

"A `ringer' being the man who by his superior skill and expertness `tops the score'—that is, shears the highest number of sheep per day."

"Whence came the term `ringer,' as applied to the quickest shearer, I don't know. It might possibly have some association with a man who can get quoits on to the peg, and again, it might not, as was remarked just now by my mate, who is camped with me."

"They call him the ringer of the shed. That means the fastest shearer—the man who runs rings round the rest, eh?"

"Another favourite [school] phrase is a `regular ringer.'
Great excellence is implied by this expression."

"The Shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong,
After the hard day's shearing, passing the joke along
The `ringer' that shore a hundred, as they never were shorn
before,
And the novice who toiling bravely had tommyhawked half a
score."

<hw>Ring-neck</hw>, n. the equivalent of Jackaroo (q.v.). A term used in the back blocks in reference to the white collar not infrequently worn by a Jackaroo on his first appearance and when unaccustomed to the life of the bush. The term is derived from the supposed resemblance of the collar to the light- coloured band round the neck of the Ring-neck Parrakeet.

<hw>Rings, to run round</hw>: to beat out and out. A picturesque bit of Australian slang. One runner runs straight to the goal, the other is so much better that he can run round and round his competitor, and yet reach the goal first.

"As athletes the cocoons can run rings round the beans; they can jump out of a tumbler."

<hw>Ring-tail</hw>, or <hw>Ring-tailed Opossum</hw>, n. See Pseudochirus and Opossum.

<hw>Rinka-sporum</hw>, n. a mis-spelt name for the Australian varieties of the tribe of Rhyncosporeae, N.O. Cyperaceae. This tribe includes twenty-one genera, of which Rhynchospora (the type), Schaenus, Cladium, and Remirea are widely distributed, and the others are chiefly small genera of the Southern Hemisphere, especially Australia. (`Century.')

<hw>Riro-riro</hw>, n. a bird. Maori name for the Grey-Warbler of New Zealand, Gerygone flaviventris, Gray. See Gerygone.

"A little wren managed to squeeze itself through, and it flew off to Kurangai-tuku, and cried, `Kurangai-tuku, the man is riro, riro, riro!'—that is, gone, gone, gone. And to this day the bird is known as the riro-riro."

<hw>Roa</hw>, n. another Maori name for the largest or Brown Kiwi (q.v.). In Maori the word roa means long or big.

<hw>Roaring Horsetails</hw>, n. a slang name for the Aurora Australis.

<hw>Robin</hw>, n. The name, in consequence of their external resemblance to the familiar English bird, is applied, in Australia, to species of the various genera as follows:—

Gould's enumeration of the species is given below. [See quotations, 1848, 1869.]

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 242:

"`This bird,' Mr. Caley says, `is called yellow-robin by the colonists. It is an inhabitant of bushes'"

Plate
Petroica superciliosa, Gould, White-eyebrowed
Robin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

"Very soon comes a robin. . . . In the bush no matter where you pitch, the robin always comes about, and when any other of his tribe comes about, he bristles up his feathers, and fights for his crumbs. . . . He is not at all pretty, like the Australian or European robin, but a little sober black and grey bird, with long legs, and a heavy paunch and big head; like a Quaker, grave, but cheerful and spry withal." [This is the Robin of New Zealand.]

"The New Zealand robin was announced, and I could see only a fat little ball of a bird, with a yellowish-white breast."

"The large red-breasted robin, kinsman true
Of England's delicate high-bred bird of home."

"The Robin is certainly more brilliantly beautiful than his English namesake. . . . Black, red and white are the colours of his dress, worn with perfect taste. The black is shining jet, the red, fire, and the white, snow. There is a little white spot on his tiny black-velvet cap, a white bar across his pretty white wings, and his breast is, a living flame of rosy, vivid scarlet."

"Here, too, the `careful robin eyes the delver's toil,' and as he snatches the worm from the gardener's furrow, he turns to us a crimson-scarlet breast that gleams in the sun beside the golden buttercups like a living coal. The hues of his English cousin would pale beside him ineffectual."

"The flame-breasted robin no longer lingers showing us his brilliant breast while he sings out the cold grey afternoons in his tiny treble. He has gone with departing winter."

<hw>Rock-Cod</hw>, n. called also Red-Cod in New Zealand, Pseudophycis barbatus, Gunth., family Gadidae. In New Zealand the Blue-Cod(q.v.) is also called Rock-Cod. Species of the allied genus Lotella are also called Rock-Cod in New South Wales. See Beardy and Ling.

"A variety known to fishermen as the deep-water, or Cape-cod. . . . It would appear that the latter is simply the mature form of the `rock-cod,' which enters the upper waters of estuaries in vast numbers during the month of May. . . The rock-cod rarely exceeds 2 1/2 lbs. weight."

<hw>Rocket, Native</hw>, a Tasmanian name for Epacris lanuginosa, Lab., N.O. Epacrideae. See Epacris.

<hw>Rock-Ling</hw>, n. a marine fish. The Australian R. is Genypterus australis, Castln., family Ophidiidae. The European R. belongs to the genera Onos and Rhinonemus, formerly Motella. Of the genus Genypterus, Guenther says they have an excellent flesh, like cod, well adapted for curing. At the Cape they are known by the name of "Klipvisch," and in New Zealand as Ling, or Cloudy-Bay Cod.

<hw>Rock-Native</hw>, or <hw>Native</hw>, n. a name given to the fish called a Schnapper when it has ceased to "school." See Schnapper.

<hw>Rock-Parrakeet</hw>, n. an Australian Grass-Parrakeet(q.v.), Euphema petrophila, Gould. It gets its name from its habitat, the rocks and crags.

<hw>Rock-Pebbler</hw>, n. another name for the Black-tailed Parrakeet. See Parrakeet.

<hw>Rock-Perch</hw>, n. the name given in Melbourne to the fish Glyphidodon victoriae, Gunth., family Pomacentridae, or Coral-fishes. It is not a true Perch.

<hw>Rock-shelter</hw>, n. a natural cave-dwelling of the aborigines. See Gibber-Gunyah.

1891. R. Etheridge, jun., in `Records of the Australian Museum,' vol. i. No. viii. p. 171 (`Notes on Rock Shelters or Gibba-gunyahs at Deewhy Lagoon'):

". . . The Shelters are of the usual type seen throughout the Port Jackson district, recesses in the escarpment, overhung by thick, more or less tabular masses of rock, in some cases dry and habitable, in others wet and apparently never used by the Aborigines."

<hw>Rock-Wallaby</hw>, n. the popular name for any animal of the genus Petrogale (q.v.). There are six species—

"The Rock-Wallabies are confined to the mainland of Australia, on which they are generally distributed, but are unknown in Tasmania. Although closely allied to the true Wallabies, their habits are markedly distinct, the Rock-Wallabies frequenting rugged, rocky districts, instead of the open plains."

<hw>Roger Gough</hw>, n. an absurd name given to the tree Baloghia lucida, Endl., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

"Who were Messrs. James Donnelly, James Low, and Roger Gough that their names should have been bestowed on trees? Were they growers or buyers of timber? Was the first of the list any relative of the Minnesota lawyer who holds strange views about a great cryptogram in Shakespeare's plays? Was the last of the three any relative of the eminent soldier who won the battles of Sobraon and Ferozeshah? Or, as is more probable, were the names mere corruptions of aboriginal words now lost?"

"At the Warraluen and other gold towns, time after time the ominous words `roll up' had sounded forth, generally followed by the gathering of a mighty crowd."

<hw>Roly-poly Grass</hw>, or Roley-poley, n. name given to Panicum macractinium, Benth., N.O. Gramineae; and also to Salsola Kali, Linn., N.O. Salsolaceae. See Grass.

"Very common to these plains, was a large-growing salsolaceous plant, belonging to the Chenopodeaceae, of Jussieu. These weeds grow in the form of a large ball. . . . No sooner were a few of these balls (or, as we were in the habit of calling them, `rolly-poleys') taken up with the current of air, than the mules began to kick and buck. . . ."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 468:

"A salsolaceous plant growing in the form of a ball several feet high. In the dry season it withers, and is easily broken off and rolled about by the winds, whence it is called roley-poly by the settlers."

"Roly-Poly Grass. This species produces immense dry and spreading panicles; it is perennial, and seeds in November and December. It is a somewhat straggling species, growing in detached tufts, on sand-hills and sandy soil, and much relished by stock."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 13:

"On the loamy flats, and even gibber plains, the most noticeable plant is Salsola kali, popularly known as the Rolly-polly. It is, when mature, one of the characteristically prickly plants of the Lower Steppes, and forms great spherical masses perhaps a yard or more in diameter."

<hw>Roman-Lamp Shell</hw>, name given in Tasmania to a brachiopod mollusc, Waldheimia flavescens, Lamarck.

<hw>Roo</HW>, a termination, treated earlier as the name of an animal. It is the termination of potoroo, wallaroo, kangaroo. See especially the last. It may be added that it is very rare for aboriginal words to begin with the letter `r.'

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales' [Observations at the end, by Mr. John Hunter, the celebrated surgeon]:

Plate p. 278—Wha Tapoua Roo, about the size of a Racoon [probably an opossum].

<hw>Rope</hw>, v. tr. to catch a horse or bullock with a noosed rope. It comes from the Western United States, where it has superseded the original Spanish word lasso, still used in California.

"You could `rope' . . . any Clifton colt or filly, back them in three days, and within a week ride a journey."

<hw>Ropeable</hw>, adj. (1) Of cattle; so wild and intractable as to be capable of subjection only by being roped. See preceding word.

"The service has shown itself so `ropeable' heretofore that one experiences now a kind of chastened satisfaction in seeing it roped and dragged captive at Sir Frederick's saddle-bow."

1896. Modern. In school-boy slang: "You must not chaff him, he gets so ropeable."

<hw>Roping-pole</hw>, n. a long pole used for casting a rope over an animal's head in the stockyard.

"I'm travelling down the Castlereagh and I'm a station-hand,
I'm handy with the ropin'-pole, I'm handy with the brand,
And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day,
But there's no demand for a station-hand along the Castlereagh."

<hw>Rosary-shell</hw>, n. In Europe, the name is applied to any marine gastropod shell of the genus Monodonta. In Australia, it is applied to the shell of Nerita atrata, Lamarck, a marine mollusc of small size and black colour used for necklaces, bracelets, and in place of the "beads" of a rosary.

<hw>Rose</hw>, n. name given to the Australian shrub, Boronia serrulata, Sm., N.O. Rutaceae. It has bright green leaves and very fragrant rose-coloured flowers.

<hw>Rose-Apple</hw>, n. another name for the Sweet Plum. See under Plum.

<hw>Rose-bush</hw>, a timber-tree, Eupomatia laurina, R. Br., N.O. Anonaceae.

<hw>Rose-hill</hw>, n. The name is given by Gould as applied to two Parrakeets—

(1) Platycercus eximius, Vig. and Hors., called by the Colonists of New South Wales, and by Gould, the Rose-hill Parrakeet.

(2) Platycercus icterotis, Wagl., called by the Colonists of Swan River, Western Australia, the Rose-hill, and by Gould the Earl of Derby's Parrakeet.

The modern name for both these birds is Rosella (q.v.), though it is more specifically confined to the first. `Rose-hill' was the name of the Governor's residence at Parramatta, near Sydney, in the early days of the settlement of New South Wales, and the name Rosella is a settler's corruption of Rose-hiller, though the erroneous etymology from the Latin rosella (sc. `a little rose') is that generally given. The word Rosella, however, is not a scientific name, and does not appear as the name of any genus or species; it is vernacular only, and no settler or bushman is likely to have gone to the Latin to form it.

"Platycercus eximius, Vig. & Hors. Rose-hill Parrakeet; Colonists of New South Wales."

"Platycercus icterotis, Wagl. The Earl of Derby's Parrakeet; Rose-hill of the Colonists [of Swan River]."

<hw>Rosella</hw>, n. (1) A bird, Platycercus eximius, the Rosehill (q.v.).

"The common white cockatoo, and the Moreton Bay Rosella parrot, were very numerous."

"Saw the bright rosellas fly,
With breasts that glowed like sunsets
In the fiery western sky."

"As [the race] sweeps past the Stand every year in a close bright mass the colours, of the different clubs, are as dazzling and gay in the sun as a brilliant flight of galahs and rosellas."

(2) In Northern Australia, it is a slang name for a European who works bared to the waist, which some, by a gradual process of discarding clothing, acquire the power of doing. The scorching of the skin by the sun produces a colour which probably suggested a comparison with the bright scarlet of the parrakeet so named.

<hw>Rosemary</hw>, n. name given to the shrub Westringia dampieri, R. Br., N.0. Labiatae.

"There grow here 2 or 3 sorts of Shrubs, one just like
Rosemary; and therefore I call'd this Rosemary Island.
It grew in great plenty here, but had no smell."

<hw>Rosemary, Golden</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the plant Oxylobium ellipticum, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Rosemary, Wild</hw>, a slender Australian timber-tree, Cassinia laevis, R. Br., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Rosewood</hw>, name given to the timber of three trees. (1) Acacia glaucescens, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae; called also Brigalow, Mountain Brigalow, and Myall.

(2) Dysoxylon fraserianum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae; called also Pencil Cedar.

(3) Eremophila mitchelli, Benth. N.O. Myoporinae; called also Sandalwood.

"One or two trees of a warmer green, of what they call `rosewood,' I believe gave a fine effect, relieving the sober greyish green of the pendent acacia."

<hw>Rough</hw>, or <hw>Roughy</hw>, or <hw>Ruffy</hw>, or <hw>Ruffie</hw>, n. a Victorian fish, Arripis georgianus, Cuv. and Val., family Percidae. Arripis is the genus of the Australian fish called Salmon, or Salmon-trout, A. salar, Gunth. See Salmon.

<hw>Round</hw>, v. trans., contraction of the verb to round-up, to bring a scattered herd together; used in all grazing districts, and common in the Western United States.

"A friend of mine who has spent many a night rounding the mob on lonely Queensland cattle camps where hostile blacks were as thick as dingoes has a peculiar aversion to one plain covered with dead gums, because the curlews always made him feel miserable when crossing it at night."

<hw>Rouseabout</hw>, n. a station-hand put on to any work, a Jack of all work, an `odd man.' The form `roustabout' is sometimes used, but the latter is rather an American word (Western States), in the sense of a labourer on a river boat, a deck-hand who assists in loading and unloading.

"It may be the rouseabout swiper who rode for the doctor that
night,
Is in Heaven with the hosts of the Blest, robed and sceptred,
and splendid with light."

"The `rouseabouts' are another class of men engaged in shearing time, whose work is to draft the sheep, fill the pens for the shearers, and do the branding. . . . The shearers hold themselves as the aristocrats of the shed; and never associate with the rouseabouts."

"While we sat there, a rouseabout came to the door. `Mountain Jim's back,' he said. There was no `sir' in the remark of this lowest of stationhands to his master."

"A rougher person—perhaps a happier—is the rouseabout, who makes himself useful in the shearing shed. He is clearly a man of action. He is sometimes with less elegance, and one would say less correctly, spoken of as a roustabout."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 98 [Title of poem, `Middleton's Rouseabout']:

"Flourishing beard and sandy,
Tall and robust and stout;
This is the picture of Andy,
Middleton's Rouseabout."

<hw>Rowdy</hw>, adj. troublesome. Common slang, but unusual as applied to a bullock or a horse.

<hw>Rua</hw>, n. Maori word (used in North Island) for a pit, cave or hole. A place for storing roots, such as potatoes, etc. Formerly some of these rua had carved entrances.

<hw>Ruffy</hw> or <hw>Ruffie</hw>, n. a fish. See Rough or Roughy.

<hw>Run</hw>, n. (1) Tract of land over which sheep or cattle may graze. It is curious that what in England is called a sheep-walk, in Australia is a sheep-run. In the Western United States it is a sheep-ranch. Originally the squatter, or sheep-farmer, did not own the land. It was unfenced, and he simply had the right of grazing or "running" his sheep or cattle on it. Subsequently, in many cases, he purchased the freehold, and the word is now applied to a large station property, fenced or unfenced. (See quotation, 1883.)

1828. Report of Van Diemen's band Company, in Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), p. 117:

"The thousand runs stated as the number in Port Phillip under the new regulations will cost L12,800,000."

"`Runs,' land claimed by the squatter as sheep-walks, open, as nature left them, without any improvement from the squatter."

"The runs of the Narran wide-dotted with sheep,
And loud with the lowing of cattle."

"Here then is a squatting domain of the old unhedged stamp. The station or the `run,' as these squatting areas are called, borders upon the Darling, along which river it possesses a frontage of thirty-five lineal miles, with a back area of 800 square miles."

"The desire of some to turn Van Diemen's Land into a large squatter's run, by the passing of the Impounding Act, was the immediate cause, he told us, of his taking up the project of a poor man's country elsewhere."

"A run is the general term for the tract of country on which
Australians keep their stock, or allow them to `run.'"

"They are used by the birds as a playing-house, or `run,' as it is termed, and are used by the males to attract the females."

<hw>Run-about</hw>, n. and adj. Run-abouts are cattle left to graze at will, and the runabout-yard is the enclosure for homing them.

"`Open that gate, Piambook,' said Ernest gravely, pointing to the one which led into the `run-about' yard."

<hw>Running-Postman</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, i.q. Coral-Pea. See Kennedya.

<hw>Ruru</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand bird, the More-pork, Athene novae-zelandiae, Gmel. (q.v.).

<hw>Rush</hw>, v. (1) Of cattle: to charge a man. Contraction for to rush-at.

"When not instigated by terror, wild cattle will seldom attack the traveller; even of those which run at him, or `rush,' as it is termed, few will really toss or gore, or even knock him down."

"Sometimes at night this animal [the dingo] will leap into the fold amongst the timid animals [sheep] and so `rush' them—that is, cause them to break out and disperse through the bush."

(3) To break through a barrier (of men or materials). Contraction for to rush past or through; e.g. to rush a cordon of policemen; to rush a fence (i.e. to break-down or climb-over it).

(4) To take possession of, or seize upon, either by force or before the appointed time. Compare Jump.

"The dancers becoming very hungry did not stand on ceremony, but rushed the supper."

"The Bald Hill had just been rushed, and therefore
I decided to take up a claim."

"Arouse you, my comrades, for rush is the word,
Advance to the strife with a pick for a sword."

(2) A place where gold is found, and to which consequently a crowd of diggers "rush."

1855. William Howitt, `Land, Labour and Gold; or Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 172:

"It is a common practice for them to mark out one or more claims in each new rush, so as to make sure if it turn out well. But only one claim at a time is legal and tenable. This practice is called shepherding."

"Morinish, was a worked-out rush close to Rockhampton, where the first attempt at gold-digging had been made in Queensland."

"A confused whirl of dark forms swept before him, and the camp, so full of life a minute ago, is desolate. It was `a rush,' a stampede."

<hw>Rush-broom</hw>, n. Australian name for the indigenous shrub Viminaria denudata, Sm., N.O. Leguminosae. The flowers are orange-yellow. In England, it is cultivated in greenhouses.

"The colonial saddle is a shapeless, cumbersome fabric, made of rough leather, with a high pommel and cantle, and huge knee-pads, weighing on an average twenty pounds. The greatest care is necessary to prevent such a diabolical machine from giving a horse a sore back."

[Mr. Finch-Hatton's epithet is exaggerated. The saddle is well adapted to its peculiar local purposes. The projecting knee-pads, especially, save the rider from fractured knee-caps when galloping among closely timbered scrub. The ordinary English saddle is similarly varied by exaggeration of different parts to suit special requirements, as e.g. in the military saddle, with its enormous pommel; the diminutive racing saddle, to meet handicappers' "bottom-weights," etc. The mediaeval saddle had its turret-like cantle for the armoured spearman.]

<hw>Saddle-Back</hw>, n. a bird of the North Island of New Zealand, Creadion carunculatus, Cab. See also Jack-bird and Creadion.

1868. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' Essay on Ornithology, by W. Buller, vol. i. p. 5:

"The Saddle-back (Creadion carunculatus) of the North is represented in the South by C. cinereus, a closely allied species."

1886. A. Reischek, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xix. art. xxiii. p. 102:

"The bird derives its popular name from a peculiarity in the distribution of its two strongly contrasting colours, uniform black, back and shoulders ferruginous, the shoulders of the wings forming a saddle. In structure it resembles the starling (Sturnidae); it has also the wedge bill."

"Creadion Carunculatus. This bird derives its popular name from a peculiarity in the distribution of its too strongly contrasted colours, black and ferruginous, the latter of which covers the back, forms a sharply-defined margin across the shoulders, and sweeps over the wings in a manner suggestive of saddle-flaps."

<hw>Sagg</hw>, n. the name given in Tasmania to the plant Xerotes longifolia, R. Br., N.O. Junceae, and also to the White Iris, Diplarhena morcaea.

<hw>Saliferous</hw>, adj. salt-bearing. See Salt-bush. The word is used in geology in ordinary English, but the botanical application is Australian.

"You have only to cover the desert with pale-green saliferous bushes, no higher than a man's knee."

<hw>Sallee</hw>, n. aboriginal name for many varieties of the Acacia (q.v.).

<hw>Sally</hw>, <hw>Sallow</hw>, n. corruptions of the aboriginal word Sallee (q.v.). There are many varieties, e.g. Black-Sally, White-Sally, etc.

<hw>Salmon</hw>, n. The English Salmon is being acclimatised with difficulty in Tasmania and New Zealand; the Trout more successfully. But in all Australian, New Zealand, and Tasmanian waters there is a marine fish which is called Salmon; it is not the true Salmon of the Old World, but Arripis salar, Gunth., and called in New Zealand by the Maori name Kahawai. The fish is often called also Salmon-Trout. The young is called Samson-fish (q.v.).

[Sept. 1790.] "Near four thousand of a fish, named by us, from its shape only, the Salmon, being taken at two hauls of the seine. Each fish weighed on an average about five pounds."

"The kawai has somewhat of the habits of the salmon, entering during spring and summer into the bays, rivers, and fresh-water creeks in large shoals."

"Arripis salar, South Australia. Three species are known, from the coasts of Southern Australia and New Zealand. They are named by the colonists Salmon or Trout, from their elegant form and lively habits, and from the sport they afford to the angler."

"Arripis salar, Gunth., is in the adult state the salmon of the Australian fishermen, and their salmon trout is the young. . . . The most common of all Victorian fishes . . . does not resemble the true salmon in any important respect . . . It is the A. truttaceus of Cuvier and Valenciennes."

<hw>Saloop-bush</hw>, n. name given to an erect soft-stemmed bush, Rhagodia hastata, R. Br., N.O. Salsolaceae, one of the Australian Redberries, two to three feet high. See Redberry and Salt-bush.

<hw>Salsolaceous</hw>, adj. belongs to the natural order Salsolaceae. The shrubs of the order are not peculiar to Australia, but are commoner there than elsewhere.

"It is getting hopeless now . . . sand and nothing but sand. The salsolaceous plants, so long the only vegetation we have seen, are gone."

<hw>Salt-bush</hw>, n. and adj. the wild alkaline herb or shrub, growing on the interior plains of Australia, on which horses and sheep feed, of the N.O. Salsolaceae. The genera are Atriplex, Kochia, and Rhagodia. Of the large growth, A. nummularium, Lindl., and of the dwarf species, A. vesicarium, Heward, and A. halimoides, Lindl., are the commonest. Some species bear the additional names of Cabbage Salt-bush, Old-Man Salt-bush, Small Salt-bush, Blue-bush, Cotton-bush, Saloop-bush, etc. Some varieties are very rich in salt. Rhagodia parabolica, R. Br., for instance, according to Mr. Stephenson, who accompanied Sir T. Mitchell in one of his expeditions, yields as much as two ounces of salt by boiling two pounds of leaves.

"The ground is covered with the sage-coloured salt-bush all the year round, but in the winter it blooms with flowers."

"How glorious it will be to see them pitching into that lovely salt-bush by the lake."

"The surrounding miles of salt-bush plains and low monotonous scrub oppressed her when she wandered abroad. There was not one picturesque patch on the whole dreary run."

"Over the miles of the salt-bush plain—
The shining plain that is said to be
The dried-up bed of an inland sea.

<hw>Samson-fish</hw>, n. name given in Sydney to Seriola hippos, Gunth., family Carangidae; and in Melbourne to the young of Arripis salar, Richards., family Percidae. See Salmon.

"The samson-fish (Senola hippos, Gunth.) is occasionally caught. The great strength of these fishes is remarkable, and which probably is the cause that gave it the name of Samson-fish, as sailors or shipwrights give to the name of a strong post resting on the keelson of a ship, and supporting the upper beam, and bearing all the weight of the deck cargo near the hold, Samson-post."

<hw>Sandalwood</hw>, n. The name is given to many Australian trees from the strong scent of their timber. They are —

Eremophila mitchelli, Benth.; called also Rosewood and Bastard-Sandalwood.

<hw>Sandfly-bush</hw>, n. Australian name for the indigenous tree Zieria smithii, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae. Called also Turmeric, and in Tasmania, Stinkwood.

<hw>Sand-Lark</hw>, n. name given in Australia to the Red-capped Dottrel, Charadrius ruficapilla, Temm.

<hw>Sandpiper</hw>, n. About twenty species of this familiar sea-bird exist. It belongs especially to the Northern Hemisphere, but it performs such extensive migrations that in the northern winter it is dispersed all over the world. (`Century.') The species observed in Australia are—

<hw>Sandplover</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand. According to Professor Parker, only two genera of this common bird are to be found in New Zealand. There is no bird bearing the name in Australia. See Plover and Wry-billed Plover.

"But two genera of the group [Wading Birds] are found only in
New Zealand, the Sandplover and the curious Wry-billed Plover."

<hw>Sand-stay</hw>, n. a characteristic name for the Coast Tea-Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. See Tea-Tree.

"Sandstay. Coast Tea-Tree. This shrub is the most effectual of all for arresting the progress of driftsand in a warm climate. It is most easily raised by simply scattering in autumn the seeds on the sand, and covering them loosely with boughs, or, better still, by spreading lopped-off branches of the shrub itself, bearing ripe seed, on the sand. (Mueller.)"

<hw>Sandy</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Uphritis urvillii, Cuv. and Val, family Trachinidae; also called the Fresh-water Flathead. See Flathead.

<hw>Sandy-blight</hw>, n. a kind of ophthalmia common in Australia, in which the eye feels as if full of sand. Called also shortly, Blight.

Shakspeare has sand-blind (M. of V. II. ii. 31);
Launcelot says—

"0 heavens, this is my true-begotten father! who, being more than sand-blind, high-gravel blind, knows me not."

"Sand-blind. Dim of sight; as if there were sand in the eye, or perhaps floating before it. It means something more than purblind."

"As if there were sand in the eye,"—an admirable description of the Australian Sandy-blight.

"Sandy-blight occurs generally in sandy districts in the North Kennedy; it may be avoided by ordinary care, and washing the eyes after a hot ride through sandy country. It is a species of mild ophthalmia."

"He had pretty near lost his eyesight with the sandy blight, which made him put his head forward when he spoke, as if he took you for some one else, or was looking for what he couldn't find."

<hw>Sarcophile</hw>, and <hw>Sarcophilus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of carnivorous marsupial animals of which the Tasmanian Devil (q.v.) is the only known living species.(Grk. sarkos, flesh, and philein, to love.)

<hw>Sardine</hw>, n. name given in Australia to a fresh-water fish, Chatoessus erebi, Richards., of the herring tribe, occurring in West and North-West Australia, and in Queensland rivers, and which is called in the Brisbane river the Sardine. It is the Bony Bream of the New South Wales rivers, and the Perth Herring of Western Australia.

<hw>Sarsaparilla, Australian</hw> or <hw>Native</hw>, n. (1) An ornamental climbing shrub, Hardenbergia monophylla, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae. Formerly called Kennedya (q.v.).

"Native Sarsaparilla. The roots of this beautiful purple- flowered twiner (Hardenbergia monophylla) are used by bushmen as a substitute for the true sarsaparilla, which is obtained from a widely different plant."

"Commonly, but wrongly, called `Native Sarsaparilla.' The roots are sometimes used by bushmen as a substitute for the true sarsaparilla (Smilax), but its virtues are purely imaginary. It is a common thing in the streets of Sydney, to see persons with large bundles of the leaves on their shoulders, doubtless under the impression that they have the leaves of the true Sarsaparilla, Smilax glycyphylla."

"He will see, too, the purple of the sarsaparilla on the hill-sides, and the golden bloom of the wattle on the flats, forming a beautiful contrast in tint. Old diggers consider the presence of sarsaparilla and the ironbark tree as indicative of the existence of golden wealth below. Whether these can be accepted as indicators in the vegetable kingdom of gold below is questionable, but it is nevertheless a fact that the sarsaparilla and the ironbark tree are common on most of Victoria's goldfields."

<hw>Sassafras</hw>, n. corruption of <hw>Saxafas</hw>, which is from <hw>Saxifrage</hw>. By origin, the word means "stone-breaking," from its medicinal qualities. The true Sassafras (S. officinale) is the only species of the genus. It is a North-American tree, about forty feet high, but the name has been given to various trees in many parts of the world, from the similarity, either of their appearance or of the real or supposed medicinal properties of their bark.

Atherosperma moschatum, Labill., N.0. Monimiaceae; called Native Sassafras, from the odour of its bark, due to an essential oil closely resembling true Sassafras in odour. (Maiden.)

Beilschmiedia obtusifolia, Benth., N.0. Lauraceae; called Queensland Sassafras, a large and handsome tree.

Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.0. Lauraceae; the Sassafras of the early days of New South Wales, and now called Black Sassafras.

Daphnandra micrantha, Benth., N.0. Monimiaceae, called also Satinwood, and Light Yellow-wood.

"The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony, as have also the leaves and bark of Cryptocarya glaucescens, the Australian sassafras."

"The beautiful Tasmanian sassafras-tree is also a dweller in some parts of our fern-tree valleys. . . . The flowers are white and fragrant, the leaves large and bright green, and the bark has a most aromatic scent, besides being, in a decoction, an excellent tonic medicine. . . . The sawyers and other bushmen familiar with the tree call it indiscriminately `saucifax,' `sarserfrax,' and `satisfaction.'"

"A Tasmanian timber. Height, 40 ft.; dia., 14 in. Found on low, marshy ground. Used for sashes and doorframes."

"Atherosperma moschatum, Victorian sassafras-tree, N.O. Monimiaceae."

<hw>Satin-bird</hw>, n. another name for the Satin Bower-bird. See Bower-bird.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 264:

<hw>Satin-Robin</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Satin Fly-catcher, Myiagra nitida, Gould.

<hw>Satinwood</hw>, n. a name applied to two Australian trees from the nature of their timber—Xanthoxylum brachyacanthum, F. v. M., N.O. Rutaceae, called also Thorny Yellow-wood; Daphnandra micrantha, Benth., N.O. Monimiaceae, called also Light Yellow-wood and Sassafras (q.v.).

<hw>Saw-fish</hw>, n. a species of Ray, Pristis zysron, Bleek, the Australasian representative of the Pristidae family, or Saw-fishes, Rays of a shark-like form, with long, flat snouts, armed along each edge with strong teeth.

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 223 [J. E. Bicheno, June 8, 1850, in epist.]:

"Last week an old fisherman brought me a fine specimen of a Saw-fish, caught in the Derwent. It turned out to be the Pristis cirrhatus,—a rare and curious species, confined to the Australian seas, and first described by Dr. Latham in the year 1793."

<hw>Sawyer</hw>, n. (1) Name applied by bushmen in New Zealand to the insect Weta (q.v.). (2) A trunk embedded in the mud so as to move with the current—hence the name: a snag is fixed. (An American use of the word.) See also Snag.

<hw>Sceloglaux</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus containing the New Zealand bird called the Laughing Owl (see under Jackass). The name was given by Kaup in 1848; the bird had been previously classed as Athene by Gray in 1844. It is now nearly extinct. Kaup also gave the name of Spiloglaux to the New Zealand Owl at the same date. The words are from the Greek glaux, an owl, spilos, a spot, and skelos, a leg.

<hw>Scent-wood</hw>, a Tasmanian evergreen shrub, Alyxia buxifolia, R. Br., N.O. Apocyneae, of the dogbane family.

<hw>Schnapper</hw>, n. or <hw>Snapper</hw>, a fish abundant in all Australasian waters, Pagrus unicolor, Cuv. and Val. The latter spelling was the original form of the word (one that snaps). It was gradually changed by the fishermen, perhaps of Dutch origin, to Schnapper, the form now general. The name Snapper is older than the settlement of Australia, but it is not used for the same fish. `O.E.D.,' s.v. Cavally, quotes:

"Fish . . . of various kinds . . . Snappers, grey and red;
Cavallos, Carpians, etc."

The young are called Cock-schnapper (q.v.); at a year old they are called Red-Bream; at two years old, Squire; at three, School-Schnapper; when they cease to "school" and swim solitary they are called Natives and Rock-Natives. Being the standard by which the "catch" is measured, the full-grown Schnappers are also called Count-fish (q.v.). In New Zealand, the Tamure (q.v.) is also called Schnapper, and the name Red-Schnapper is given to Anthias richardsoni, Gunth., or Scorpis hectori, Hutton. See quotation, 1882.

"King-fish, mullet, mackarel, rockcod, whiting, snapper, bream, flatheads, and various other descriptions of fishes, are all found plentifully about."

"The kangaroos are numerous and large, and the finest snappers I have ever heard of are caught off this point, weighing sometimes as much as thirty pounds."

[The point referred to is that now called Schnapper Point, at
Mornington, in Victoria.]

"The genus Pagrus, or as we term it in the vernacular, `schnapper,' a word of Dutch origin . . . The schnapper or snapper. The schnapper (Pagrus unicolor, Cuv. and Val.) is the most valuable of Australian fishes, not for its superior excellence . . . but for the abundant and regular supply . . . At a still greater age the schnapper seems to cease to school and becomes what is known as the `native' and `rock-native,' a solitary and sometimes enormously large fish."

"The fish, snapper, is so called because it snapped. The spelling with `ch' is a curious after-thought, suggestive of alcohol. The name cannot come from schnapps."

<hw>School-Schnapper</hw>, n. a fish. A name given to the Schnapper when three years old. See Schnapper.

<hw>Scorpion</hw>, n. another name for the New South Wales fish Pentaroge marmorata, Cuv. and Val.; called also the Fortescue (q.v.), and the Cobbler.

<hw>Scotchman</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for a smaller kind of the grass called Spaniard (q.v.).

"As we neared the hills speargrass of the smaller kind, known as Scotchmen,' abounded, and although not so strong and sharp-pointed as the `Spaniard,' would not have made a comfortable seat."

". . . national appellations are not satisfactory. It seems uncivil to a whole nation—another injustice to Ireland—to call a bramble a wild Irishman, or a pointed grass, with the edges very sharp and the point like a bayonet, a Spaniard. One could not but be amused to find the name Scotchman applied to a smaller kind of Spaniard.'

<hw>Scribbly-Gum</hw>, n. also called White-Gum, Eucalyptus haemastoma, Sm., N.O. Myrtaceae. See Gum.

"Scribbly or White-Gum. As regards timber this is the most worthless of the Queensland species. A tree, often large, with a white, smooth, deciduous bark, always marked by an insect in a scribbly manner."

<hw>Scrub</hw>, n. country overgrown with thick bushes. Henry Kingsley's explanation (1859), that the word means shrubbery, is singularly misleading, the English word conveying an idea of smallness and order compared with the size and confusion of the Australian use. Yet he is etymologically correct, for Scrobb is Old English (Anglo-Saxon) for shrub; but the use had disappeared in England.

"A number of gins and children remained on the borders of the scrub, half a mile off."

"Here Nature's gifts, with those of man combined,
Hath [sic] from a scrub a Paradise defined."

"The colonial term scrub, of frequent and convenient use in the description of Australian scenery, is applicable to dense assemblages of harsh wild shrubbery, tea-tree, and other of the smaller and crowded timber of the country, and somewhat analogous to the term jungle."

"Scrub. I have used, and shall use, this word so often that some explanation is due to the English reader. I can give no better definition of it than by saying that it means `shrubbery.'"

"Woods which are open and passable—passable at any rate for men on horseback—are called bush. When the undergrowth becomes, thick and matted, so as to be impregnable without an axe, it is scrub."

[Impregnability is not a necessary point of the definition.
There is "light" scrub, and "heavy" or "thick" scrub.]

"Scrub was a colonial term for dense undergrowth, like that of the mallee-scrub."

"Where . . . a belt of scrub lies green, glossy, and impenetrable as Indian bungle."

(p. 8): "The nearest scrub, in the thickets of which the Blacks could always find an impenetrable stronghold."

"A most magnificent forest of trees, called in Australia a `scrub,' to distinguish it from open timbered country."

"Why, I've been alone in the scrub—in the desert, I mean; you will understand that better."

"One more prominent feature in Australian vegetation are the large expanses of the so-called `scrub' of the colonists. This is a dense covering of low bushes varying in composition in different districts, and named according to the predominating element."

"Just as Tartary is characterised by its steppes, America by its prairies, and Africa by its deserts, so Australia has one feature peculiar to itself, and that is its `scrubs.'. . . One of the most common terms used by explorers is `Mallee' scrub, so called from its being composed of dwarf species of Eucalyptus called the `Mallee' by the Natives. . . . Still more dreaded by the explorer is the `Mulga' scrub, consisting chiefly of dwarf acacias."

"Even more desolate than the usual dreary-looking scrub of the interior of Australia."

"Born and bred on the mountain-side,
He could race through scrub like a kangaroo."

<hw>Scrub</hw>, adj. and in composition. The word scrub occurs constantly in composition. See the following words.

"We gathered the wild raspberries, and mingling them with gee-bongs, and scrub-berries, set forth a dessert."

<hw>Scrub-bird</hw>, n. name given to two Australian birds, of the genus Atrichia. (Grk. 'atrichos = without hair.) They are the Noisy Scrub-bird, Atrichia clamosa, Gould, and the Rufous S.-b., A. rufescens, Ramsay.

"The Scrub-bird creeps mouse-like over the bark, or sits on a dripping stem and mocks all surrounding notes."

<hw>Scrub-cattle</hw>, n. escaped cattle that run wild in the scrub, used as a collective plural of Scrubber (q.v.).

"'Twas merry 'mid the blackwoods, when we spied the station
   roofs,
   To wheel the wild scrub-cattle at the yard,
With a running fire of stock-whips and a fiery run of hoofs,
   Oh! the hardest day was never then too hard."

<hw>Scrub-Crab</hw>, n. a Queensland fruit. The large dark purple fruit, two inches in diameter, of Sideroxylon australe, Benth. and Hook., N.O. Saponaceae; a tall tree.

"He is one of those infernal scrub-danglers from the Lachlan, come across to get a feed."

<hw>Scrub-fowl</hw>, n. name applied to birds of the genus Megapodius. See Megapode.

<hw>Scrub-rider</hw>, n. a man who rides through the scrub in search of Scrub-cattle (q.v.).

<hw>Scrub-Robin</hw>, n. the modern name for any bird of the genus Drymodes.

"Drymodes Brunneopygia, Gould, Scrub-Robin. I discovered this singular bird in the great Murray Scrub in South [sc. Southern] Australia, where it was tolerably abundant. I have never seen it from any other part of the country, and it is doubtless confined to such portions of Australia as are clothed with a similar character of vegetation."

1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 447:

"As regards portions of Gould's English nomenclatures, such as his general term `Robin' for the genera Petroica, Paecilodryas, Eopsaltria, it was found that by retaining the term `Robin' for the best known member of the group (Petroica), and applying a qualifying noun to the allied genera, such titles as Tree-robin, Scrub-robin, and Shrike-robin were easily evolved."

"Almost all the Scrub-trees of the Condamine and Kent's Lagoon were still to be seen at the Burdekin."

<hw>Scrub-Turkey</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Leipoa ocellata, Gould; aboriginal name, the Lowan (q.v.). See Turkey.

<hw>Scrub-Vine</hw>, n. called also Native Rose. See Bauera (q.v.).

<hw>Scrub-Wren</hw>, n. any little bird of the Australian genus Sericornis. The species are—

<hw>Scrubber</hw>, n. (1) a bullock that has taken to the scrub and so become wild. See Scrub-cattle. Also formerly used for a wild horse, now called a Brumby (q.v.).

"The captain was getting in the scrubbers, cattle which had been left to run wild through in the mountains."

"Out flew the ancient scrubber, instinctively making towards his own wild domain."

"There are also wild cattle, which are either cattle run wild or descendants of such. They are commonly called `scrubbers,' because they live in the larger scrubs."

"The scrubbers, unseen of men, would stay in their fastnesses all day chewing the cud they had laid up the night before, and when the sun went down and the strident laugh of the giant kingfisher had given place to the insidious air-piercing note of the large-mouthed podargus, the scrub would give up its inhabitants."

(3) The word is sometimes applied to mankind in the slang sense of an "outsider." It is used in University circles as equivalent to the Oxford "smug," a man who will not join in the life of the place. See also Bush-scrubber.

"`I can answer for it, that they are scrubbers—to use a bush phrase—have never been brought within the pale of any church.'

1802. Jas. Flemming, `Journal of the Exploration of C. Grimes' [at Port Phillip, Australia], ed. by J. J. Shillinglaw, 1879, Melbourne, p. 17:

"A scrubby country is a stockman's abhorrence, as there he cannot ride, at least at any pace."

"'Twere madness to attempt to chase,
In such a wild and scrubby place,
Australia's savage steer."

<hw>Scythrops</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of birds belonging to the Cuculidae, or Cuckoos (from Grk. skuthrowpos = angry-looking). The only species known is peculiar to Australia, where it is called the Channel-Bill, a name given by Latham (`General History of Birds,' vol. ii.). White (1790) calls it the Anomalous Hornbill (`Journal 1790,' pl. at p. 142).

<hw>Sea-Dragon</hw>, n. any Australian fish of any one of the three species of the genus Phyllopteryx, family Syngnathidae. The name of the genus comes from the Greek phullon = a leaf, and pterux = a wing. This genus is said by Guenther to be exclusively Australian. "Protective resemblance attains its highest degree of development," he says, in this genus. "Not only their colour closely assimilates that of the particular kind of sea-weed which they frequent, but the appendages of their spines seem to be merely part of the fucus to which they are attached. They attain a length of twelve inches." (`Study of Fishes,' p. 683.) The name, in England, is given to other and different fishes. The species P. foliatus is called the Superb Dragon (q.v.), from the beauty of its colours.

<hw>Sea-Perch</hw>, n. a name applied to different fishes—in Sydney, to the Morwong (q.v.) and Bull's-eye (q.v.); in New Zealand, to Sebastes percoides, called Pohuiakawa (q.v.); in Melbourne, to Red-Gurnard (q.v.). See Red Gurnet-Perch.

<hw>Sea-Pig</hw>, n. a small whale, the Dugong. See under Dugong-oil.

"The aborigines eagerly pursue the dugong, a species of small whale, generally known to the colonists as the sea-pig."

<hw>Sea-Pike</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Lanioperca mordax, Gunth., of the family Sphyraenidae. The name belongs to the Sydney fish-market.

<hw>Sergeant Baker</hw>, n. name given to a fish of New South Wales, Aulopus purpurissatus, Richards., family Scopelidae.

"The Sergeant Baker in all probability got its local appellation in the early history of the colony (New South Wales), as it was called after a sergeant of that name in one of the first detachments of a regiment; so were also two fruits of the Geebong tribe (Persoonia); one was called Major Buller, and the other Major Groce, and this latter again further corrupted into Major Grocer."

<hw>Settler's</hw> Clock (also <hw>Hawkesbury Clock</hw>), n. another name for the bird called the Laughing-Jackass. See Jackass.

"From its habit of starting its discordant paean somewhere near sunrise and, after keeping comparatively quiet all through the hotter hours, cackling a `requiem to the day's decline,' the bird has been called the Settler's clock. It may be remarked, however, that this by no means takes place with the methodical precision that romancers write of in their letters home."

<hw>Settlers' Matches</hw>, n. name occasionally applied to the long pendulous strips of bark which hang from the Eucalypts and other trees, during decortication, and which, bec oming exceedingly dry, are readily ignited and used as kindling wood.

"In the silence of the darkness and the playing of the breeze,
That we heard the settlers' matches rustle softly in the
trees."

"Re settlers' matches, torches, the blacks in the South-east of South Australia always used the bark of the she-oak to carry from one camp to another; it would last and keep alight for a long time and show a good light to travel by when they had no fire. A fire could always be lighted with two grass trees, a small fork, and a bit of dry grass. I have often started a fire with them myself."

<hw>Settler's Twine</hw>, n. a fibre plant, Gymnostachys anceps, R. Br., N.O. Aroideae, called also Travellers' Grass. Much used by farmers as cord or string where strength is required.

<hw>Shag</hw>, n. common English birdname for a Cormorant (q.v.). Gould, fifty years ago, enumerates the following as Australian species, in his `Birds of Australia' (vol. vii.)—

Plate Phalacrocorax Carboides, Gould, Australian Cormorant, Black Shag, Colonists of W.A. . . . . . 66

P. Hypoleucus, Pied C., Black and White Shag, Colonists of W. A. . . . . . . . . . 68

P. Melanoleucus, Vieill., Pied C., Little Shag, Colonists of W.A. . . . . . . . . . 70

P. Punctatus, Spotted C., Crested Shag (Cook), Spotted Shag (Lapham) . . . . . . . . . 71

<hw>Shagroon</hw>, n. When the province of Canterbury, in New Zealand, was first settled, the men who came from England were called Pilgrims, all others Shagroons, probably a modification of the Irish word Shaughraun.

1877. W. Pratt, `Colonial Experiences of Incidents of Thirty-four Years in New Zealand,' p. 234:

"In the `Dream of a Shagroon,' which bore the date Ko Matinau, April 1851, and which first appeared in the `Wellington Spectator' of May 7, the term `Pilgrim' was first applied to the settlers; it was also predicted in it that the `Pilgrims' would be `smashed' and the Shagroons left in undisputed possession of the country for their flocks and herds."

<hw>Shake</hw>, v. tr. to steal. Very common Australian slang, especially amongst school-boys and bushmen. It was originally Thieves' English.

"The tent of a surgeon was `shook,' as they style it—that is, robbed, during his absence in the daytime."

"Crimean shirts, blankets, and all they `shake,'
Which I'm told's another name for `take.'"

<hw>Shamrock, Australian</hw>, n. a perennial, fragrant, clover-like plant, Trigonella suavissima, Lindl., N.O. Leguminosae; excellent as forage. Called also Menindie Clover (aboriginal name, Calomba). See Clover.

<hw>Shamrock, Native</hw>, n. a forage plant, Lotus australis, Andr., N.O. Leguminosae. Called Native Shamrock in Tasmania.

<hw>Shanghai</hw>, n. a catapult. Some say because used against Chinamen. The reason seems inadequate.

"The lads had with them a couple of pistols, powder, shot, bullets, and a shanghai."

"The shanghai, which, as a secret instrument of mischief, is only less dangerous than the air-gun."

"Rolls any cask, beats any carpet, flies any kite, uses any bows and arrows, or catapult, or shanghai, or plays at any game to the annoyance of any person in any public place."

"The magistrate who presided on the Carlton bench yesterday, has a decided objection to the use of shanghais, and in dealing with three little boys, the eldest of whom was but eleven or twelve years of age, charged with the use of these weapons in the Prince's Park, denounced their conduct in very strong terms. He said that he looked upon this crime as one of the worst that a lad could be guilty of, and if he had his own way in the matter he would order each of them to be lashed."

"Wood swallows are somewhat sluggish and slow in their flight, and thus fall an easy prey to either the gun or the murderous and detestable `shanghai.'"

"His parents . . . residing little more than a Shanghai-shot from Romeo Lane, Melbourne."

<hw>Shanty</hw>, n. (1) a hastily erected wooden house; (2) a public-house, especially unlicensed: a sly-grog shop. The word is by origin Keltic (Irish). In the first sense, its use is Canadian or American; in the last, Australian. In Barrere and Leland it is said that circus and showmen always call a public-house a shanty.

"The faint glimmering light which indicates the proximity of the grog shanty is hailed with delight."

"I have seen a sober man driven perfectly mad for the time being, by two glasses of so-called rum, supplied to him at one of these shanties."

"Any attempt to limit the licensing produced . . . a crop of shanties, or sly-grog shops."

"The old woman thought that we were on gold, and would lamb down at the finish in her shanty."

<hw>Shark</hw>, n. Some of the Australasian species are identical with those of Europe. Varieties and names which differ are—

Port Jackson S. (q.v.)— Heterodontus phillipii, Lacep.; called also the Shell-grinder.

School S. (N.S.W.)— Galeus australis, Macl.; called also Tope (q.v.).

Shovel-nosed S. (N.S.W.)— Rhinobatus granulatus, Cuv.; also called the Blind-Shark, or Sand-Shark.

White S.— Carcharodon rondeletii, Mull. and Heule; called also the White-Pointer.

"It was the habit afterwards among the seven to say that the officers of the Eliza Jane had been indulging in shearer's joy."

<hw>Shed</hw>, n. The word generally signifies the Woolshed (q.v.). A large, substantial, and often expensive building.

"There's 20 hungry beggars wild for any job this year,
An' 50 might be at the shed while I am lyin' here."

"There is a substantial and comfortable homestead, and ample shed accommodation."

<hw>Sheep-pest</hw>, n. a common Australian weed, Acama ovina, Cunn., N.O. Rosaceae, found in all the colonies; so called because its fruit adheres by hooked spines to the wool of sheep.

<hw>Sheep-sick</hw>, n. Used of pastures exhausted for carrying sheep. Compare English screw-sick, paint-sick, nail-sick, wheat-sick, etc.

"It is the opinion of many practical men that certain country to which severe losses have occurred in recent years has been too long carrying sheep, and that the land has become what is termed `sheep sick,' and from this point of view it certainly appears that a course of better management is most desirable."

<hw>Sheep-wash</hw> (used as verb), to wash sheep. The word is also used as a noun, in its ordinary English senses of (1) a lotion for washing sheep; (2) the washing of sheep preparatory to shearing: (3) the place where the sheep are washed, also called the `sheep-dip.'

<hw>Sheldrake</hw>, or <hw>Shieldrake</hw>, n. the common English name of ducks of the genera Tadorna and Casarca. The Australian species are—Casarca tadornoides Jard., commonly called the Mountain Duck; and the White-headed S., Tadorna radjah, Garnot.

<hw>Shell-grinder</hw>, n. another name for the Port-Jackson Shark (q.v.).

<hw>She-Oak</hw>, n. (1) A tree of the genus Casuarina (q.v.). The timber, which is very hard and makes good fuel, was thought to resemble oak. See Oak, and quotation from Captain Cook. The prefix she is used in Australia to indicate an inferiority of timber in respect of texture, colour, or other character; e.g. She-beech, She-pine. The reason for He-oak is given in quotation 1835. Bull-oak, Marsh-oak, Swamp-oak, were invented to represent variations of the Casuarina. Except in its timber, the She-oak is not in the least like an oak-tree (Quercus). The spelling in quotation 1792 makes for this simple explanation, which, like that of Beef-eater in English, and Mopoke in Austral-English, was too simple; and other spellings, e.g. Shea-oak, were introduced, to suggest a different etymology. Shiak (quotation, 1853) seems to claim an aboriginal origin (more directly claimed, quotation, 1895), but no such aboriginal word is found in the vocabularies. In quotations 1835, 1859, a different origin is assigned, and a private correspondent, whose father was one of the first to be born of English parents in New South Wales, says that English officers who had served in Canada had named the tree after one that they had known there. A higher authority, Sir Joseph D. Hooker (see quotation, 1860), says, "I believe adapted from the North-American Sheack." This origin, if true,is very interesting; but Sir Joseph Hooker, in a letter dated Jan. 26, 1897, writes that his authority was Mr. Gunn (see quotation, 1835). That writer, however, it will be seen, only puts "is said to be." To prove the American origin, we must find the American tree. It is not in the `Century,' nor in the large `Webster,' nor in `Funk and Wagnall's Standard,' nor in either of two dictionaries of Americanisms. Dr. Dawson, director of the Geological Survey of Canada, who is thoroughly acquainted with Indian folk-lore and languages, and Mr. Fowler, Professor of Botany in Queen's University, Kingston, say that there is no such Indian word.

2792. G. Thompson, in `Historical Records of New South Wales,' vol. ii. (1893) p. 799:

"There are two kinds of oak, called the he and the she oak, but not to be compared with English oak, and a kind of pine and mahogany, so heavy that scarce either of them will swim."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 166 (Bass' diary at Port Dalrymple, Tasmania, Nov. 1798):

"Casuarina torulosa, the she-oak. The young fruit and young shoots afford an agreeable acid by chewing, which allays thirst."

1835. Ross, `Hobart-town Almanack,' p. 75 [Article said by Sir Joseph Hooker (Jan. 26, 1897) to be by Mr. Ronald Gunn]:

"Casuarina torulosa? She-oak. C. stricta? He-oak. C. tenuissima? Marsh-oak. The name of the first of these is said to be a corruption of Sheac, the name of an American tree, producing the beef wood, like our Sheoak. The second species has obtained the name of He-oak in contradistinction of She-oak, as if they constituted one dioecious plant, the one male and the other female, whereas they are perfectly distinct species."

"The Shea-oak (a corruption of sheak, the native name for this, or a similar tree, in Van Diemen's Land) is used chiefly for shingles."

"Then to cut down the timber, gum, box, she-oak, and wattle-trees, was an Herculean task."

"They are generally a variety of Casuarinae, commonly called she-oak by the colonists, and the sighing of the wind among the sail-needle-like leaves, that constitute their vegetation, produces a melancholy sound."

"Most of the trees of this colony owe their names to the sawyers who first tested their qualities; and who were guided by the colour and character of the wood, knowing and caring nothing about botanical relations. Thus the swamp-oak and she-oak have rather the exterior of the larch than any quercine aspect."

"Trees of a peculiar character—the Casuarinas or Shiacks— part of which, with their more rigid and outstretched branches, resemble pine-trees, and others, with theirs drooping gracefully, resembling large trees of bloom."

"The trees forming the most interesting groups were the Casuarina torulosa, she-oak, and C. stricta, he-oak. . . . The name of the first is said to have been derived from `sheeac,' the name of an American tree producing the beef-wood like our she-oak. C. stricta, or he-oak, has been named in contradistinction to the sexes, as if they constituted one dioecious plant, whereas they are two perfectly distinct species."

1860. J. D. Hooker, `Botany of the Antarctic Voyage,' part iii. [Flora Tasmaniae], p. 348:

"Casuarina suberosa. This is an erect species, growing 15 feet high. . . It is well known as the `He-oak,' in contradistinction to the C. quadrivalvis, or `She-oak,' a name, I believe, adapted from the North American `Sheack' though more nearly allied botanically to the Northern Oaks than any Tasmanian genus except Fagus, they have nothing to do with that genus in habit or appearance, nor with the Canadian `Sheack.'"

"Within the last mile or two we have passed a few patches of Shea-oak, growing large, having a very rough and thick bark, nearly black. They have a dismal appearance."

"Even Batman's hill, the memorial of his ancient encampment, has been levelled; and the she-oaks upon that grassy mound no longer sigh in the breeze a dirge for the hero of exploration."

"The she-oak trees, of which there are large quantities in the sandy soil of the salt-bush country, proved very serviceable during the late drought. Some of the settlers caused thousands of she-oaks to be stripped of their boughs, and it was a sight to see some of the famishing cattle rushing after the men who were employed in thus supplying the poor animals with the means of sustaining life. The cattle ate the boughs and the bark with the greatest avidity, and the bushman's axe as it felled the she-oak was music to their ears."

"The process followed by the Australian colonists when they converted a native word for the Casuarina trees into `she-oak.'"

"The creek went down with a broken song,
'Neath the she-oaks high;
The waters carried the song along,
And the oaks a sigh."

"Their drivers had completed their regulation half-score of `long-sleevers' of `she-oak.'"

"Then have a glass of beer—it's only she-oak, but there's nothing wrong about it."

<hw>She-Oak nets</hw>, nets placed on each side of a gangway from a ship to the pier, to prevent sailors who have been indulging in she-oak (beer) falling into the water.

<hw>Shepherd</hw>, v. (1) to guard a mining claim and do a little work on it, so as to preserve legal rights.

"Few of their claims however are actually `bottomed,' for the owners merely watch their more active contemporaries."

(2) By transference from (1). To follow or hang about a person in the hopes of getting something out of him. Compare similar use of shadow.

"The robbers knowing he had so much coin about him, determined to shepherd him till an opportunity occurred of robbery with impunity."

"The term `jumper,' being one of reproach, brought quite a yell from the supporters of the motion. Dr. Quick retorted with a declaration that the Grand Junction Company were all `shepherds,' and that `shepherds' are the worse of the two classes. The `jumpers' sat in one gallery and certain representatives or deputy `shepherds' in the other. Names are deceitful. . . . The Maldon jumpers were headed by quite a venerable gentleman, whom no one could suspect of violent exercise nor of regrettable designs upon the properties of his neighbours. And the shepherds in the other gallery, instead of being light-hearted beings with pipes and crooks—a la Watteau and Pope—looked unutterable things at the individuals who had cast sheep's eyes on their holding."

<hw>Shicer</hw>, n. (1) An unproductive claim or mine: a duffer. From the German scheissen.

"Mr. Howard asked whether the member for Collingwood knew the meaning of the word `shicer.' Mr. Don replied in the affirmative. He was not an exquisite, like the hon. member (laughter), and he had worked on the goldfields, and he had always understood a shicer to be a hole with no gold."

"There are plenty of creeks in this country that have only so far been scratched—a hole sunk here and there and abandoned. No luck, no perseverance; and so the place has been set down as a duffer, or, as the old diggers' more expressive term had it, a `shicer.'"

(2) Slang. By transference from (1). A man who does not pay his debts of honour.

"When a man gets behindhand with his creditors in Hobart Town, and rusticates in the country in order to avoid the unseasonable calls of the Sheriff's little gentleman, that delights to stand at a corner where four streets meet, so as the better to watch the motions of his prey, he is said to be shingle-splitting."

<hw>Shout</hw>, v. to stand treat. (1) Of drink. (2) By transference, of other things. The successful digger used to call passers-by to drink at his expense. The origin may also be from noisy bar-rooms, or crowded bar-parlours, where the man who was to pay for the liquor or refreshment called or shouted for the waiter or barman. When many men drink together the waiter of course looks for payment from the man who first calls or shouts out for him to give him the order. Or is "pay the shout" a variant of "pay the shot," or tavern reckoning? In its first sense the word has reached the United States, and is freely employed there.

"Gentlemen required a great deal of attendance, did not `shout' (the slang term for ordering grog) every quarter of an hour, and therefore spent comparatively nothing."

"This `shouting,' as `treating' is termed in the colonies, is the curse of the Northern goldfields. If you buy a horse you must shout, the vendor must shout, and the bystanders who have been shouted to [more usual, for] must shout in their turn."

1885. D. Sladen, `In Cornwall, etc.,' p. 156 [Title, `The Sigh of the Shouter']:

"Drinking is quite a common practice, and what is familiarly known as `shouting' was at one time almost universal, though of late years this peculiarly dangerous evil has been considerably diminished in extent. To `shout' in a public-house means to insist on everybody present, friends and strangers alike, drinking at the shouter's expense, and as no member of the party will allow himself to be outdone in this reckless sort of hospitality, each one `shouts' in succession, with the result that before long they are all overcome by intoxication."

"Some heavy drinking is indulged in through the `shouting' system, which is the rule."

"To insist on `shouting' Ruth a penny chair overlooking the ornamental water in St. James's Park."

"Two lucky diggers laid a wager which of them should treat the assembled company with the largest shout.'"

<hw>Shoveller</hw>, n. the English name for the duck Spatula clypeata, Linn., a species also present in Australia. The other Australian species is Spatula rhynchotis, Lath., also called Blue-wing.

<hw>Shovel-nose</hw>, n. a New South Wales species of Ray-fish, Rhinobatus bougainvillei, Cuv.; called also the Blind Shark, and Sand Shark. In the Northern Hemisphere, the name is given to three different sharks and a sturgeon.

<hw>Shrike</hw>, n. a bird-name, generally used in Australia in composition. See Crow-Shrike, Cuckoo-Shrike, Shrike-Robin, Shrike-Thrush, and Shrike-Tit.

<hw>Shrike-Robin</hw>, n. a genus of Australasian Shrikes, Eopsaltria (q.v.). The species are—

1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 447:

<hw>Shrike-Thrush</hw>, n. a genus of Australasian Shrikes, Collyriocincla (q.v.). The species are—

Grey S.-T.— C. harmonica, Lath.; called also Port Jackson Thrush (q.v.).

Whistling S.-T.— C. rectirostris, Jard. and Selb.; see Duke Willy.

"With gathering shadows the spotted thrush of England gives forth from the top-most pine branch his full and varied notes; notes which no Australian bird can challenge, not even the shrike-thrush on the hill side, piping hard to rival his song every bright spring morning."

<hw>Shrike-Tit</hw>, n. a genus of Australian Shrikes, Falcunculus (q.v.). The species are—Falcunculus frontatus, Lath.; White-bellied S.-T., F. leucogaster, Gould.

"Shrike-tit. [Close season.] From the 1st day of August to the 10th day of December next following in each year."

<hw>Shrimp</hw>, n. The only true shrimp (Crangon) which Australian waters are known to possess is found in the Gulf of St. Vincent, South Australia. (Tenison-Woods.) In Tasmania, the Prawn (Penoeus spp.) is called a Shrimp.

"The prawn (Penoeus sp.), locally known among fishermen as the shrimp, abounds all around our coasts."

<hw>Signed Servant</hw>, n. obsolete contraction for Assigned Servant (q.v.).

<hw>Silky-Oak</hw>, n. a tree, often tall, Grevillea robusta, Cunn., N.O. Proteaceae, producing a useful timber in demand for various purposes. See Grevillea, Maple, and Oak.

<hw>Silver</hw>, or <hw>Silver-fish</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Caranx georgianus, Cuv. and Val., family Carangidae, the White or Silver Trevally. See Trevally.

"To convey anything like a correct idea of this extremely beautiful fish, it should be `laid in' with a ground of burnished silver, and the delicate tints added. The skin is scaleless, and like satin, embossed all over in little raised freckles, and with symmetrical dark lines, resembling the veining of a leaf. In quality they are a good deal like mullet."

<hw>Silver-Belly</hw>, n. name given (1) in New South Wales, to the fish Silver-Bream (q.v.); (2) in Tasmania, to various species of Atherinidae.

<hw>Silver-Bream</hw>, or <hw>White-Bream</hw>, n. a New South Wales fish, Gerres ovatus, Gunth., family Percidae; also called Silver-Belly (q.v.). For another use, see Trevally.

"Mr. Hill, in the series of essays already referred to, speaks of a silver-bream or white-bream. It is probable he refers to Gerres ovatus, a common fish of very compressed form, and very protractile mouth. They probably never enter fresh-water. . . . It is necessary to cook the silver-belly, as it is often called, perfectly fresh."

<hw>Silver-Eye</hw>, n. a bird-name. Same as Wax-eye, White-eye, or Blight-bird (q.v.).

"Zosterops caerulescens, Lath. I have myself arrived at the conclusion that the Silver-eye, although identical with the Australian bird, is in reality an indigenous species."

1888. James Thomas, `To a Silver Eye:' `Australian Poets 1788-1888' (edition Sladen), p. 550:

"Thou merry little silver-eye,
In yonder trailing vine,
I, passing by this morning, spied
That ivy-built nest of thine."

<hw>Silver Jew-fish</hw>, n. a New South Wales name for the young of the fish called Teraglin, or of the true Jew-fish (q.v.); it is uncertain which.

<hw>Silver-Perch</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish, i.q. Bidyan Ruffe (q.v.).

<hw>Silver-tail</hw>, n. a bush term for a "swell": a man who goes to the manager's house, not to the men's hut. See Hut.

"A select circle of long-limbed members of those upper circles who belong to the genus termed in Australian parlance `silver-tailed,' in distinction to the `copper-tailed' democratic classes."

<hw>Sittella</hw>, n. an Australian genus of small creeping-birds, called also Tree-Runners (q.v.). Sittella is the Latin diminutive of sitta, which is from the Greek sittae, a woodpecker, whose habits the Tree-runners or Sittellae have. Gould's enumeration of the species is given in quotation.

"Sittella chrysoptera, Orange-winged Sittella; S. leucocephala, Gould, White-headed S.; S. leucoptera,Gould, White-winged S.; S. pileata, Gould, Black-capped S.; S. tenuirostris, Gould, Slender-billed S.

"Sittellas. [Close season.] From the first day of August to the 10th day of December next following in each year."

"Four species of Sitilla [sic] which, except that they do not lay their eggs in hollow trees, bear some resemblance to our nuthatch."

<hw>Skate</hw>, n. The New Zealand fish called a Skate is Raja nasuta, a different species of the same genus as the European Skate.

<hw>Skipjack</hw>, or <hw>Skipjack-Pike</hw>, n. This fish, Temnodon saltator, Cuv. and Val., is the same as the British and American fish of that name. It is called Tailor (q.v.) in Sydney. The name Skipjack used also to be given by the whalers to the Australian fish Trevally (q.v.).

"It is quoted by Richardson that this fish [trevally], which he says is the Skipjack of the sealers, used to be a staple article of food with the natives."

<hw>Skirting</hw>, n. generally used in the plural. In sheep-shearing, the inferior parts of the wool taken from the extremities.

"At the `skirting-table' we will stand for a little while, and watch while the fleece just brought in is opened out by the `roller,' and the inferior portions removed."

<hw>Skullbanker</hw>, or <hw>Scowbanker</hw>, n. a slang name in Australia for a loafer, a tramp.

"A skull-banker is a species of the genus loafer—half highwayman, half beggar. He is a haunter of stations, and lives on the squatters, amongst whom he makes a circuit, affecting to seek work and determining not to find it."

<hw>Slab</hw>, n. In English, the word slab, as applied to timber, means "an outside piece taken from a log in sawing it into boards, planks, etc." (`Webster.') In Australia, the word is very common, and denotes a piece of timber, two or three inches thick a coarse plank, axe-hewn, not sawn. Used for the walls of rough houses.

"The house in which this modern Robinson Crusoe dwelt was what is called a Slab Hut, formed of rough boards and thatched with grass."

<hw>Slab</hw>, v. tr. mining term: to keep up the sides of a shaft with timber slabs.

<hw>Slip-rail</hw>, n. part of a fence so fitted that it can be removed so as to serve as a gate. Used also for the gateway thus formed. Generally in the plural. Same as Slip- panel.

"He [a horse] would let down the slip-rails when shut into the stockyard, even if they were pegged, drawing the pegs out with his teeth."

1891. Canon Goodman, `Church in Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 98:

"Some careless person had neglected to replace the slip-rails of the paddock into which his horses had been turned the previous evening."

"Then loudly she screamed: it was only to drown
The treacherous clatter of slip-rails let down."

<hw>Sloth, Native</hw>, i.q. Native Bear. See Bear, and Koala.

<hw>Slusher</hw>, or <hw>Slushy</hw>, n. cook's assistant at shearing-time on a station.

"`Sundays are the most trying days of all,' say the cuisiniers, `for then they have nothing to do but to growl.' This man's assistant is called `the slusher.'

"The tarboy, the cook, and the slushy,
the sweeper that swept the board,
The picker-up, and the penner, with the rest of the
shearing horde."

"He employs as many `slushies' as he thinks necessary, paying them generally L1 per week."

<hw>Slush-lamp</hw>, n. a lamp made by filling an old tin with fat and putting a rag in for wick. The word, though not exclusively Australian, is more common in the Australian bush than elsewhere. Compare English slush-horn, horn for holding grease; slush-pot, pot for holding grease, etc.

"Occasionally the men will give Christy Minstrel concerts, when they illuminate the wool-shed with slush-lamps, and invite all on the station."

<hw>Smelt</hw>, n. name given, in Melbourne, to the fish Clupea vittata, Castln., family Clupeidae, or Herrings (q.v.); in New Zealand and Tasmania, to Retropinna richardsonii, Gill, family Salmonidae. Its young are called Whitebait (q.v.). The Derwent Smelt is a Tasmanian fish, Haplochiton sealii, family Haplochitonidae, fishes with an adipose fin which represent the salmonoids in the Southern Hemisphere; Prototroctes is the only other genus of the family known (see Grayling). Haplochiton is also found in the cold latitudes of South America.

<hw>Sminthopsis</hw>, n. the scientific name for the genus of Narrow-footed Pouched Mice, which, like the English field-mice, are entirely terrestrial in their habits. See Pouched Mouse. In Homer's' Iliad,' Bk. I. ver. 39, Smintheus is an epithet of Apollo. It is explained as "mouse-killer," from sminthos, a field-mouse, said to be a Cretan word.

"He said to the larrikins, `You have done for him now; you have killed him.' `What!' said one of them, `do not say we were here. Let us smoke.' `Smoke,' it may be explained, is the slang for the `push' to get away as fast as possible."

"Snaileys and poleys, old and young, coarse and fine, they were a mixed herd in every sense."

<hw>Snake</hw>, n. The Australian land snakes belong principally to the four families, Typhlopidae, Boidae, Colubridae, and Elapidae. The proportion of venomous to non-venomous species increases from north to south, the five species known in Tasmania being all venomous. The smallest forms, such as the "blind" or "worm" snakes, are only a few inches in length, while the largest Python may reach a length of perhaps eighteen feet.

Various popular names have been given to different species in different colonies, the same name being unfortunately not infrequently applied to quite distinct species. The more common forms are as follows:—

Name applied in Australia to Pseudechis porphyriacus, Shaw, which is more common in the warmer parts, and comparatively rare in the south of Victoria, and not found in Tasmania. In the latter the name is sometimes given to dark-coloured varieties of Hoplocephalus curtus, and in Victoria to those of H. superbus. The characteristic colour is black or black-brown above and reddish beneath, but it can be at once distinguished from specimens of H. superbus, which not infrequently have this colour, by the presence of a double series of plates at the hinder end, and a single series at the anterior end of the tail, whereas in the other species named there is only a single row along the whole length of the tail underneath.

1799. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales' (edition 1802), vol. ii. p. 189 [Bass Diary at the Derwent, Tasmania]:

"The most formidable among the reptiles was the black snake with venomous fangs."

[This refers to some species of Hoplocephalus, and not to the
Australian Black Snake, which does not occur in Tasmania.]

Name applied to Vermicella annulata, Gray, the characteristic colouration of which consists of a series of alternating dark and light rings. It is found especially in the dry, warmer parts of the interior.

Name given to three species of the genus Diemenia— (1) the Common Brown Snake, D. superciliosa, Fischer; (2) the small-scaled Brown Snake, D. microlepidota, McCoy; and (3) the shield-fronted Brown Snake, D. aspidorhyncha, McCoy. All are venomous, and the commonest is the first, which is usually known as the Brown Snake.

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 71:

"The most abundant of these are the tiger snake, Hoplocephalus curtus, the most widespread, active, and dangerous of them all: the brown snake, Diemenia superciliosa, pretty generally distributed."

Name applied in Australia to Python variegata, Gray, a non-venomous snake reaching a length of ten feet. The name has reference to the carpet-like pattern on the scales. The animal crushes its prey to death, and can hang from branches by means of its prehensile tail. In Tasmania, the name is unfortunately applied to a venomous snake, Hoplocephalus curtus, Schlegel.

"The pattern has some resemblance to some of the commoner sorts of Kidderminster carpets, as suggested by the popular name of Carpet Snake . . . the name . . . is, unfortunately, applied to the poisonous Tiger Snake in Tasmania, producing some confusion."

"One of the snakes most common is the Australian python (Morelia variegata), the largest snake found in Australia, which here in Northern Queensland may even attain a length of more than twenty feet."

Name applied in Australia to Hoplocephalus superbus, Gunth., a venomous snake which is very common in Tasmania, where it is often called the Diamond Snake (q.v.). In Victoria, it is often confused with the Black Snake; unlike the latter, it is more common in the south than in the north. It derives its popular name from the colour of the head.

1885. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Decade i. pl. 2:

"In Tasmania the name Diamond snake is unfortunately given to this species, for that name properly belongs to a perfectly harmless snake of New South Wales, so that the numerous experiments made in Tasmania to test the value of some pretended antidotes, were supposed in London to have been made with the true Diamond snake, instead of, as was the case, with this very poisonous kind. . . . I have adopted the popular name `copperhead' for this snake from a well-known vendor of a supposed antidote for snake-bites."

"Those heather lands round Caulfield and Oakleigh where the copperhead snake basks, coiled on the warm silver sand."

An Australian snake, Acanthophis antarctica. It is usually found in hot sandy districts, and is supposed to be the most venomous of the Australian snakes. Large specimens reach a length of upwards of three feet, the body having a diameter of about two inches: at the end of the tail is a short spine popularly known as the animal's "sting."

"The popular name seems to be indifferently Death Adder or Deaf Adder. The harmless horny spine at the end of the tail is its most dangerous weapon, in the popular belief."

Name applied in New South Wales and Queensland to Python spilotes, Lacep., a non-venomous snake reaching a large size. In Tasmania the same name is given to Hoplocephalus superbus, Gray, a venomous snake more properly called the Copperhead Snake.

"Diamond snakes are found in almost every kind of country that offers them sufficient shelter."

"As a rule, diamond snakes have almost every scale of the body marked with a yellow spot in the centre. . . . The abdominal plates are yellow, and more or less blotched with black, and many species . . . have a number of diamond-shaped yellow spots upon the body, formed by a few of the lighter scales, and hence their name has probably arisen."

Name given, owing to its colour, to the commonest Australian tree-snake, Dendrophis punctulata, Gray. It is a non-venomous form, feeding on frogs, young birds, and eggs, and rarely exceeds the length of six feet.

"Young and half grown Tree Snakes are olive-green above and light brown below . . . when angry, the body of this serpent expands in a vertical direction, whilst all venomous snakes flatten their necks horizontally. The green Tree snake, in a state of excitement is strongly suggestive of one of the popular toys of childhood."

Name applied to a small venomous species of snake, Hoplocephalus flagellum, McCoy. Common in parts of Victoria, but not exceeding a foot in length.

"A whip-snake . . . reared itself upon its lithe body, and made a dart at Barrington's arm."

Name applied in Australia and Tasmania to Hoplocephalus curtus, Schlegel, but this species is often also known in the latter as the Carpet Snake (q.v.). The popular name is derived from the cross-banded colouring along the body, and also from its activity. It varies much in colour from a dark olive green to a light yellowish brown, the darker cross bands being sometimes almost indistinguishable. It may reach a length of four feet, and is viviparous, producing about thirty young ones in January or February.

"On Tuesday a tiger-snake was seen opposite the door of the
Sandridge police court."

"This species, which goes under the colonial name in Victoria of Tiger snake, from its tawny cross banded colouring and ferocity, is well known to frequently inflict bites rapidly fatal to men and dogs. . . . In Tasmania this is popularly called `Carpet snake,' a name which properly belongs to the harmless snake so called on the mainland."

"Furina bicuculata (McCoy). The Two-hooded Furina-snake. . . . This rare and beautiful little snake is a clear example of the genus Furina."

Name given to a small venomous species of whip-snake, Hoplocephalus coronoides, Gunth., found in Tasmania and Victoria, and reaching a length of about eighteen inches.

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 71:

Name given to various species of the genus Typhlops, comprising small, non-venomous, smooth, round-bodied snakes, which burrow in warm sandy soil, and feed upon insects such as ants. The eyes are covered over by translucent plates, and the tail scarcely tapering at all, and sometimes having two black spots, gives the animal the appearance of having a head at each end. The commoner forms are the Blackish Worm-Snake (Typhlops nigrescens, Gray), and Schlegel's Worm-Snake (T. polygrammicus, Schlegel).

"The `Blackish Worm snake' is not uncommon in the northern warmer parts of the colony. . . . These worm snakes are perfectly harmless, although, like the Slow-Worms and their allies in other countries, they are popularly supposed to be very poisonous."

<hw>Sneeze-weed</hw>, Myriogyne minuta, Less., Cotula or Centipeda cunninghamii, De C., and many other botanical synonyms. A valuable specific for Sandy-Blight (q.v.).

"The Sneeze-weed (Cotula or Centipeda Cunninghamii). A dwarf, erect, odorous herb . . . can be converted into snuff."

"Dr. Jockel is, I believe, the first medical man in Australia who has proved the value of Myriogyne in a case of ophthalmia. This weed, growing as it does on the banks of rivers and creeks, and in moist places,, is common in all the Australian colonies and Tasmania, and it may be regarded as almost co-extensive with the disease it is designed to relieve."

<hw>Snipe</hw>, n. The species of Snipe known in Australia are—Scolopax australis, Lath.; Painted S., Rhynchaea australis, Gould. This bird breeds in Japan and winters in Australia. The name is also used as in the quotation.

"Along the shore are flocks of a species of bird which some sportsmen and the game-sellers in the city are pleased to call snipe. They are probably tringa, a branch of the sea-plover family."

<hw>Snook</hw>, n. The name is applied in the Old World to various fishes, including the Garfish (q.v.). At the Cape of Good Hope, it is applied to Thyrsites atun, Cuv. and Val., and this name for the same fish has extended to New Zealand, where (as in all the other colonies) it is more generally called the Barracouta (q.v.). Under the word Cavally, `O.E.D.' quotes—

Snook is an old name, but it is doubtful whether it is used in the Old World for the same fish. Castelnau says it is the snook of the Cape of Good Hope.

1872. Hutton and Hector, `Fishes of New Zealand,' p. 14, under `Thyrsites Atun, Barracoota':

"Th. atun from the Cape of Good Hope, South Australia, New Zealand, and Chili, is preserved, pickled or smoked. In New Zealand it is called `barracuda' or `snoek,' and exported from the colony into Mauritius and Batavia as a regular article of commerce."

<hw>Snowberry</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Wax-cluster (q.v.).

<hw>Snow-Grass</hw>, n. Poa caespitosa, G. Forst., another name for Wiry grass (q.v.). See also Grass.

<hw>Snow-line</hw>, n. In pastoralists' language of New Zealand, "above the snow-line" is land covered by snow in winter, but free in summer.

<hw>Soak</hw>, or <hw>Soakage</hw>, n. a Western and Central Australian term. See quotation.

"`Inquirer.'—The term soak in Western Australia, as used on maps and plans, signifies a depression holding moisture after rain. It is also given to damp or swampy spots round the base of granite rocks. Wells sunk on soaks yield water for some time after rain. All soaks are of a temporary character."

<hw>Soak-hole</hw>, n. an enclosed place in a stream in which sheep are washed.

"Parallel poles, resting on forks driven into the bed of the water-hole, were run out on the surface of the stream, forming square soak-holes, a long, narrow lane leading to the dry land."

<hw>Soldier</hw>, or <hw>Soldier-Ant</hw>, n. "one of that section of a colony of some kinds of ants which does the fighting, takes slaves, etc." (`Century Dict.') In Australia, the large red ants are called Soldier-Ants. Compare Bulldog-Ant.

"It was a red ant, upwards of an inch in length—`that's a soldier, and he prods hard too.'"

"The pain caused by a wound from this grass-seed is exactly like that from the bite of a soldier-ant."

<hw>Soldier-bird</hw>, or <hw>Poor Soldier</hw>, or <hw>Old-Soldier bird</hw>, n. another name for the Friar-bird (q.v.).

"The notes peculiar to the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, or platypus, wattle-bird, and leather-head, or old soldier bird, added in no small degree to the novelties. . . . The wattle-bird has been not inaptly termed the `what's o'clock,'—the leather-head the `stop where-you-are.'"

[Mr. Bunce's observations are curiously confused. The `Soldier-bird' is also called `Four o'clock,' but it is difficult to say what `wattle bird' is called `what's o'clock'; the `notes' of the platypus must be indeed `peculiar.']

1896. Mrs. Langloh Parker, `Australian Legendary Tales,' p. 108 [Title of Tale]:

<hw>Sole</hw>, n. The name is given to various Australian fishes. In Sydney, to Synaptura nigra, Macl.; in Melbourne, to Rhombosolea bassensis, Castln.; in New Zealand, to Rhombosolea monopus, Gunth., and Peltorhamphus novae-zelandiae, Gunth.; in Tasmania, to Ammotretis rostratus, Gunth., family Pleuronectidae. Rhombosolea monopus is called the Flounder, in Tasmania. See also Lemon-Sole.

<hw>Solomon's</hw> Seal, n. Not the Old World plant, which is of the genus Polygonatum, but the Tasmanian name for Drymophila cyanocarpa, R. Br., N.O. Liliacea; also called Turquoise Berry.

<hw>Sonny</hw>, n. a common nominative of address to any little boy. In Australia, the word is not infrequently pronounced as in the quotation. The form of the word came from America.

"But maybe you're only a Johnnie,
And don't know a horse from a hoe?
Weel, weel, don't get angry, my Sonny,
But, really, a young `un should know."

<hw>Sool</hw>, v. Used colloquially—(1) to excite a dog or set him on; (2) to worry, as of a dog. Common in the phrase "Sool him, boy!" Shakspeare uses "tarre him on" in the first sense.

"And like a dog that is compelled to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on."

"She went quickly towards her camp, calling softly, `Birree gougou,' which meant `Sool 'em, sool 'em,' and was the signal for the dogs to come out."

<hw>South Australia</hw>, n. the name of a colony, established in 1836, with Adelaide as its capital. It is not a good name, for it is not the most southerly colony, and the "Northern Territory" forms a part of South Australia. Central Australia would be a better name, but not wholly satisfactory, for by Central Australia is now meant the central part of the colony of South Australia. The name Centralia has been proposed as a change.

<hw>Southern Cross</hw>, n. The constellation of the Southern Cross is of course visible in places farther north than Australia, but it has come to be regarded as the astronomical emblem of Australasia; e.g. the phrase "beneath the Southern Cross " is common for "in Australia or New Zealand."

"The southern cross is a very great delusion. It isn't a cross. It is a kite, a kite upside down, an irregular kite upside down, with only three respectable stars and one very poor and very much out of place. Near it, however, is a truly mysterious and interesting object called the coal sack: it is a black patch in the sky distinctly darker than all the rest of the heavens. No star shines through it. The proper name for it is the black Magellan cloud."

<hw>Spade-press</hw>, n. a make-shift wool-press in which the fleeces are rammed down with a spade.

"The spade-press—that friendly adjunct of the pioneer squatter's humble wool-shed."

<hw>Spaniard</hw>, n. a prickly bushy grass of New Zealand, Aciphylla colensoi.

"The country through which I have passed has been most savage, one mass of Spaniards."

"Groves of large specimens of Discaria toumatoo, the Wild Irishman of the settlers, formed with the gigantic Aciphylla Colensoi, the Spaniard or Bayonet-grass, an often impenetrable thicket."

"The Spaniard (spear-grass or bayonet-grass) `piked us intil the bane,' and I assure you we were hard set to make any headway at all."

"The least touch of this green bayonet draws blood, and a fall into a Spaniard is a thing to be remembered all one's life."

"Carefully avoiding contact with the long-armed leaves of Spaniards (Aciphylla), which here attain the larger dimensions, carrying flower-spikes up to six feet long."

"Here were rats which lived under the dead leaves of the prickly `Spaniard,' and possibly fed on the roots. The Spaniard leaves forked into stiff upright fingers about 1 in. wide, ending in an exceedingly stiff pricking point."

<hw>Spear-grass</hw>, n. name given to several grasses whose spear-like seeds spoil the wool of sheep, but which are yet excellent forage plants. They are—(1) all the species of Stipa; (2) Heteropogon contortus, Roem. and Schult., and others (see quotations); (3) and in New Zealand, one or two plants of the umbelliferous genus Aciphylla; also called Spaniard (q.v.).

"Very disagreeable, however, was the abundance of burr and of a spear-grass (Aristida)."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 463 [Note]:

"On the south coast there is a grass seed which has similar properties. The seeds are sharp and covered with fine barbs, and once they penetrate the skin they will work their way onwards. They catch in the wool of sheep, and in a short time reach the intestines. Very often I have been shown the omentum of a dead sheep where the grass seeds were projecting like a pavement of pegs. The settlers call it spear-grass, and it is, I believe, a species of Anthistiria."

"Heteropogon contortus, Spear Grass. A splendid grass for a cattle-run, as it produces a great amount of feed, but is dreaded by the sheep-owner on account of its spear-like seeds."

"A nocuous kind of grass, namely the dreaded spear-grass (Andropogon contortus), which grows on the coast, and which rendered sheep-raising impossible."

<hw>Spearwood</hw>, the wood of three trees so called, because the aborigines made their spears from it—Acacia doratoxylon, A. Cunn., A. homalophylla, A. Cunn., both N.O. Leguminosae; and Eucalyptus doratoxylon, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Speedwell, Native</hw>, n. The English Speedwell is a Veronica. There is a Tasmanian species, Veronica formosa, R. Br., N.O. Scrophulariaceae.

<hw>Spell</hw>, n. In England, a turn at work or duty; in Australasia, always a period of rest from duty. It is quite possible that etymologically Spell is connected with Ger. spielen, in which case the Australasian use is the more correct. See `Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.'

"He `spelled' upon the ground; a hollow gum
Bore up his ample back and bade him rest;
And creaked no warning when he sat upon
A war-ant's nest."

"There's a hundred and fifty stock-horses there, spelling for next winter's work."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 48:

"We camped beside a water-pool containing plenty of fish, and here we spelled for a day to allow some of us to go on and photograph Chamber's Pillar."

<hw>Sphenura</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian birds called the Bristle-Birds (q.v.). From Grk. sphaen, "a wedge," and 'oura, "a tail." The name was given by Sir Frederick McCoy.

<hw>Spider-Orchis</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the Orchid Caladenia pulcherrima, F. v. M.

<hw>Spinach, Australian</hw>, n. name applied to species of Chenopodium, N.O. Salsolaceae; called also Fat-hen. The name is also applied to various wild pot herbs.

<hw>Spinach, New Zealand</hw>, n. Tetragonia expansa, Murr., N.O. Ficoideae; called also Iceplant, in Tasmania. It is a trailing Fig-marigold, and was discovered in New Zealand by Captain Cook, though it is also found in Japan and South America. Its top leaves are eaten as spinach, and Cook introduced it to England, where it is also known as Summer Spinach.

<hw>Spine-bill</hw>, n. an Australian "Honey-eater," but not now so classed. There are two species—

The Slender Spine-bill— Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Gould; inhabiting Australia and Tasmania, and called Cobbler's Awl in the latter colony.

Though related to the genus Myzomela, the pattern of their colouration differs widely.

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris. Slender-billed Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Spinetail</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Orthonyx spinicauda; called also Pheasant's Mother (q.v.), Log-runner (q.v.). The name is used elsewhere for different birds. See Orthonyx.

<hw>Spinifex</hw>, n. a grass known in India, China, and the Pacific, but especially common on Australasian shores. The word means, literally, thorn-making, but it is not classical Latin. "The aggregated flowers form large clusters, and their radiating heads, becoming detached at maturity, are carried by the wind along the sand, propelled by their elastic spines and dropping their seeds as they roll." (Mueller.) This peculiarity gains for the Hairy Spinifex (Spinifex hirsutus, Labill.) the additional name of Spiny Rolling Grass. See also quotation, 1877. This chief species (S. hirsutus) is present on the shores of nearly all Australasia, and has various synonyms—S. sericeus, Raoul.; S. inermis, Banks and Sol.; Ixalum inerme, Forst.; S. fragilis, R.B., etc. It is a "coarse, rambling, much-branched, rigid, spinous, silky or woolly, perennial grass, with habitats near the sea on sandhills, or saline soils more inland." (Buchanan.)

The Desert Spinifex of the early explorers, and of many subsequent writers, is not a true Spinifex, but a Fescue; it is properly called Porcupine Grass (q.v.), and is a species of Triodia. The quotations, 1846, 1887, 1890, and 1893, involve this error.

"The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true Spinifex occupies our sand-shores; . . . the heads are so buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and while their uppermost spiny rays act as sails, they are carried across narrow inlets, to continue the process of embarking."

"Though grasses are sadly conspicuous by their absence, saline plants, so nutritious for stock, occur amidst the real deserts of Spinifex."

"On the broad sandy heights . . . the so-called spinifex is found in great abundance. This grass (Triodia irritans) is the traveller's torment, and makes the plains, which it sometimes covers for hundreds of miles, almost impassable. Its blades, which have points as sharp as needles, often prick the horses' legs till they bleed."

"They evidently preferred that kind of watercress to the leaves of the horrid, prickly Spinifex, so omnipresent in the north-western district."

"A species of Triodia (`porcupine grass,' or incorrectly `spinifex' of explorers and residents) dominates sandy ground and the sterile slopes and tops of the sandstone table-lands."

"`Sawed stuff' and `split stuff,' by which is meant timber which is sawn into regular forms and thicknesses, as flooring boards, joints, battens, &c., and that which is split into `posts and rails,' slabs, or paling. Some of the species of eucalyptus, or gum-trees, are peculiarly adapted for splitting. The peppermint-tree (Eucalyptus piperita) and the `Stringy Bark' are remarkable for the perfectly straight grain which they often exhibit, and are split with surprising evenness and regularity into paling and boards for `weather-boarding' houses and other purposes, in lengths of six or eight feet by one foot wide, and half or one-third of an inch thick. . . . Any curve in a tree renders it unfit for splitting, but the crooked- grained wood is best for sawing. . . . All houses in the colony, with few exceptions, are roofed with split shingles."

<hw>Splitter</hw>, n. a wood-cutter, cutting timber in the bush, and splitting it into posts and rails, palings or shingles. See quotation under Split-stuff.

"There were two splitters located near us . . . they had a licence to split timber on the crown lands."

"At the splitter's tent I had seen the track
Of horse hoofs, fresh on the sward."

<hw>Spoonbill</hw>, n. a bird-name widely used. The Australian species are—

"Spotted or Leopard Tree. The gum from this tree forms good adhesive mucilage. It reminds one strongly of East-India gum-arabic of good quality. During the summer months large masses, of a clear amber-colour, exude from the stem and branches. It has a very pleasant taste, is eaten by the aboriginals, and forms a very common bushman's remedy in diarrhoea."

<hw>Spotted-Orchis</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the Orchid Dipodium punctatum, R. Br.

<hw>Spotting</hw>, n. New Zealand equivalent for the Australian "picking the eyes out," and "peacocking." Under Free-selection (q.v.), the squatter spotted his run, purchasing choice spots.

<hw>Spotty</hw>, n. a New Zealand fish, a Wrass, Labrichthys bothryocosmus, Richards.; also called Poddly (q.v.), and Kelp-fish (q.v.).

1878. P. Thomson, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. lii. p. 384:

"Wrasse, parrot-fish, and spotties are often in the market. There are two kinds of spotties, a big and a little. The wrasse and the parrot-fish are mostly caught outside amongst the kelp, and these, with the spotty, are indiscriminately called kelp-fish by the fishermen."

<hw>Sprag</hw>, n. In gold-mining. See quotation. The word is used in England, applied to coal-mining.

"A `sprag,' being a stout piece of hard wood, was inserted between the rope and the iron roller on which the rope ran."

In whatever direction one moves out of Melbourne, whether north, east, or west, all he sees or hears is merely a repetition of this colonial note—`I squat, thou squattest, he squats; we squat, ye or you squat, they squat.'. . . Exeunt omnes. `They are all gone out a-squatting.'"

"The regulations . . . put an end to squatting within the boundaries of location, and reduced it to a system without the boundaries."

"The Speaker squats equally and alternately on the woolsack of the House and at his wool-stations on the Murrumbidgee. One may squat on a large or small scale, squat directly or indirectly, squat in person or by proxy."

"Squatting, in its first phase, was confined to the region round about Sydney; it was not until the pass through the Blue Mountains was discovered that the flocks and herds of the colonists began to expand."

<hw>Squattage</hw>, n. a squatter's station. The word can hardly be said to have prevailed.

"The great Riverine district, which is one vast series of squattages . . . the toil and solitude of a day's journey between the homesteads of adjacent squattages."

<hw>Squatter</hw>, n. (1) One who squats; that is, settles on land without a title or licence. This is an English use.

1835. T. A. Murray (Evidence before Legislative Council of New South Wales on Police and Gaols):

"There are several parties of squatters in my neighbourhood. I detected, not long since, three men at one of their stations in the act of slaughtering one of my own cattle. I have strong reason to suspect that these people are, in general, illicit sellers of spirits."

"These persons (squatters) are almost invariably the instigators and promoters of crime, receivers of stolen property, illegal vendors of spirits, and harbourers of runaways, bushrangers, and vagrants."

1843. Rev. W. Pridden, `Australia Its History and Present Condition,' pp. 332-3:

"The squatters, as they are called, are men who occupy with their cattle, or their habitations, those spots on the confines of a colony or estate which have not yet become any person's private property. By the natural increase of their flocks and herds, many of these squatters have enriched themselves; and having been allowed to enjoy the advantages of as much pasture as they wanted in the bush, without paying any rent for it to the government, they have removed elsewhere when the spot was sold, and have not unfrequently gained enough to purchase that or some other property. Thus . . . the squatter has been converted into a respectable settler. But this is too bright a picture to form an average specimen. . . . Unfortunately, many of these squatters have been persons originally of depraved and lawless habits, and they have made their residence at the very outskirts of civilization a means of carrying on all manner of mischief. Or sometimes they choose spots of waste land near a high road . . . there the squatters knock up what is called a `hut.' In such places stolen goods are easily disposed of, spirits and tobacco are procured in return."

"The rich proprietors have a great aversion to the class of squatters, and not unreasonably, yet they are thus, many of them, squatters themselves, only on a much larger scale. . ."

"This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time been known to some squatters from Tasmania."

"A set of men who were to be found upon the borders of every large estate, and who were known by the name of squatters. These were ticket-of-leave holders, or freedmen who erected a but on waste land near a great public road, or on the outskirts of an estate."

"Nowaday squatters may be interested and possibly shocked on learning that in March, 1836, a petition was being largely signed for the prevention of `squatting, through which so much crime was daily occurring,' inasmuch as `squatting' was but another term for sly grog selling, receiving stolen property, and harbouring bushrangers and assigned servants. The term `squatter,' as applied to the class it now designates—without which where would Australia now be?—was not in vogue till 1842."

(2) A pastoral tenant of the Crown, often renting from the Crown vast tracts of land for pasturage at an almost nominal sum. The term is still frequently, but incorrectly, used for a man rearing and running stock on freehold land. Pastoralist is now the more favoured term.

1840. F. P. Labillicre, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria' (edition 1878), vol. ii. p. 189:

"In a memorandum of December 19th, 1840, `on the disposal of Lands in the Australian Provinces,' Sir George Gipps informs the Secretary of State on the subject, and states that,—'A very large proportion of the land which is to form the new district of Port Phillip is already in the licensed occupation of the Squatters of New South Wales, a class of persons whom it would be wrong to confound with those who bear the same name in America, and who are generally persons of mean repute and of small means, who have taken unauthorized possession of patches of land. Among the Squatters of New South Wales are the wealthiest of the land, occupying, with the permission of the Government, thousands and tens of thousands of acres. Young men of good families and connexions in England, officers of the army and navy, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, are also in no small number amongst them.'"

"The petitioner has already consigned the whole country to the class squatter in perpetuity."

"The squatters of Australia Felix will meet on horseback, upon Batman's Hill, on the 1st of June, for the purpose of forming a Mutual Protection Society. From the Murray to the sea-beach, from the Snowy Mountains to the Glenelg, let no squatter be absent."

"`Squatters.' A word not to be found in `Johnson's Dictionary'; of Canadian extraction, literally to sit on the haunches: in Australia a term applied to the sheep farmers generally; from their being obliged frequently to adopt that position."

"We were received with the greatest kindness by my friends the `squatters,' a class principally composed of young men of good education, gentlemanly habits, and high principles."

"The Port Phillip squatters, as occupants of the territory of
New South Wales, were afterwards required to take out an annual
depasturing licence in terms of a Colonial Act passed at
Sydney."

(p. 246): "The modern squatters, the aristocratic portion of the colonial community."

"In 1840 the migratory flockmaster had become a settled squatter. A wretched slab but is now his home; for furniture he has a rough bush-made table, and two or three uncouth stools."

"The term squatter was applied in the first instance to signify, as in America, such as erected huts on unsold land. It thus came to be applied to all who did not live on their own land, to whom the original and more expressive name of settler continued to be applied. When the owners of stock became influential from their education and wealth, it was thought due to them to change this term for one more suitable to their circumstances, as they now included in their order nearly every man of mark or wealth in Australia. The Government suggested the term `tenants of the Crown,' the press hinted at `licensed graziers,' and both terms were in partial use, but such is the prejudice in favour of what is already established, that both were soon disused, and the original term finally adopted."

"The term `squatter' . . . is thus derived:—A flock-master settling in Australia could drive his stock to, and occupy, any tract of country, which, from its extent and pastoral capabilities, might meet his comprehensive views; always provided, that such lands had not been already appropriated. . . . Early flock-masters were always confirmed in their selection of lands, according to the quantity of stock they possessed. . . . The Victorian Squatter who can number but five or six thousand sheep is held to be a man of no account. . . . Those only, who can command the shearing of from ten to forty thousand fleeces annually, are estimated as worthy of any note."

"In the language of the times, Messrs. Evans, Lancey, and subsequently J. P. Fawkner, were squatters. That term is somewhat singular as applied to the latter, who asserts that he founded the colony to prevent its getting into the hands of the squatters. The term was then applied to all who placed themselves upon public lands without licence."

"It is not too much to say that all the early success of Australia was due to the squatters of New South Wales, who followed the steps of Captain McArthur."

"I have been a super, a small freeholder, and a middling-sized squatter, at different times."

"The Squatters are the large leaseholders and landed proprietors of the colony, whose cry has always been that the country was unfit for agricultural settlement, and only adapted for the pastoral pursuits in which they were engaged. . . . It is true the old squatter has been well-nigh exterminated."

"The pastoral enterprise of the adventurous squatters.
Originally unrecognized trespassers on Crown lands. . . ."

"On the plains you find different kinds of pigeons, the squatters being most common—plump, dust-coloured little fellows, crouching down to the ground quite motionless as you pass. I have frequently killed them with my stock-whip."

"Gentle little squatter-pigeons cooed lovingly in answer to their mates on all sides."

"The Squatterarchy of the Koorong rose up in a body and named its hero, martyr."

<hw>Squatterdom</hw>, n. the state of being a squatter, or collective word for squatters; the squatter-party.

"The speaker then apologised, the Members cried, Hear, Hear;
And e'en the ranks of squatterdom could scarce forbear to
cheer."

"During my recent excursions through the squatting districts,
I had accustomed myself to a comparatively wild life."

"Throughout the Colony generally, English are the most numerous, then the Scotch, then the Irish, amongst the Squattocracy."

"The howl for the abolition of the squattocracy had not yet been fostered under the malign influence of shortsighted politicians."

<hw>Squeaker</hw>, n. a vernacular name applied to various birds from their cries. See quotations.

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society, Victoria,' vol. i. p. 63:

"The Squeaker (Strepera anaphonensis) is a shy and solitary bird, living entirely on the flats, and is remarkable on account of its frequenting only the same locality. He is hence easily distinguished from the Gymnorhina tibicen, whose shrill and piping voice is so well known on all the high lands."

1896. A. J. North, `List of Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales,' part i. p. 1:

"A local name is often more apt to mislead and confuse than to assist one in recognizing the particular species on which it is bestowed. This is chiefly due to the same local name being applied to two or more species.For instance, Corcorax melanorhamphus, Xerophila leucopsis, and Myzantha garrula are all locally known in different parts of the Colony by the name of `Squeaker.'"

<hw>Squid</hw>, n. a marine animal. The Australian species is Sepioteuthis australis, Quoy and Gaim.

"None of the Squid family seems to be sought after, although certain kinds are somewhat abundant in our waters. It is stated by the New South Wales Fisheries Enquiry Commission, 1880, that `the cephalopods might be made a source of a considerable profit for exportation to Japan and China. In both these countries all animal substances of a gelatinous character are in great request, and none more than those of the cuttle-fish tribe; the squid (Sepioteuthis australis) is highly appreciated, and in consequence is highly prized. The cuttle-fish (sepia) is of rather inferior quality, and the star-fish of the fishermen (octopus) not used at all.'"

"You can't fill up all these retainers on tinned salmon for nothing; but whenever I could get it, I would give 'em squid. Squid's good for natives, but I don't care for it, do you?— or shark either."

<hw>Squire</hw>, n. name given to the fish called Schnapper at two years old. See Schnapper.

<hw>Stamper</hw>, or <hw>Stamphead</hw>, n. "A cast-iron weight, or head, fixed on to a shank or lifter, and used for stamping or reducing quartz to a fine sand." (Brough Smyth, `Glossary.') The word is used elsewhere as a term in machinery. In Australia, it signifies the appliance above described. The form stamphead is the earlier one. The shorter word stamper is now the more usual.

<hw>Star of Bethlehem</hw>. The Old World plant is Ornithogalum umbellatum; the name is given in Australia to Chamaescilla corymbosa, and in Tasmania to Burchardia umbellata, R. Br., both of the Liliaceae.

<hw>Star-fern</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to Gleichenia flabellata, R. Br.; called also Fan-fern. See Fern.

<hw>Starling</hw>, n. English bird-name. The Australian species is the Shining Starling, Calornis metallica. The common English starling is also acclimatised.

<hw>Start</hw>, n. The young Australian has a fine contempt for the English word to begin, which he never uses where he can find any substitute. He says commence or start, and he always uses commence followed by the infinitive instead of by the verbal noun, as "The dog commenced to bark."

<hw>Station</hw>, n. originally the house with the necessary buildings and home-premises of a sheep-run, and still used in that sense: but now more generally signifying the run and all that goes with it. Stations are distinguished as Sheep-stations and Cattle-stations.

"Their [squatters'] huts or houses, gardens, paddocks, etc., form what is termed a station, while the range of country over which their flocks and herds roam is termed a run."

"The lecturer assured his audience that he came here to prevent this country being a squatting station."

"Station—the term applied in the colonies to the homesteads of the sheep-farmers or squatters."

"I'm travelen' down the Castlereagh and I'm a station-hand,
I'm handy with the ropin' pole, I'm handy with the brand,
And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day,
But there's no demand for a stationhand along the Castlereagh."

1853. `The Emigrant's Guide to Australia.' (Article on Bush-Cookery, from an unpublished MS. by Mrs. Chisholm], pp. 111-12:

"The great art of bush-cookery consists in giving a variety out of salt beef and flour . . . let the Sunday share be soaked on the Saturday, and beat it well . . . take the . . . flour and work it into a paste; then put the beef into it, boil it, and you will have a very nice pudding, known in the bush as `Station jack.'"

<hw>Stavewood</hw>, n. another name for the Flindosy Beech. See Beech.

<hw>Stay-a-while</hw>, n. a tangled bush; sometimes called Wait-a-while (q.v.).

1820. Lieut. C. Jeffreys, R.N., `Geographical and Descriptive Delineations of the Island of Van Dieman's Land,' p. 69:

"Their meal consisted of the hindquarters of a kangaroo cut into mincemeat, stewed in its own gravy, with a few rashers of salt pork; this dish is commonly called a steamer."

"Our largest animals are the Kangaroos . . . making most delicious stews and steaks, the favourite dish being what is called a steamer, composed of steaks and chopped tail, (with a few slices of salt pork) stewed with a very small quantity of water for a couple of hours in a close vessel."

<hw>Stewart Islander</hw>, n. name given to the oyster, Ostrea chiloensis, Sowerby; so called because it is specially abundant on Stewart Island off the south coast of New Zealand. The Stewart Island forms are mud oysters, those of Sydney Cove growing on rock. See Oyster.

<hw>Stick-up</hw>, v. tr. (1) The regular word for the action of bushrangers stopping passers-by on the highway and robbing them.

"It was only the previous night that he had been `stuck up' with a pistol at his head."

"Unless the mail came well armed, a very few men could `stick it up,' without any trouble or danger."

"Five or six bushrangers took up a position about a mile from town, and (to use a colonial phrase) `stuck up' every person that passed."

"The escort has been `stuck up,' and the robbers have taken notes to the value of L700, and two thousand ounces of gold."

"We could make more money in one night by `sticking up' a coach or a bank than in any other way in a year . . . Any one who has been stuck up himself knows that there's not much chance of doing much in the resisting line." [The operation is then explained fully.]

"Accounts of bushrangers `sticking up' stations, travellers, and banks were very frequent."

"The game of sticking up hotels used to be in the old days a popular one, and from the necessary openness of the premises the practice was easy to carry out."

(3) Humorously applied to a collector or a beggar. In `Twenty- five Years of St. Andrews' (vol. ii. p. 87), A. K. H. B. tells a story of a church dignitary, who was always collecting money for church building. When a ghost appeared at Glamis Castle, addressing the ghost, the clergyman began—that "he was most anxious to raise money for a church he was erecting; that he had a bad cold and could not well get out of bed; but that his collecting-book was on the dressing-table, and he would be `extremely obliged' for a subscription." An Australian would have said he "stuck up" the ghost for a subscription.

"The professor seems to have stuck up any number of candidates with the demand that they should `construct one simple sentence out of all the following.'"

"They had only just been liberated from gaol, and were the stickers-up, or highwaymen mentioned."

<hw>Sticker-up/2</hw>, n. a term of early bush cookery, the method, explained in first quotation, being borrowed from the aborigines.

"Which he cooked in the mode called in colonial phrase a sticker up. A straight twig being cut as a spit, the slices were strung upon it, and laid across two forked sticks leaning towards the fire."

"Here I was first initiated into the bush art of `sticker-up' cookery . . . the orthodox material here is of course kangaroo, a piece of which is divided nicely into cutlets two or three inches broad and a third of an inch thick. The next requisite is a straight clean stick, about four feet long, sharpened at both ends. On the narrow part of this, for the space of a foot or more, the cutlets are spitted at intervals, and on the end is placed a piece of delicately rosy fat bacon. The strong end of the stick-spit is now stuck fast and erect in the ground, close by the fire, to leeward; care being taken that it does not burn." ". . . to men that are hungry, stuck-up kangaroo and bacon are very good eating." . . . "our `sticker-up' consisted only of ham."

"Pounds of rosy steaks . . . skilfully rigged after the usual approved fashion (termed in Bush parlance a sticker-up'), before the brilliant wood fire, soon sent forth odours most grateful to the hungered way-worn Bushmen."

The Black Stilt— Himantopus novae-zelandiae, Gould; Maori name, Kaki.

Pied S., or Whiteheaded S.—
H. leucocephalus, Gould; Maori name, Tutumata.

H. leucocephalus (the White-headed Stilt) is also present in Australia, and the world-wide species, H. pectoralis, Du Bus. (the Banded Stilt), is found through all Australasia.

<hw>Stingareeing</hw>, n. the sport of catching Stingrays, or Stingarees.

"It has been recently discovered by the writer of the animated article in the `Field' on Fishing in New Zealand [London, Nov. 25, 1871], that `stingareeing' can be made to afford sport of a most exciting kind."

<hw>Stinging-tree</hw>, n. a Queensland name for the Giant Nettle, or Nettle-tree (q.v.)

"The stinging-tree, . . . the most terrible of all vegetable growths. This horrible guardian of the Queensland jungle stands from five to fifteen feet in height, and has a general appearance somewhat similar to that of a small mulberry-tree. Their peculiarly soft and inviting aspect is caused by an almost invisible coating of microscopic cillia, and it is to these that the dangerous characteristics of the plant are due. The unhappy wanderer in these wilds, who allows any part of his body to come in contact with those beautiful, inviting tongues of green, soon finds them veritable tongues of fire, and it will be weeks, perhaps months, ere the scorching agony occasioned by their sting is entirely eradicated."

<hw>Sting-moth</hw>, n. an Australian moth, Doratifera vulnerans. The larva has at each end of the body four tubercles bearing stinging hairs. (`Standard.')

<hw>Stinkwood</hw>, n. The name is given to various woods in different parts of the world, from their unpleasant smell. In Tasmania, it is applied to the timber of Zieria smithii, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

"The timber in this district I found to be principally myrtle, sassafras, and stinkwood."

1885. Hugh Martin, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. xxii. p. 112:

"Stitch-bird (Pogonornis cincta), formerly abundant in the North Island, but now extinct on the main-land, and found only in some of the outlying islets. The rarest and one of the most beautiful of native Passerines."

<hw>Stock</hw>, n. The word has many meanings. In the one from which the Australian compounds are made, it denotes horses, cattle, or sheep, the farmer's stock in trade. Of course, this use is not peculiar to Australia, but it is unusually common there.

"The cattle suffered much, and some of both the public and private stock perished."

<hw>Stock-agent</hw>, n. more usually in the form Stock and Station-agent. The circumstances of Australian life make this a common profession.

<hw>Stock-holder</hw>, n. a grazier; owner of large herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep.

"Near this is the residence of D. Rose, Esq., formerly an officer of the 73rd regiment, and now a large land and stockholder."

"The most negligent stock-holders now carefully house their wool, and many take the trouble to wash their sheep."

<hw>Stock-horse</hw>, n. horse accustomed to go after cattle used in mustering and cutting-out (q.v.).

"The Australian stock-horse is a wonderful animal. . . . He has a wonderful constitution, splendid feet, great endurance, and very good temper."

"`What can you do, young man?' `Well, most things . . . fence, split, milk, drive bullocks, stock-keep, plough."

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821, in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (1824), p. 154:

"To yard the flocks at night . . . for the purpose of keeping the stock-keepers in check, and sufficient shepherds should be kept to ensure constant attention to the flock."

"Every kind of injury committed against the defenceless natives by the stock-keepers."

<hw>Stock-man</hw>, n. used in Australia for a man employed to look after stock.

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821, in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (edition 1824), p. 155:

"It is the common practice with owners of flocks to allow their shepherds to acquire and keep sheep . . . it affords to the stock-men a cover frequently for disposing dishonestly of sheep belonging to their master."

"At its junction there is a fine space, named by the stockmen
Native Hut Valley."

"Would you still exchange your comfortable home and warm fireside . . . for a wet blanket, a fireless camp, and all the other etceteras of the stockman's life?"

<hw>Stock-rider</hw>, n. a man employed to look after cattle, properly on an unfenced station.

said a lithe-limbed stock-rider, bearded like a pard, as he lit his pipe—the bushman's only friend. And this was once a fellow of St. John's, Cambridge."

"Like other Australian aborigines, the Kurnai have a natural aptitude for stock-riding."

<hw>Stock-route</hw>, n. When land is first let in surveyed blocks to a Squatter (q.v.), and is, of course, unfenced, the lessee is required by law to leave passages through it from two to four chains wide, at certain intervals, as a right-of-way for travelling sheep and cattle. These are called Stock-routes. He may fence these routes if he chooses—which he very rarely does—but if he fences across the route he must provide gates or slip-rails (q.v.), or other free passage.

"To-day the Land Board dealt with the application for the re-appraisement of the Yantara pastoral holding. The manager said that owing to deterioration of the feed through the rabbits, from 9 to 10 acres were required to carry a sheep. . . . Thirteen trial wells had been put down on the holding, all of which had bottomed on a drift of salt water. Four stock routes passed through the area, one being the main stock route from South-western Queensland. . . . Wild dogs had been troublesome since the February rains. . . . There were Government bores on the run."

"Now Saltbush Bill was a drover tough, as ever the country
knew,
He had fought his way on the Great Stock Routes from the
sea to the Big Barcoo."

<hw>Stock-up</hw>, v. complete the number of animals on a station, so that it may carry its full complement.

"The stock-whip, with a handle about half a yard long and a thong of three yards long, of plaited bullock-hide, is a terrible instrument in the hands of a practised stockman. Its sound is the note of terror to the cattle; it is like the report of a blunderbuss, and the stockman at full gallop will hit any given spot on the beast that he is within reach of, and cut the piece away through the thickest hide that bull or bison ever wore."

"The stock-whip, which bears such a prominent part in all dealings with cattle, is from twelve to fourteen feet in length, with a short light handle of about fourteen inches long, to which it is attached by a leather keeper as on a hunting crop. . . . The whip is made of a carefully selected strip of green hide, great attention having been paid to curing it."

<hw>Stone-lifter</hw>, n. a Melbourne name for the fish Kathetostoma laeve, Bl., family Trachinidae, one of the genera of the "Stargazers" (Uranoscopina), which have eyes on the surface of the head.

<hw>Stonewall</hw>, v. intr. (1) A Parliamentary term: to make use of the forms of the House so as to delay public business.

"Mr. G. Paton Smith wished to ask the honourable member for Geelong West whether the six members sitting beside him (Mr. Berry) constituted the `stone wall' that had been spoken of? Did they constitute the stone wall which was to oppose all progress—to prevent the finances being dealt with and the business of the country carried on? It was like bully Bottom's stone wall. It certainly could not be a very high wall, nor a very long wall, if it only consisted of six."

"Abusing the heroic words of Stonewall Jackson, the Opposition applied to themselves the epithet made famous by the gallant Confederate General."

<hw>Stonewood</hw>, n. Callistemon salignus, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae; called also the River Tea-tree.

<hw>Store</hw>, n. a bullock, cow, or sheep bought to be fattened for the market.

<hw>Store-cattle</hw>, n. lean cattle bought to be fattened for the market; often contracted to stores (q.v.).

<hw>Stranger</hw>, n. name given in Victoria and Tasmania to the Rock-Whiting, Odax richardsoni, Gunth., family Labridae. The Stranger, which is a marine fish, is caught occasionally in the fresher water of the upper estuary of the Derwent; hence its name. See Whiting.

<hw>Stringy-bark</hw>, n. (1) any one of various Gums, with a tough fibrous bark used for tying, for cordage, for roofs of huts, etc.

"The string bark [sic] tree is also useful, and its bark, which is of a fibrous texture, often more than an inch in thickness, parts easily from the wood, and may be obtained ten or twelve feet in length, and seven or eight in breadth."

"The natives appear also to like the fruit of the pandanus, of which large quantities are found in their camps, soaking in water contained in vessels formed of stringy-bark."

"In truth, the forests of Australia (consisting principally of woods of iron-bark, stringy-bark, and other species of the Eucalyptus) seen at a distance, just before sunset, are noble objects—perfect pictures."

"The stringy bark tree is so named from the ropy nature of its bark, which is frequently used for tying on the rods and thatch of sheds, huts, and barns in the country."

"Gum-topped String-bark, sometimes called white gum (Eucalyptus gigantea, var.). A tree resembling the Blue Gum in foliage, with rough bark similar to Stringy Bark towards the stem."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 237:

"Stringy-bark trees were also seen—so called, because the rough bark has a brown tenacious fibre, like that of the cocoanut, which can be split off in sheets to make the roofs of houses, or unravelled into a fibre that will tie like string."

"The Stringy-bark tree is of straight growth, and takes its name from the strip-like character of its bark. . . . The wood is of a brown colour, hard, heavy, strong and close in the grain. It works up well . . . in ship-building, for planking, beams, keels and keelsons, and in civil architecture for joists, flooring, etc. Upon the farms it is used for fences and agricultural implements: it is also employed for furniture and for all ordinary purposes."

"Down to the waist they are all wound round with frayed stringy-bark in thick folds."

"Stringy-bark, a curious combination of fusil oil and turpentine, labelled `whisky.'"

". . . the workmanship of which I beg you will not scrutinize, as I am but, to use a colonial expression, `a stringy-bark carpenter.'"

1853. C. Rudston Read, `What I Heard, Saw, and Did at the Australian Gold Fields,' p. 53:

". . . after swimming a small river about 100 yards wide he'd arrive at old Geordy's, a stringy bark settler . . ."

<hw>Sturt's Desert Pea</hw>, n. a beautiful creeper, Clianthus dampieri, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae, which will only grow in very dry, sandy soil. It is sometimes called Lobster's Claw, from its clusters of brilliant scarlet flowers with black-purple centres, like a lobster's claw. Called also Glory Pea (q.v.). See Clianthus.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 29:

"Amongst which appears the beautiful Clianthus, known to the colonists as Sturt's desert pea."

[Footnote]: "Woodward in `Dampier's Voyages,' vol. iii. cap. 4, pl. 2. The plant is there called Colutea Novae-Hollandiae. Its name now is Clianthus Dampieri. R. Brown proposed the name of Eremocharis, from the Greek 'eraemos, desert."

[Dampier's voyage was made in 1699, and the book published in 1703. Mr. Woodward contributed notes on the plants brought home by Dampier.]

<hw>Stump-jump Plough</hw>, n. a farm implement, invented in Australia, for ploughing the wheat-lands, which are often left with the stumps of the cleared trees not eradicated.

"It is only a very few years since it came into use, and no one ever thought it was going to turn a trackless scrub into a huge garden. But now from the South Australian border right through to the Murray, farms and comfortable homesteads have taken the place of dense scrub. This last harvest, over three hundred thousand bags of wheat were delivered at Warracknabeal, and this wonderful result must, in the main, be put down to the Stump-jump Plough. It has been one of the best inventions this colony has ever been blessed with."

<hw>Stump-tailed Lizard</hw>, n. an Australian lizard, Trachydosaurus rugosus, Gray.

<hw>Styphelia</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of shrubby plants of New Zealand and Australia, of the N.O. Epacrideae. It contains the Five-Corners (q.v.).

"We adopt Dr. Solander's original name Styphelia, derived from stuphelos, harsh, hard, or firm, expressive of the habit of the whole genus and indeed of the whole natural order."

<hw>Sucker</hw>, n. name given in New Zealand to the fish Diplocrepis puniceus, Rich., family Gobiesocidae. This is a family of small, marine, littoral fishes provided with a ventral disc, or adhesive apparatus. Other genera of the family occur in Australasia.

<hw>Sugar</hw>, n. slang for money. It may be doubted if it is specially Australian.

1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 273 (quoting `Victoria, the El Dorado'):

"I hear him sing out `sold again, and got the sugar' (a colonial slang word for ready money); `half a sheep for a shilling.'"

<hw>Sugar-Ant</hw>, n. a small ant, known in many parts of Australia by this name because of its fondness for sweet things.

"The sun reaches a sugar-ant and rouses him from his winter sleep. Out he scurries, glad to greet the warmth, and tracks hurriedly around. He feels the sun, but the cold damp ground tells him the time is not yet come when at evening he will sally forth in long columns over the soft warm dust in search of the morrow's meal; so, dazzled by the unaccustomed glare, he seeks his hiding-place once more."

"The regular sharp chop-chop of the tomahawks could be heard here and there, where some of them had discovered a sugar-bag (nest of honey) or a 'possum on a tree."

<hw>Sugar-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Erianthus fulvus, Kunth., N.O. Gramineae.

"The `Sugar Grass' of colonists, so called on account of its sweetness; it is highly productive, and praised by stockowners. Cattle eat it close down, and therefore it is in danger of extermination, but it is readily raised from seed."

<hw>Sugar-Gum</hw>, n. an Australian Gum, Eucalyptus corynocalyx of South Australia and North-Western Victoria. The foliage is sweet, and attractive to cattle. See Gum.

<hw>Sultana-bird</hw>, n. a name for the Swamp-Hen (q.v.), Porphyrio melanonotus, Temm.

<hw>Summer-bird</hw>, n. the Old Colonists' name for the Wood-swallows. See Swallow. In Tasmania it is applied to a species of Shrike, Graucalus melanops, Lath. The name refers to the migratory habits of both birds.

"The wood-swallows, known to us old colonists as summer birds, are migratory, making their appearance about September and disappearing about the end of January."

<hw>Summer Country</hw>, n. In New Zealand (South Island), country which can be used in summer only; mountain land in Otago and Canterbury, above a certain level.

<hw>Sun-bird</hw>, n. a common name of various birds. Applied in Australia to Cinnyris frenata, Mull.

"`This pretty Sun-bird,' says Mr. MacGillivray, `appears to be distributed along the whole of the northeast coast of Australia, the adjacent islands, and the whole of the islands in Torres Straits.'"

<hw>Sundew</hw>, n. There are many species of this flower in Australia and Tasmania, most of them peculiar to Australasia; Drosera spp., N.O. Droseraceae.

"Smooth, marshy meadows, gleaming with the ruby stars of millions of tiny little sundews."

<hw>Sundowner</hw>, n. a tramp who takes care to arrive at a station at sundown, so that he shall be provided with `tucker' (q.v.) at the squatter's cost: one of those who go about the country seeking work and devoutly hoping they may not find it.

1880. G. n. Oakley, in `Victoria in 1880,' p. 114 [Title of poem of seventeen stanzas]:

"When the real `sundowner' haunts these banks for a season, he is content with a black pannikin, a clasp knife, and a platter whittled out of primaeval bark."

"Sundowners are still the plague of squatocracy, their petition for `rashons' and a bed amounting to a demand."

"`Swagsmen' too, genuine, or only `sundowners,'—men who loaf about till sunset, and then come in with the demand for the unrefusable `rations.'"

"They swell the noble army of swagmen or sundowners, who are chiefly the fearful human wrecks which the ebbing tide of mining industry has left stranded in Australia."

[This writer does not differentiate between Swagman (q.v.) and Sundowner.]

"Numbers of men who came to be known by the class name of `sundowners,' from their habit of straggling up at fall of evening with the stereotyped appeal for work; and work being at that hour impossible, they were sent to the travellers' hut for shelter and to the storekeeper or cook for the pannikin of flour, the bit of mutton, the sufficiency of tea for a brew, which made up a ration."

"`Here,' he remarked, `is a capital picture of a Queensland sundowner.' The picture represented a solitary figure standing in pathetic isolation on a boundless plain. `A sundowner?' I queried. `Yes; the lowest class of nomad. For days they will tramp across the plains carrying, you see, their supply of water. They approach a station only at sunset, hence the name. At that hour they know they will not be turned away.' `Do they take a day's work?' `Not they! There is an old bush saying, that the sundowner's one request is for work, and his one prayer is that be may not find it.'"

"That super's a growlin' ignorant beggar as runs a feller from daylight to dark for nothing at all."

"He . . . bragged of how he had bested the super who tried to `wing him' in the scrub."

<hw>Superb-Dragon</hw>, n. an Australian marine fish, Phyllopteryx foliatus, Shaw. See Sea-Dragon.

"`Superb-Dragon—Phyllopteryx Foliatus.' This is one of the `Pipe fishes,' order Lophobranchii. It has been compared to the ghost of a seahorse (Hippocampus) with its winding sheet all in ribbons around it; and the tattered cerements are like in shape and colour to the seaweed it frequents, so that it hides and feeds in safety. The long ends of ribs which seem to poke through the skin to excite our compassion are really `protective resemblances,' and serve to allure the prey more effectually within reach of these awful ghouls. Just as the leaf-insect is imitative of a leaf, and the staff insect of a twig, so here is a fish like a bunch of seaweed. (Tenison-Woods.)" [Compare Phasmid.]

<hw>Superb-Warbler</hw>, n. any Australian bird of the genus Malurus (q.v.), especially M. cyaneus, the Blue Wren.

"The best known are . . . and the Blue Wren or Superb
Warbler (Malurus cyaneus), both of which I have
repeatedly watched in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. . . .
They dart about the pathways like mice, but rarely seem to fly.
There are a dozen other Superb Warblers."

<hw>Supple-jack</hw>, n. The word is English in the sense of a strong cane, and is the name of various climbing shrubs from which the canes are cut; especially in America. In Australia, the name is given to similar creeping plants, viz.—Ventilago viminalis, Hook., N.O. Rhamnaceae; Clematis aristata, R. Br., N.O. Ranunculaceae. In New Zealand, to Ripogonum (spp.).

"The underwood is in general so thick and so bound together by that kind of creeping shrub called supple-jack, interwoven in all directions, as to be absolutely impenetrable."

"After a tedious march . . . along a track constantly obstructed by webs of the kareau, or supple-jack, we came to the brow of a descent."

"Two kinds of creepers extremely molesting and troublesome, the so-called `supple-jack' of the colonists (Ripogonum parviflorum), in the ropelike creeping vines of which the traveller finds himself every moment entangled."

The supple-jack, that stopper to all speedy progression in the
New Zealand forest."

"Forty or fifty feet of supple-jack. This creeper is of the thickness of your finger, and runs along the ground, and goes up the trees and springs across from one tree to the other, spanning great gaps in some mysterious manner of its own—a tough, rascally creeper that won't break, that you can't twist in two, that you must cut, that trips you by the foot or the leg, and sometimes catches you by the neck . . . so useful withal in its proper places."

"Threading with somewhat painful care intricacies formed by loops and snares of bewildering supple-jacks, that living study of Gordian entanglement, nature-woven, for patient exercise of hand and foot."

"Laced together by creepers called supple-jacks, which twine and twist for hundreds of yards, with stems as thick as a man's wrist, so as to make the forests impassable except with axes and immense labour."

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

"I've been surfacing this good while; but quartz-reefin's the payinest game, now."

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

"`Surfacing' or `loaming.' Small canvas bags are carried by the prospector, and top soil from various likely-looking spots gathered and put into them, the spots being marked to correspond with the bags. The contents are then panned off separately, and if gold is found in any one of the bags the spot is again visited, and the place thoroughly overhauled, even to trenching for the reef."

<hw>Swag</hw>, n. (1) Used in the early days, and still by the criminal class, in the ordinary sense of Thieves' English, as booty, plunder.

"In short, having brought with her a supply of the `swag,' as the convicts call their ill-gotten cash, a wife seldom fails of having her husband assigned to her, in which case the transported felon finds himself his own master."

"A landsman said, `I twig the drop,—he's been upon
 the mill,
And `cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him
 Veepin' Bill.'
He said `he'd done me very brown, and neatly stowed
 the swag,'
-That's French, I fancy, for a hat,—or else a carpet-bag."

(2) A special Australian use: a tramp's bundle, wrapt up in a blanket, called a Bluey (q.v.). Used also for a passenger's luggage.

"A number of the slang phrases current in St. Giles's Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in the dictionary of this colony: plant, swag, pulling up, and other epithets of the Tom and Jerry school, are established—the dross passing here as genuine, even among all ranks."

"There were others with huge swags suspended from a pole, with which they went on, like the Children of Israel carrying the gigantic bunches of the grapes of Canaan."

"A pair of large double blankets to make the tent of,—that was one swag, and a very unwieldy one it was, strapped knapsack fashion, with straps of flax leaves."

"Three white men, the Sydney natives, and Batman, who carried his swag the same as the rest, all armed."

"With the hope that there would now be a few fine days, I at once packed up my swag with provisions, ammunition, blanket, &c."

"Kenneth, in front, reminded me comically of Alice's White Knight, what with the billies dancing and jingling on his back, and the tomahawk in his belt, and his large swag in front."

"I suppose he's tramping somewhere,
Where the bushmen carry swags,
Cadging round the wretched stations
With his empty tucker-bags."

"There was the solitary pedestrian, with the whole of his supplies, consisting of a blanket and other necessary articles, strapped across his shoulders—this load is called the `swag,' and the mode of travelling `swagging it.'"

<hw>Swagger</hw>, n. Same as Swagman (q.v.). Specially used in New Zealand. The word has also the modern English slang sense.

"Describing the real swagger, clad in flannel shirt, moleskin trowsers, and what were once thick boots."

"Under the name of swagger or sundowner the tramp, as he moves from station to station in remote districts, in supposed search for work, is a recognized element of society."

"Once a footsore swagger came along, and having gone to the house to ask for `tucker,' soon returned. He took his swag from his shoulders and leant it against the Tree; then he busied himself gathering the small sticks and dried leaves lying about on every side."

"The minister's house is the sure mark for every stone-broke swagger in search of clothes or victuals."

"An ardent young lady cyclist of Gore, who goes very long journeys on her machine, was asked by a lady friend if she was not afraid of swaggers on the road. `Afraid of them?' she said, `why, I take tea with them!'"

"He [Professor Morris] says that `swagger' is a variant of `swagman.' This is equally amusing and wrong."

"Here's a swaggie stopped to camp, with flour for a damper, and a handful of tea for the quart-pot, as safe as the bank."

<hw>Swagman</hw>, n. a man travelling through the bush carrying a Swag (q.v.), and seeking employment. There are variants, Swagger (more general in New Zealand), Swaggie, and Swagsman. The Sundowner, Traveller, or New Zealand Tussocker, is not generally a seeker for work.

"The regular swagman carrying his ration bags, which will sometimes contain nearly twenty days' provender in flour and sugar and tea."

"We pulled up a swagman. He was walking very slow; he was a bit lame too. His swag wasn't heavy, for he had only a rag of a blue blanket, a billy of water in his hand, and very little else."

"Under the electric light in the quadrangle of the Exhibition they will give tableaux, representing the murder of a swagman by a native and the shooting of the criminal by a black tracker."

"The Yarra has claimed many swagman in the end, but not all have died in full travelling costume . . . a typical back-blocks traveller. He was grey and grizzled, but well fed, and he wore a Cardigan jacket, brown moleskin trousers, blucher boots, and socks, all of which were mended with rough patches. His knife and tobacco, his odds and ends, and his purse, containing 14 1/2d., were still intact, while across his shoulder was a swag, and the fingers of his right hand had tightly closed round the handle of his old black billy-can, in which were some scraps of meat wrapped in a newspaper of the 5th inst. He had taken with him his old companions of the roads—his billy and his swag."

"Rememberin' the needful, I gets up an' quietly slips
To the porch to see—a swagsman—with our bottle at his lips."

"Idleness being the mainspring of the journeys of the Swagsman
(Anglice, `tramp')."

<hw>Swallow</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The species observed in Australia are—

Artamus is often wrongly spelt Artemus. The Wood-Swallows are often called Summer-birds (q.v.).

<hw>Swamp-Broom</hw>, n. a rush-broom, Viminaria denudata, Sm., N.O. Leguminosae. See Swamp-Oak.

<hw>Swamp-Hawk</hw>, n. another name for the New Zealand Harrier. See Harrier.

<hw>Swamp-Hen</hw>, n. an Australasian bird, Porphyrio melanonotus, Temm. (often incorrectly shortened to Melanotus). Called sometimes the Porphyrio (q.v.); Maori name, Pukeko. Called also the Swamp-Turkey, the Purple Coot, and by New Zealand colonists, Sultana-bird, Pukaki, or Bokaka, the last two being corruptions of the Maori name. For a West-Australian variety of the Porphyrio, see quotation (1848).

"The pukeko is of a dark-blue colour, and about as large as a pheasant. The legs, the bill, and a horny continuation of it over the front of the head, are of a bright crimson colour. Its long legs adapt it for its swampy life; its flight is slow and heavy, resembling that of a bittern."

"Porphyrio Bellus, Gould, Azure breasted Porphyrio; Swamp-Hen, Colonists of Western Australia."

<hw>Swamp-Mahogany</hw>, n. a timber tree, Eucalyptus botryoides, Sm. See Gum and Mahogany.

<hw>Swamp-Oak</hw>, n. (1) A broomlike leguminous shrub or small tree, Viminaria denudata, Sm. (also called Swamp-broom). (2) A tree of the genus Casuarina, especially C. paludosa. See Oak.

"Its banks (Murrumbidgee) are fringed with the beautiful swamp-oak, a tree of the Casuarina family, with a form and character somewhat intermediate between that of the spruce and that of the Scotch fir, being less formal and Dutch-like than the former, and more graceful than the latter."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 324:

"A stream, whose winding channel could be traced by the particularly dark verdure of the swamp-oak (Casuarina paludosa) on its banks."

"Your voice came to me, soft and distant seeming,
As comes the murmur of the swamp-oak's tone."

<hw>Swamp-Pheasant</hw>, n. called also Pheasant-cuckoo. Another name for the Coucal (q.v.).

"Far down the creek, on one of the river-oaks which grow in its bed, a swamp-pheasant utters its rapid coocoo-coo-coo-coo- coo-cook."

"The bird Centropus, which is common in all Queensland, is found here in great numbers. Although it really is a cuckoo, the colonists call it the `swamp-pheasant,' because it has a tail like a pheasant. It is a very remarkable bird with stiff feathers, and flies with difficulty on account of its small wings. The swamp-pheasant has not the family weakness of the cuckoo, for it does not lay its eggs in the nests of other birds. It has a peculiar clucking voice which reminds one of the sound produced when water is poured from a bottle."

<hw>Swamp-Sparrow</hw>, n. a nickname in New Zealand for the Fern-bird (q.v.).

"These beds of rushes which form blind water-courses during the winter season, are dry in summer and are then a favourite resort for the Swamp-Sparrow as this bird is sometimes called."

"The melancholy cry of the Fern-bird is so general and persistent that its nick-name of Swamp Sparrow is not undeserved."

<hw>Swan, Black</hw>, n. an Australian bird—Cycnus niger, Juvenal; Cygnus atratus, Gould; Chenopsis atrata, Wagl., sometimes miscalled Chenopis.

The river upon which Perth, Western Australia, is situated, is called the Swan River, and the colony was long known as the Swan River Settlement. It has expanded into Western Australia, the emblem of which colony is still the Black Swan. Since 1855 the Black Swan has been the device on the postage stamps of Western Australia.

82 A.D. (circiter). `Juvenal, Sat.' vi. 164: "Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cycno."

1700 (circiter). J. Locke, in `Johnson's Dictionary' (9th edition, 1805), s.v. Swan:

"The idea which an Englishman signifies by the name Swan, is a white colour, long neck, black beak, black legs, and whole feet, and all these of a certain size, with a power of swimming in the water, and making a certain kind of noise."

"A black swan, which species, though proverbially rare in other parts of the world, is here by no means uncommon . . . a very noble bird, larger than the common swan, and equally beautiful in form . . . its wings were edged with white: the bill was tinged with red."

"We found nine birds, that, whilst swimming, most perfectly resembled the rara avis of the ancients, a black swan."

"These extensive sheets of glassy water . . . were absolutely alive with black swans and other water fowl . . . There must have been at least five hundred swans in view at one time on one of the lakes. They were no `rara avis' there."

"Cygnus Atratus, Black Swan. The first notice on record respecting the existence of the Black Swan occurs in a letter written by Mr. Witsen to Dr. M. Lister about the year 1698, in which he says, `Here is returned a ship, which by our East India Company was sent to the south land called Hollandea Nova'; and adds that Black Swans, Parrots and many Sea-Cows were found there."

"Mankind were wrong, it seems, in concluding that all swans were white. . . . As there were black swans, though civilized people had existed for three thousand years on the earth without meeting with them."

"The presence of immense flocks of black swans is also regarded as an indication of approaching cold weather."

"The musical whoop of the black swan is sometimes heard as the wedge-shaped flock passes over."

"Strzelecki states that the black swan was discovered in 1697 by Vlaming. . . . In 1726 two were brought alive to Batavia, having been procured on the West Coast of Australia, near Dirk Hartog's Bay. Captain Cook observed it on several parts of the coast."

<hw>Swan-River Daisy</hw>, n. a pretty annual plant, Brachycome iberidifolia, Benth., N.O. Compositae, of Western Australia. The heads are about an inch broad, and have bright blue rays, with paler centre. It is cultivated in flower gardens, and is well suited for massing. (`Century.')

<hw>Sweep</hw>, n. a marine fish of the Australian coasts, called by this name in Sydney. It is Scorpis aequipinnis, Richards., family Squamipinnes. This family has the soft, and frequently also the spinous, part of their dorsal and anal fins so thickly covered with scales, that the boundary between fins and body is entirely obliterated. S. aequippinnis is possibly the Light-horseman (q.v.) of early Australian writers.

<hw>Swift</hw>, n. In Australia, the species of this common bird are—Spine-tailed Swift, Chaetura caudacuta, Lath.; White-rumped S., Micropus pacificus, Lath.

<hw>Swing-gate</hw>, n. Used in its ordinary English sense, but specially applied to a patent gate for drafting sheep, invented by Mr. Lockhart Morton.

<hw>Sword-grass</hw>, n. In New Zealand, Arundo conspicua; in Australia, Cladium psittacorum, Labill. It is not the same as the English plant of that name, and is often called Cutting Grass (q.v.).

<hw>Sword-Sedge</hw>, a sedge on Australian coasts, Lepidosperma gladiatum, Labill., N.O. Cyperaceae, useful for binding sea-sand, and yielding a good material for paper.

"Lepidosperma is nearly endemically Australian. Lepidosperma gladiatum, the great Swords-edge [sic] of our coasts, furnishes an admirable material for writing paper."

[It is curious that Swords-edge makes most ingenious sense, but it is evidently a misprint for Sword-sedge.]

<hw>Sycamore Tree</hw>. See Laurel. In New South Wales, the name is given to Brachyciton luridus, C. Moore, N.O. Sterculiaceae.

<hw>Sycoceric</hw>, adj. belonging to a waxy resin obtained from the Port-Jackson Fig; see under Fig. (From Grk. sukon, "fig," and kaeros, "wax.")

<hw>Sycoceryl</hw>, n. a supposed element of the sycoceric compounds. See Sycoceric.

"It is a wiry-stemmed plant, with small mop-like tufts, which hold water like a sponge. This is Bellotia Eriophorum, the specific name derived from its resemblance to the cotton-grass. Harvey mentions its colonial name as `Tagrag and Bobtail,' and if it will enable collectors the more easily to recognise it, let it be retained."

<hw>Taiaha</hw>, n. a Maori word for a chief's walking-staff, a sign of office, sometimes used in fighting, like a quarterstaff.

"The men are placed at equal intervals along either side to paddle, and they keep excellent stroke to the song of two leaders, who stand up and recite short alternate sentences, giving the time with the taiaha, or long wooden spear. The taiaha is rather a long-handled club than a spear. It is generally made of manuka, a very hard, dark, close-grained and heavy wood. The taiaha is about six feet long, etc."

"In his right hand he brandished a taiaha, a six-foot Maori broadsword of hard wood, with its pendulous plume of feathers hanging from the hilt."

1889. Major Wilson and Edward Tregear, `On the Korotangi,' `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxii. art. lxii. p. 505:

"Many famous tribal heirlooms are hidden and lost to posterity. The Rev. Mr. Buller mentions a famous taiaha, of great mana, as having been buried and lost in this way, lest it should fall into the power of opposing tribes, and cause disaster to the original owner."

<hw>Taihoa</hw>, Maori phrase, meaning "Wait a bit." Much used in some circles in New Zealand. The `Standard' gives it wrongly as "Anglo-Tasmanian," probably because Mr. Wade's book was published in Hobart.

"`Taihoa.' This word has been translated, By and by; but in truth, it has all the latitude of directly,—presently, —by and by,—a long time hence,—and nobody knows when . . . the deliberate reply is, `Taihoa'. . . this patience-trying word. . . ."

[p. 276]: "The imperturbable taihoa, given to us with the ordinary placid good-humour."

<hw>Tail</hw>, v. tr. to herd and tend sheep or cattle: lit. to follow close behind the tail.

"The stockman, as he who tends cattle and horses is called, despises the shepherd as a grovelling, inferior creature, and considers `tailing sheep' as an employment too tardigrade for a man of action and spirit."

"`The cattle,' no longer `tailed,' or followed daily, as a shepherd does sheep."

"From recent assays of the tailing-sand, scarcely one quarter of the pyrites has been extracted."

<hw>Tailings</hw>, n. "The detritus carried off by water from a crushing machine, or any gold-washing apparatus." (Brough Smyth, `Glossary of Mining Terms.') Not limited to Australia.

"A hundred and fifty tons of tailings are treated at the
Sandhurst pyrites works every month."

<hw>Tailor</hw>, n. name given in New South Wales to the fish Temnodon saltator, Cuv. and Val. It is called Skipjack (q.v.) in Melbourne, a name by which it is also known in America and Britain. Those of large size are called "Sea-tailors." It belongs to the family Carangidae, or Horse-Mackerels (q.v.).

<hw>Taipo</hw>, n. a New Zealand word for devil, often applied by settlers to a vicious horse or as a name for a dog. There is a dangerous river, the Taipo, on the west coast. There is considerable dispute as to whether the word is true Maori or not. The Rev. T. G. Hammond of Patea says—

"No such Maori word as taipo, meaning devil, exists. It would mean evening-tide—tai-po. Probably the early sailors introduced attached meaning of devil from the Maori saying, `Are you not afraid to travel at night?' referring to the danger of tidal rivers."

On the other hand, Mr. Tregear says, in his `Maori Comparative
Dictionary,' s.v.—

"Taepo means to visit or come by night,—a night visitant,—a spectral thing seen in dreams,—a fancied and feared thing, or hobgoblin, of the night or darkness; and this the settlers have construed to mean the Devil!—and of course their own orthodox one."

Taipo or taepo is also a slang term for a surveyor's theodolite among the Maoris, because it is the "land-stealing devil."

"There is the Taringa-here, a being with a face like a cat; and likewise another, called a Taipo, who comes in the night, sits on the tops of houses, and converses with the inmates, but if a woman presumes to open her mouth, it immediately disappears."

"The similarity in sound and meaning of the Egyptian word typhon with that of the Maori taipo, both being the name of the Spirit of Evil, is also not a little remarkable."

1886. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country journal,' vol. x. p. 262:

"His wife became seriously affected, declaring that Taipo had entered into her. Reasoning was wholly useless. She declared that Taipo was in the smoke of the wood, which smoke she had inhaled; soon she became prostrated by illness and was expected to die."

"After dinner Watkins requested the loan of a tomahawk to defend himself on going up to the Pa on the hill above. He said he knew that there was a taipo (devil) about; he felt it in his head."

"They were making the noises I heard to drive away the `Taipo,' a sort of devil who devotes his attention exclusively to Maoris, over whom, however, he only possesses power at night."

"They believed it was the principal rendez-vous of the fallen angel (Taipo) himself."

"Taipo, for instance, of course one knows its meaning, though it has been adopted chiefly as a name as common as `Dash' or `Nero' for New Zealand dogs; all the same the writers upon Maori superstitions seem to have no knowledge of it. Polach, Dieffenbach, Nicholas, Yates, call their evil spirits whiros or atuas. Tepo, the place of darkness, is the nearest they have come to it. I think myself it is South Island Maori, often differing a little in spelling and use; and so very much the larger proportion of New Zealand literature is the literature of the North."

<hw>Tait</hw>, n. a Western Australian animal, properly called the Long-snouted Phalanger, Tarsipes rostratus, the only species of its genus. See Phalanger and Opossum. It is about the size of a mouse, and lives almost entirely on honey, which it extracts from flowers.

"The Long-snouted Phalanger, which derives its scientific name from a certain resemblance of its hind feet to those of a Malayan Lemur-like animal known as the Tarsier, is one of the most interesting of the phalangers. . . . Known to the natives by the names of Tait and Nulbenger, it is, writes Gould, `generally found in all situations suited to its existence, from Swan River to King George's Sound.'"

<hw>Takahe</hw>, n. Maori name for an extinct New Zealand Rail, Notornis mantelli, Owen. See Notornis.

"The Takahe is the rarest of existing native birds, if indeed it is not already extinct."

<hw>Takapu</hw>, n. Maori name for the bird Dysporus serrator, Banks, a Gannet (q.v.).

<hw>Take (a man) down</hw>, Australian sporting slang. (1) To induce a man to bet, knowing that he must lose. (2) To advise a man to bet, and then to "arrange" with an accomplice (a jockey, e.g.) for the bet to be lost. (3) To prove superior to a man in a game of skill.

"It appeared that [the plaintiff] had a particular fancy for a [certain] horse, and in an evil hour induced [the defendant] to lay him a wager about this animal at the long odds of two shillings to threepence. When the horse had romped triumphantly home and [the plaintiff] went to collect his two shillings [the defendant] accused him of having `taken him down,' stigmatised him as a thief and a robber, and further remarked that [the plaintiff] had the telegram announcing the result of the race in his pocket when the wager was made, and in short refused to give [the plaintiff] anything but a black eye."

<hw>Talegalla</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the Brush-Turkey, and the scientific name for that bird, viz., Talegalla lathami, Gray. See Turkey.

<hw>Tallow-wood</hw>, n. another name for one of the Stringy-barks (q.v.), Eucalyptus microcorys, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. The timber, which is hard, gives forth an oily substance: hence the name. The tree reaches a great height. Also called Turpentine-tree (q.v.). See also Peppermint.

"In Queensland it is known as `Peppermint,' the foliage being remarkably rich in volatile oil. But its almost universal name is Tallow-wood. North of Port Jackson it bears the name of `Turpentine Tree' and `Forest Mahogany.' The aboriginals of the Brisbane River, Queensland, call it `tee.'"

"Tallow-wood.—Used . . . for flooring, e.g. in ball-rooms; for this purpose it is selected on account of its greasy nature. This greasiness is most marked when it is fresh cut. (General Report, Sydney International Exhibition, 1879.)"

"Mr. Richards stated that the New South Wales black butt and tallow wood were the most durable and noiseless woods for street-paving."

<hw>Tallygalone</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Myxus elongatus, Gunth., a genus of the family Mugilidae, or Grey-Mullet. The word is also spelled talleygalann, and tallagallan. Also called Sand-Mullet.

<hw>Tamarind-Tree</hw>, name given to Diploglottis cunninghamii, Hook., N.O. Sapindaceae; called also Native Tamarind. "A tall tree. The flesh of the fruit is amber and of delightful acid flavour." (Bailey.)

<hw>Tambaroora</hw>, n. a Queensland game. More generally known as "A shilling in and the winner shouts." From a town in Queensland.

"The exciting game of tambaroora . . . Each man of a party throws a shilling, or whatever sum may be mutually agreed upon, into a hat. Dice are then produced, and each man takes three throws. The Nut who throws highest keeps the whole of the subscribed capital, and out of it pays for the drinks of the rest."

<hw>Tamure</hw>, n. the Maori name for the New Zealand Schnapper fish (q.v.).

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 206:

"There are many other sorts of fish, including the tamure, or snapper, the manga, or barracouta, the mango, or dog-fish, of which the natives catch large quantities, and the hapuka. This last fish is caught in pretty deep water, near reefs and rocks. It often attains a great size, attaining as much as 112 pounds. It bears a considerable resemblance to the cod in form, but is, however, of far finer flavour."

1879. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. art. vii. p. 118:

<hw>Tandan</hw>, n. the aboriginal name for the Catfish (q.v.) or Eel-fish (q.v.), Copidoglanis tandanus, Mitchell (or Plotosus tandanus). Mitchell, who first discovered and described the Cat-fish, called it the Tandan, or Eel-fish.

"In this piece of water we caught some small fish, two of them being of a rather singular kind, resembling an eel in the head and shape of the tail."

[p. 45]: "On my return to the camp in the evening, I made a drawing of the eel fish which we had caught early in the day (fig. 2, pl. 5)."

<hw>Tanekaha</hw>, n. Maori name of a New Zealand tree; also called Celery-topped Pine, Phyllocladus trichomanoides, Don., N.O. Coniferae.

"The Tanakaha Tree (Podocarpus asplenifolius) is found scattered over a large portion of the northern island of New Zealand. . . Height, sixty to eighty feet. . . The wood is close and straight in the grain. . . It works up well, is tough and very strong; so much so that the New Zealanders say it is the `strong man' among their forest trees."

"Tanakaha. A slender, handsome tree, sixty feet high; trunk rarely exceeds three feet in diameter; wood pale, close-grained, and excellent for planks and spars; resists decay in moist positions in a remarkable manner."

<hw>Tangi</hw>, n. (pronounced Tang-y) Maori word for a lamentation, a cry, or dirge.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 207:

"They wrapped the mutilated corpse in his red blanket, and bore it, lashed to a tree, to the village, where the usual tangi took place."

"Shortly afterwards a `tangi' was held over those of the party whose remains could be identified."

"'Tis the tangi floats on the seaborne breeze,
In its echoing notes of wild despair."

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 207:

"Hearing us use the word tapu, as we looked towards it, one of our boatmen quickly repeated that the place was tapued for the tanewa (a water demon). `And I wonder,' was his irreverent addition, `what this same tanewa may be! An old pot leg, perhaps!'"

"The river at one time is reported as having been infested with taniwhas—gigantic fish that used to swallow the natives—and a Maori pointed out a deep pool under some willows, and told me his grandfather had been seized by one of these monsters at that spot, dragged to the bottom and eaten. This taniwha, which was about forty feet in length and had a long mane, was in the habit of sometimes standing almost erect in the water, and frightening the women and children out of their wits. It had a tremendous-sized head, and its mouth somewhat resembled the beak of a very large bird. Its neck was about six feet in circumference and was covered with scales, as likewise its body down to its tail, which was formed by a series of fin-shaped projections, and somewhat resembled in form the tail of a grey duck. It had two short legs which were as big around as the body of a half-grown pig, and with one kick it could knock a hole through the stoutest canoe."

<hw>Tannergrams</hw>, n. very recent New Zealand slang. On 1st of June, 1896, the New Zealand Government reduced the price of telegrams to sixpence (slang, a `tanner') for twelve words.

"Tannergrams is the somewhat apt designation which the new sixpenny telegrams have been christened in commercial vernacular."

<hw>Tappa</hw>, n. South-sea Island word. A native cloth made from the bark of the Paper-mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera, Benth.

"The Tappa, or native cloth [of Fiji], made from the bark of a tree. . . Has been extensively used in the draping of the court."

"Tappa, a native cloth of spotless white, made from the bark of the mulberry-tree.'

<hw>Tapu</hw>, adj. a Maori word, but common also to other Polynesian languages. The origin of the English word taboo. It properly means `prohibited.' There was a sacred tapu, and an unclean tapu. What was consecrated to the gods was forbidden to be touched or used by the people.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 208:

"This system of consecration—for that is the most frequent meaning of the term `tapu'—has prevailed through all the islands of the South Seas, but nowhere to a greater extent than in New Zealand."

"They wrapped the mutilated corpse in his red blanket, and bore it, lashed to a tree, to the village, where the usual tangi took place after it had been deposited in the wahi tapu, or sacred ground.'"

"The primary meaning of the Maori word tapu is `sacred'; tabut is a Malay word, and is rendered `the Ark of the Covenant of God'; taboot is a Hindoo word signifying `a bier,' `a coffin,' or `the Ark of the Covenant'; ta is the Sanscrit word `to mark,' and pu `to purify.'"

1879. Clement Bunbury, `Fraser's Magazine,' June, `A Visit to the New Zealand Geysers,' p. 767:

"I had not much time to examine them closely, having a proper fear of the unknown penalties incurred by the violation of anything `tapu' or sacred."

"We found no natives, the cove being under tapu, on account of its being the burial-place of a daughter of Te Pehi, the late chief of the Kapiti, or Entry Island, natives."

". . . Women up till this
Cramp'd under worse than South-Sea-Isle taboo,
Dwarfs of the gynaeceum."

"But chiefly thou, mysterious Tapu,
From thy strange rites a hopeful sign we draw."

"The tapu, which either temporarily or permanently renders sacred an object animate or inanimate, is the nearest approach to the Hindoo religious exclusive-ism."

"His sole `tapu' a far securer guard
Than lock and key of craftiest notch and ward."

<hw>Tapu</hw>, v. originally to mark as sacred, and later to place under a ban. English, taboo.

<hw>Tara</hw>, n. (1) Maori name for the birds Sterna caspia, Pallas, and S. frontalis, Gray, the Sea-Swallow, or Tern (q.v.).

(2) A Tasmanian aboriginal name for the fern Pteris aquilina, L., N.O. Polypodeae.

"The most extensively diffused eatable roots of Van Diemen's Land are those of the tara fern . . . greatly resembles Pteris aquilina, the common fern, brake, breckon, or brackin, of England . . . it is known among the aborigines by the name of tara . . . the root of the tara fern possesses much nutritive matter."

<hw>Taraire</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree; formerly Nesodaphne tarairi, Hook., now Beilschmiedia tarairi, Benth. and Hook., N.O. Laurineae.

"Tarairi. Used for most of the purposes for which sycamore is applied in Europe."

"Tarairi. A lofty forest tree, sixty to eighty feet high, with stout branches. Wood white, splits freely, but not much valued."

<hw>Tarakihi</hw>, n. the Maori name for the fish Chilodactylus macropterus, Richards.; called in Sydney the Norwong (q.v.).

<hw>Tarata</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand tree Pittosporum eugenioides, A. Cunn., N.O. Pittosporeae; called also Mapau, Maple, etc. See Mapau.

1876. W. n. Blair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix., art. x. p. 143:

"A small tree seldom exceeding thirty feet in height, and twelve inches in diameter. It has pale green shining leaves and purple flowers. The wood of a dirty white colour, is tough and fibrous."

1879. J. B. Armstrong, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. art. xlix. p. 329:

"The Tarata. This elegant tree is found on the east coast of both islands. It attains a height of from twenty to thirty feet, and has a stem from twelve to eighteen inches in diameter. It is known to the settlers in some parts as `Lemon-wood.' When displaying its profuse masses of pale golden flowers, it is very pretty."

<hw>Tare, Native</hw>, n. name applied in Tasmania to the plant Swainsonia lessertiaefolia, De C., N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Taro</hw>, n. a familiar food plant, Colocasia species, widely cultivated in tropical regions, especially in Polynesia. The word is Polynesian, and much used by the Maoris.

"Whole fields of Colocasia macrorhyza are cultivated in the South Sea Islands under the name tara or kopeh roots."

"Many a bed,
That late in such luxurious neatness spread,
Of melons, maize and taro—now a wreck."

"A good-looking man was busy broiling beef-steaks, stewing chickens and boiling taro, and we had soon a plentiful repast set before us."

<hw>Tarsipes</hw>, n. the scientific generic name of the Tait (q.v.).

<hw>Tarwhine</hw>, n. an Australian fish, Chrysophrys sarba, Forsk. See Black-Bream. It is somewhat difficult to distinguish the fish from its close relation the Black-Bream, Chrysophrys australis, Gunth. Both are excellent food, and frequently abundant in brackish waters.

<hw>Tar-wood</hw>, n. name given by the Otago bushmen to the tree Darrydium colensoi, Hook.; Maori name, Manoao (q.v.). (Kirk, `Forest Flora,' p. 189.)

<hw>Tasmania</hw>, n. island and colony, formerly called Van Diemen's Land. The new name, from that of the Dutch navigator, Abel Jansen Tasman, was officially adopted in 1853, when the system of transportation ceased. The first quotations show it was in popular use much earlier.

1820. Lieut. Charles Jeffreys, `Delineation of the Island of Van Dieman's Land,' p. 1:

1823. `Godwin's Emigrant's Guide to Van Diemen's Land, more properly called Tasmania':

"Over Van Diemen's Land (or Tasmania, as we love to call it here), New South Wales enjoys also many advantages."

"Tasmania is a more musical alias adopted by the island. It has been given in titular distinction to the first bishop, my excellent and accomplished friend Dr. Nixon, and will doubtless be its exclusive designation when it shall have become a free nation."

<hw>Tasmanian</hw>, n. an inhabitant of Tasmania, a colonist. The word is also used of the aborigines, the race of whom is now extinct.

<hw>Tasmanian Devil</hw>, n. the only species of the genus Sarcophilus (q.v.), S. ursinus.

"Like many of its kindred, the Tasmanian Devil is a burrowing and nocturnal animal. In size it may be compared to a Badger, and owing to its short limbs, plantigrade feet, and short muzzle, its gait and general appearance are very Badger or Bear-like."

<hw>Tasmanian Tiger</hw>, n. called also Native Wolf, Marsupial Wolf, Zebra Wolf, and Hyaena; genus, Thylacinus (q.v.). It is the largest carnivorous marsupial extant, and is so much like a wolf in appearance that it well deserves its vernacular name of Wolf, though now-a-days it is generally called Tiger. There is only one species, Thylacinus cynocephalus, and the settlers have nearly exterminated it, on account of its fierce predatory habits and the damage it inflicts on their flocks. The Tasmanian Government pays L1 for every one destroyed. The Van Diemen's Land Company in the North-West of the Island employs a man on one of its runs who is called the "tiger-catcher."

"About Port Dalrymple an animal was discovered which bore some resemblance to the hyena both in shape and fierceness; with a wide mouth, strong limbs, sharp claws and a striped skin. Agreeably to the general nature of New South Wales quadrupeds, this animal has a false belly. It may be considered as the most formidable of any which New South Wales has been yet found to produce, and is very destructive; though there is no instance of its attacking the human species."

"During our stay a native tiger or hyena bounded from its lair beneath the rocks."

"There is another charming fellow, which all the people here call the Tiger, but as a tiger is like a great cat, and this beast is much more like a dog, you will see how foolish this name is. I believe naturalists call it the dog-faced opossum, and that is not much better . . . the body is not a bit like that of an opossum."

"The `Tasmanian tiger' is of the size of a shepherd's dog, a gaunt yellow creature, with black stripes round the upper part of its body, and with an ugly snout. Found nowhere but in Tasmania, and never numerous even there, it is now slowly disappearing."

<hw>Tasmanian Whiptail</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Coryphaenoides tasmaniae, family Macruridae, or deep-sea Gadoids, an altogether different fish from Myliobatis aquila, the Eagle or Whiptail Ray, which also occurs in Tasmania, but is found all over the world.

<hw>Tasmanite</hw>, n. a mineral. "A resinous, reddish-brown, translucent, hydrocarbon derivative (C40H6202S), found in certain laminated shales of Tasmania, Resiniferous shale." (`Standard.')

<hw>Tassel-fish</hw>, n. a thread-fish of Queensland, of the genus Polynemus, family Polynemidae. Polynemoid fish have free filaments at the humeral arch below the pectoral fins, which Guenther says are organs of touch, and to be regarded as detached portions of the fin; in some the filaments or threads are twice as long as the fish.

"To-day Tassy—as most Victorian cricketers and footballers familiarly term our neighbour over the straits—will send a team into the field."

<hw>Tattoo</hw>, v. and n. to mark the human body with indelible pigments. The word is Polynesian; its first occurrence in English is in Cook's account of Tahiti. The Tahitian word is Tatau, which means tattoo marks on the human skin, from Ta, which means a mark or design. (Littre.) The Maori verb, ta, means to cut, to tattoo, to strike. See Moko.

1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages' (Cook's First Voyage; at Tahiti, 1769), vol. ii. p. 191:

"They have a custom of staining their bodies . . . which they call Tattowing. They prick the skin, so as just not to fetch blood, with a small instrument, something in the form of a hoe. . . . The edge is cut into sharp teeth or points . . . they dip the teeth into a mixture of a kind of lamp-black . . . The teeth, thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, and the handle to which they are fastened being struck by quick smart blows, they pierce it, and at the same time carry into the puncture the black composition, which leaves an indelible stain."

"Since we will give ourselves such torrid airs, I wonder we don't go stark and tattoo ourselves."

"A very famous artist in tatu came with the party, and was kept in constant and profitable employment. Everybody, from the renowned warrior to the girl of twelve years old, crowded to be ornamented by the skilful chisel. . . . The instruments used were not of bone, as they used formerly to be; but a graduated set of iron tools, fitted with handles like adzes, supplied their place. . . . The staining liquid is made of charcoal."

". . . Then the monster, then the man;
Tattoo'd or woaded, winter-clad in skins,
Raw from the prime, and crushing down his mate."

"First among the New Zealand list of disfigurations is tattooing, a Polynesian word signifying a repetition of taps, but which term is unknown in the language of the New Zealanders; moko being the general term for the tattooing on the face, and whakairo for that on the body." [But see Moko.]

<hw>Tawa</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Nesodaphne tawa, Hook., N.O. Laurineae. The newer name is Beilschmiedia tawa, Benth. and Hook. f. Allied to Taraire (q.v.). A handsome forest tree with damson-like fruit.

"Tawa. A lofty forest tree, sixty to seventy feet high, with slender branches. The wood is light and soft, and is much used for making butter-kegs."

<hw>Tawara</hw>, n. Maori name for the flower of the Kie-kie (q.v.), Freycinetia Banksii.

<hw>Tawhai</hw>, or <hw>Tawai</hw>, n. Maori name for several species of New Zealand Beech-trees, N.O. Cupuliferae. The settlers call them Birches (q.v.).

"Tawhai, Red-birch (from colour of bark). A handsome tree, eighty to one hundred feet high. Fagus Menziesii, Hook. [also called large-leaved birch]. Tawhai, Tawhairaunui, Black-birch of Auckland and Otago (from colour of bark), Fagus fusca, Hook."

<hw>Tawhiri</hw>, or <hw>Tawiri</hw>, n. Maori name for the Black Mapau. A name applied to the tree Pittosporum tenuifolium, N.O. Pittosporeae. It is profusely covered with a fragrant white blossom. See Mapau.

Billy-tea, or Bush-tea. Tea made in a billy (q.v.). There is a belief that in order to bring out the full flavour it should be stirred with a gum-stick.

New Zealand tea. Tea made of the leaves of Manuka (q.v.). See Tea-tree.

<hw>Sweet-tea</hw>, or <hw>Botany-Bay tea</hw>, or Australian tea. (Called also Native Sarsaparilla. See Sarsaparilla.) A plant, Smilax glycyphylla, Smith., N.O. Liliaceae.

1788. D. Considen, letter to Sir Joseph Banks, Nov. 18, in `Historical Records of New South Wales,' vol. i. part ii. p. 220:

"I have sent you some of the sweet tea of this country, which
I recommend, and is generally used by the marines and convicts.
As such it is a good anti-scorbutic, as well as a substitute
for that which is more costly."

"The sweet-tea, a creeping kind of vine . . . the taste is sweet, exactly like the liquorice-root of the shops. Of this the convicts and soldiers make an infusion which is tolerably pleasant, and serves as no bad succedaneum for tea."

"`Sweet tea' . . . The decoction made from its leaves . . . is similar in properties, but more pleasant in taste, than that obtained from the roots of S. officinalis, or Jamaica sarsaparilla. The herb is a common article of trade among Sydney herbalists."

<hw>Tea-broom</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for the Tea-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Teak</hw>, n. The original Teak is an East Indian timber-tree, Tectina grandis, but the name has been transferred to other trees in different parts of the world, from a similarity in the hardness of their wood. In Australia, it is given to Dissiliaria baloghioides, F. v. M., N.O. Euphorbiaceae; to Endiandra glauca, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae; and to Flindersia Bennettiana, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae. In New Zealand, it is Vitex littoralis; Maori name, Puriri (q.v.).

<hw>Teal</hw>, n. the common English name given to the small ducks of the genus Querquedula. In Australia, the name is applied to Anas castanea, Eyton; and to the Grey Teal, A. gibberifrons, Mull. See also Goose-teal.

"Brown returned with . . . four teals (Querquedula castanea)." [The old name.]

<hw>Tea-tree</hw>, n. (Very frequently, but erroneously, spelt Ti-tree, and occasionally, more ridiculously still, Ti-tri, q.v.) A name given in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania to several species of trees and shrubs whose leaves were used by Captain Cook's sailors, by escaped convicts, and by the early settlers as a ready substitute for the leaves of the Chinese Tea-plant (Thea chinensis) for making tea. The trees of the genera Leptospermum and Melaleuca were the earliest used, in Australia and New Zealand, in this way. When in blossom, the branches of many species, with their little white flowers, and the general appearance of their leaves, bear a strong resemblance to those of the true Tea-plant. Their leaves, though exceedingly aromatic, have not, however, the same flavour. Nevertheless, it was probably this superficial likeness which first suggested the experiment of making an infusion from them. Some of the species of Leptospermum and Melaleuca are so closely allied, that their names are by some botanists interchanged and used as synonyms for the same plant.

Although not all of the species of these two genera were used for making tea, yet, as a tree-name, the word Tea-tree is indifferently and loosely used to denote nearly all of them, especially in the form Tea-tree scrub, where they grow, as is their habit, in swamps, flat-land, and coastal districts. Other trees or plants to which the name of Tea-tree was occasionally given, are species of the genera Kunzea and Callistemon.

The spelling Ti-tree is not only erroneous as to the origin of the name, but exceedingly misleading, as it confuses the Australian Tea-tree with another Ti (q.v.) in Polynesia (Cordyline ti). This latter genus is represented, in Australia and New Zealand, by the two species Cordyline australis and C. indivisa, the Cabbage-trees (q.v.), or Cabbage palms (q.v.), or Ti-palms (q.v.), or Ti (q.v.), which are a marked feature of the New Zealand landscape, and are of the lily family (N.O. Liliaceae), while the genera Leptospermum and Melaleuca are of the myrtle family (N.O. Myrtaceae).

As to the species of the Australian Tea-tree, that first used by Cook's sailors was either—Leptospermum scoparium, R. and G. Forst.,

L. fravescens, Smith (syn. L. thea, Willd., and Melaleuca thea, Willd.).

The Coast Tea-tree, common on the Victorian shores, and so useful as a sand-binder, is—

The Common Australian Tea-tree (according to Maiden) is Melaleuca leucodendron, Linn.; called also White Tea-tree, Broad-leaved T.-t., Swamp T.-t., and Paper-bark T.-t.

The name, however, as noted above, is used for all species of Melaleuca, the Swamp Tea-tree being M. ericifolia, Smith, and the Black, or Prickly-leaved Tea-tree, M. styphelioides, Smith.

Of the other genera to which the name is sometimes applied, Kunzea pedunculata, F. v. M., is called Mountain Tea-tree, and Callistemon salignus, De C., is called—

In New Zealand, the Maori name Manuka (q.v.) is more generally used than Tea-tree, and the tree denoted by it is the original one used by Cook's sailors.

Concerning other plants, used in the early days for making special kinds of infusions and drinking them as tea, see under Tea, and Cape-Barren Tea.

1777. Cook's `Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World' [2nd Voyage], vol. i. p. 99:

"The beer certainly contributed not a little. As I have already observed, we at first made it of a decoction of the spruce leaves; but finding that this alone made the beer too astringent, we afterwards mixed with it an equal quantity of the tea plant (a name it obtained in my former voyage from our using it as tea then, as we also did now), which partly destroyed the astringency of the other, and made the beer exceedingly palatable, and esteemed by every one on board."

[On page 100, Cook gives a description of the tea-plant, and also figures it. He was then at Dusky Bay, New Zealand.]

"Tea Tree of New South Wales, Melaleuca (?) Trinervia. This is a small shrub, very much branched. . . . It most nearly approaches the Leptospermum virgatum of Forster, referred by the younger Linnaeus, perhaps improperly, to Melaleuca."

1820. C. Jeffreys, R.N., `Geographical and Descriptive Delineations of the Island of Van Dieman's Land,' p. 133:

"Of course they [the Bushrangers] are subject to numerous privations, particularly in the articles of tea, sugar, tobacco, and bread; for this latter article, however, they substitute the wild yam, and for tea they drink a decoction of the sassafras and other shrubs, particularly one which they call the tea-tree bush."

"The leaves of the tea-tree furnished the colonists with a substitute for the genuine plant in the early period of the colony, and from their containing a saccharine matter required no sugar."

"This boy got some bark from a tree called the tea-tree, which makes excellent torches."

"The tea-tree grows in wet situations . . . the leaves infused make a pleasant beverage, and with a little sugar form a most excellent substitute for tea."

"Leptospermum lanigerum, Hoary tea-tree; Acacia decurrens, Black wattle; Conaea alba, Cape-Barren tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony, as have also the leaves and bark of Cryptocarya glaucescens, the Australian Sasafras" (sic) [q.v.].

"The Australian myrtles, or tea-trees, are to be found in thick clusters, shading rocky springs. . . . Its leaves I have seen made into a beverage called tea. It, however, was loathsome, and had not the slightest resemblance to any known Chinese tea."

"Often we had to take the boat down the river several miles, to cut reeds amongst the tea-tree marshes, to thatch our houses with."

"A great quantity of the tea-tree (Leptospermum) scrubs, which formerly lined both banks of the Yarra."

(p. 84): "It is allied to the myrtle family (Melaleuca) . . . A decoction of the leaves is a fair substitute for tea, yielding a beverage of a very aromatic flavour."

"Sobbing through the tea-tree bushes,
Low and tender, loud and wild,
Melancholy music gushes."

Tea-tree 30 " 9 " } Turners' and
} Agricultural
Musk Tea-tree 12 " small } Implements.

"We have among them [the Myrtaceae] . . . the native tea-trees, inappropriately so called, as these bushes and trees never yield substitutes for tea, although a New Zealand species was used in Captain Cook's early expedition, to prepare a medicinal infusion against scurvy; these so-called tea-trees comprise within our colony [Victoria], species of Leptospermum, Kunzea, Melaleuca and Callistemon, the last-mentioned genus producing flowers with long stamens, on which the appellation of `Bottle-brushes' has been bestowed."

"Numerous flowering shrubs, such as the tea-tree, native lilac, and many another that varies the colour and softly scents the atmosphere."

"Along the water's edge, noble titrees, whose drooping branches swept the stream, formed a fringe, the dark green of their thick foliage being relieved."

"Shading a brook the tea-trees grew,
Spangled with blossoms of whitish hue,
Which fell from the boughs to the ground below,
As fall from heaven the flakes of snow."

"The somewhat aromatic leaves of Liscoparium (Forster) were already in Captain Cook's Expedition used for an antiscorbutic Tea, hence the name tea-tree for this and some allied plants."

"Leptospermum scoparium, Forster, the Manuka. . . . It is commonly termed `tea-tree' by the settlers, but must not be confounded with the `ti' or `toi' of the Maories, which is a handsome palm-lily, Cordyline australis, often termed `cabbage-tree' by the bushmen."

"Leptospermum scoparium, Tea Tree. It is said that this is the shrub the leaves of which were utilized by the crews of Captain Cook's ships for the purpose of making `tea,' and that they were also used with spruce leaves in equal quantity for the purpose of correcting the astringency in brewing a beer from the latter. It is exceedingly common about Sydney, so large quantities would therefore be available to the sailors. Species of this genus are exceedingly abundant not far from the coast, and the leaves would be very readily available, but the taste of the infusion made from them is too aromatic for the European palate."

[In Maiden's admirable book slips are very rare. But he is mistaken here in the matter of the abundance of the tree at Sydney having any reference to the question. Captain Cook had but one ship, the Endeavour; and it never entered Port Jackson. It is true that L. scoparium was the tree used by Cook, but he was then at Dusky Bay, New Zealand, and it was there that he used it. See quotations 1777 and 1877.]

"The well-known Melaleuca Leucadendron, called by the colonists tea-tree, from which is extracted what is known in medicine as cajeput oil."

"The ti-tree on either side of the road was in bloom, its soft, fluffy, creamy bushes gathering in great luxuriance on the tops of the taller trees, almost hiding the green."

"There was many a shorthorned Hereford hidden in the innermost recesses of that tick and sand-fly infested ti-tree that knew not the cunning of a stockman's hand."

"No. 133, Coast tea-tree, Leptospermum laevigatum,
F. v. M. No. 142, Swamp tea-tree, Melaleuca ericifolia,
Smith."

<hw>Telopea</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus containing the flower called the Waratah (q.v.), from the Greek taelowpos, `seen from afar,' in allusion (as the author of the name, Robert Brown, himself says) to the conspicuous crimson flowers. The name has been corrupted popularly into Tulip, and the flower is often called the Native Tulip.

"The beautiful crimson flowering shrub, with dark green rhododendron-like leaves, which grows in the upper region of Mount Wellington. . . . The generic name is derived from telopos, seen at a distance. It has been corrupted into tulip tree, to which it bears not the least resemblance."

<hw>Tena koe</hw>, a Maori salutation used in North Island of New Zealand. Lit. "That is you," and meaning "How do you do?"

Tena and Tera both mean `that'; but tena implies the idea of nearness, `that near you,' tera the idea of distance, `that (or there) away yonder.' Hence, while Tena koe is a welcome, Tera koe would be an insult.

<hw>Tench</hw>, n. slang term, used during the days of transportation, for the Hobart Town Penitentiary, or Prisoners' Barracks—a corruption of "'tentiary," which is for Penitentiary. It is now obsolete.

<hw>Teraglin</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Otolithus atelodus, Gunth. The name Teraglin is stated to be aboriginal. Sometimes called Jew-fish (q.v.).

<hw>Thickhead</hw>, n. the name applied to the Australian birds of the genus Pachycephala (q.v.). They are often called Thrushes. The species are—

White-throated T.— P. gutturalis, Lath.; called also the Thunder-bird (q.v.).

"Thick-heads. [Close season.] From the first day of August to the twentieth day of December next following in each year."

<hw>Thornback</hw>, n. special name for one of the Stingrays, Raia lemprieri, Richards., or Raja rostata, Castln., family Raijdae.

"A thornback skate . . . weighing 109 lbs., has been caught . . . at North Arm, South Australia."

<hw>Thousand-Jacket</hw>, n. a North Island name for Ribbon-wood (q.v.), a New Zealand tree. Layer after layer of the inner bark can be stripped off.

"Koninny [sic], raupo, toi-toi, supplejack, thousand-jacket, and the like, are names of things known well enough to the inhabitants of Napier and Taranaki, but to the average stay-at-home Englishman they are nouns which only vexatiously illustrate the difference between names and things."

"Hoheria populnea. The Houhere. Order—Malvaceae. . . In the north of Auckland the typical form is known as `houhere'; but Mr. Colenso informs me the varieties are termed `houi' and `whau-whi' in the south . . . By the settlers all the forms are termed `ribbon-wood,' or less frequently `lace-bark'— names which are applied to other plants: they are also termed `thousand-jacket.'"

"`Thousand-jacket' is a picturesque name for a many-named New Zealand tree, the bark of which peels, and peels, and peels again, though in the number chosen there is certainly a note of exaggeration."

<hw>Throwing-stick</hw>, n. native Australian weapon, by means of which the spear is thrown. See Woomera.

"The principals who perform it come from, Cammer-ray, armed with shields, clubs, and throwing-sticks."

"The throwing-stick is used in discharging the spear. The instrument is from two to three feet in length, with a shell on one end and a hook on the other."

"The spear is propelled by a wommerah or throwing-stick, having at one end a kangaroo's tooth, fixed so as to fit into a notch at the end of the spear. This instrument gives an amount of leverage far beyond what would be excited by unaided muscular strength."

"It is supposed that if the hair of a person is tied on the end of the throwing-stick. . . and roasted before the fire with some kangaroo fat, the person to whom it belonged will pine away and die."

<hw>Thrush</hw>, n. This common English bird-name is applied in Australia and New Zealand to four different genera of birds, viz.—

(1) Collyriocincla, the Shrike-Thrushes (q.v.); the name Collyriocincla is a compound of two Greek bird-names, kolluriown /corr. from kolluriowu in Morris/, `a bird, probably of the thrush kind, Arist. H. A. 9, 23, 2' (`L. & S.' /1869 p.864/), and kigalos, `a kind of wag-tail or water-ousel' (`L. & S.'). The next two genera are derived in a similar way from gaer, earth, and 'opos, mountain.

(4) Pachycephala (q.v.); called Thrushes, but more often Thickheads (q.v.).

T. hectori, Buller, North Island Thrush. T. crassirostris, Gmel., South Island Thrush.

The name Thrush was also applied loosely, by the early writers and travellers, to birds of many other genera which have since been more accurately differentiated. The common English thrush has been acclimatised in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.

<hw>Thunder-bird</hw>, n. an early name for one of the Thickheads (q.v.), or Pachycephalae (q.v.). See also quotation, 1896.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 239:

"`This species,' Mr. Caley says, `is called Thunder-bird by the colonists. . . . The natives tell me, that when it begins to thunder this bird is very noisy.'"

1896. A. J. North, `List of the Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales,' part i. p. 3:

"Pachycephala gutturalis, Latham. `Yellow-breasted Thick-head.' . . . From its habit of starting to sing immediately after a clap of thunder, the report of a gun, or any other loud and sudden noise, it is known to many residents of New South Wales as the Thunder-bird.'

"Pachycephala rufiventris, Latham. `Rufous-breasted
Thickhead.' . . . Also known as the `Thunder-bird.'"

<hw>Thunder-dirt</hw>, n. In New Zealand, a gelatinous covering of a fungus (Ileodictyon cibarium) formerly eaten by the Maoris.

<hw>Thylacine</hw>, and <hw>Thylacinus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the animal called variously the Tasmanian Tiger (q.v.), Hyaena, Tasmanian Wolf, Zebra Wolf, and Marsupial Wolf. The first spelling is the Anglicised form of the word. (Grk. thulakos, a pouch, and kuown, a dog.)

"The Thylacine appears to be generally found among caverns and rocks and the deep and almost impenetrable glens in the neighbourhood of the highest mountains of Tasmania."

<hw>Ti</hw>, n. the name of various species of trees of the genus Cordyline, N.O. Liliaceae. It exists in the Pacific Islands as C. Ti, and in New Zealand the species are C. australis and C. indivisa. It is called in New Zealand the Cabbage-tree (q.v.), and the heart used to be eaten by the settlers. The word is Polynesian. In Hawaiian, the form is Ki; in Maori, Ti. Compare Kanaka (q.v.) and Tangata. By confusion, Tea, in Tea-tree (q.v.), is frequently spelt Ti, and Tea-tree is sometimes spelt Ti-tri (q.v.).

"In these natural shrubberies, too, and especially in wet situations, a kind of cabbage-tree, called ti by the natives, flourishes to great abundance."

"The ti (Cordyline australis or Dracoena australis) is found in great abundance. Though so common, it has a very foreign look . . . the leaf is that of a flag, the flower forms a large droop and is very fragrant."

"Ti-ti palms are dotted here and there, and give a foreign and tropical appearance to the whole."

1890. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. lvii. p. 486:

"In these plains stand a number of cabbage-trees (Cordyline Australis), the ti-trees of the Maori. These often bear only a single head of long narrow harsh leaves at the top of their tall slender stems, but sometimes they are slightly branched, the branches also only bearing a similar tuft."

<hw>Tiaki</hw> (spelt also <hw>Tieke</hw>), n. Maori name for the Saddle-back or Jack-bird (q.v.).

<hw>Tiers</hw>, pl. n. used in Tasmania as the usual word for mountains, in the same way as the word Ranges (q.v.) in Australia.

"Two chains of mountains, the eastern and western tiers, run through it nearly north and south."

"That stuff as they calls horizontal, a mess of branches and
root,
The three barren tiers; and the Craycroft, that 'ud settle
a bandicoot."

<hw>Tiersman</hw>, n. Tasmanian word for one who lives in the Tiers (q.v.).

"Splatters, or, as they are commonly called tiersmen, reside in the forest of stringy bark . . ."

<hw>Tiger-Cat</hw>, n. special name applied to the Common and Spotted-tailed Native Cat. See under Cat.

1852. Ronald C. Gunn, `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. ii. p. 11:

"Dasyurus maculatus, Shaw. . . . The Spotted Martin, Phillip's `Voy. to Botany Bay, p. 276. Martin Cat,' pl. 46. `Tiger Cat' of the Colonists of Tasmania, to which island it is confined. It is distinguished from D. viverrinus, the `Native Cat' of the Colonists, by its superior size and more robust form; also from the tail being spotted as well as the body."

"After the opossums comes a specimen of the tiger-cat (Dasyurus maculatus); this animal, which is so destructive to poultry, is well known throughout the country in Victoria."

<hw>Tihore</hw>, n. Maori name for a species of New Zealand flax. Name used specially in the North Island for the best variety of Phormium (q.v.).

"The species of Phormium tenax thus cultivated is the tihore, literally the `skinning' flax. This name describes the ease with which it submits to the scraping process."

<hw>Tiki</hw>, n. Maori name for the Creator of man, and thence taken to represent an ancestor. The Maoris made large wooden images to represent their Tiki, and gave the name of Tiki to these images. Later they were made in miniature in greenstone (q.v.), and used as neck ornaments. See Heitiki.

<hw>Tit</hw>, n. common English bird name. Applied in Australia to the following species—

<hw>Tit-fish</hw>, n. a name given in North Australia to the Sea-slug, or Trepang; because the appearance of its tentacles suggests the teat of a cow.

1880. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' vol. v. pt. ii. p. 128:

"G. F. Jaeger, in 1833, . . . enumerates four [species of Trepang), viz. Trepang edulis, T. ananas, T. impatiens and T. peruviana. The first of these is certainly found on the reefs, and is called by the fishermen `redfish.' . . . Next to this is the `tit-fish' . . . studded with somewhat distant large tentacles, which project nearly an inch or so."

"They were engaged in smoking a large haul of `tit' fish, which they had made on a neighbouring reef."

<hw>Ti-ti</hw>, n. Maori name for the sea-bird Pelecanoides urinatrix, Gmel., the Diving-petrel. Spelt also tee-tee.

"The petrels—there are nine kinds, and we have names of our own for them, the black burrower, the mutton-bird, the white burrower, the short-billed ti-ti, the long-billed ti-ti, the little storm petrel, and three others that we had no names for—abound on the island."

<hw>Tititpunamu</hw>, n. (spelt also <hw>Tititipunamu</hw>), n. Maori name for the bird Acanthidositta chloris, Sparm., the Rifleman (q.v.). It has many other Maori names.

<hw>Titoki</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand tree, Alectryon excelsum, De C., N.O. Sapindaceae. Also called New Zealand Oak and New Zealand Ash. See Alectryon.

"The berry of the titoki tree might be turned to account. The natives extract a very fine oil from it."

1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences or Incidents of Thirty-four Years in New Zealand,' p: 16:

"For this purpose, titoki was deemed the most suitable timber, from its hardness and crooked growth resembling English oak."

"Titoki, a beautiful tree with large panicles of reddish flowers . . . Wood has similar properties to ash. Its toughness makes it valuable for wheels, coachbuilding, etc."

"It is sometimes termed `the New Zealand ash,' doubtless on account of its resembling that tree in the shape of its foliage and in the toughness of its wood, but it is most generally known as the `titoki.'"

"The saddling-paddock and the scales are surrounded by a fence made of stout titoki saplings, on which are perched the knowing."

<hw>Ti-tree</hw>, n. erroneous spelling of Tea-tree (q.v.). See also Manuka.

<hw>Titri</hw>, n. corruption for Tea-tree (q.v.), from the fancy that it is Maori, or aboriginal Australian. On the railway line, between Dunedin and Invercargill, there is a station called "Titri," evidently the surveyor's joke.

"Our way lay across two or three cultivations into a grove of handsome titri. Traversing this we came to a broad, but shallow and stony creek, and then more titri, merging into light bush."

<hw>Toad-fish</hw>, n. In New Zealand, a scarce marine fish of the family Psychrolutidae, Neophrynichthys latus. In Australia, the name is applied to Tetrodon hamiltoni, Richards., and various other species of Tetrodon, family Gymnodontes, poisonous fishes.

Toad-fishes are very closely allied to Porcupine-fishes. "Toads" have the upper jaw divided by a median suture, while the latter have undivided dental plates. See Porcupine-fish and Globe-fish,

"The Poisonous or Toad Fish of Van Diemen's Land. (Communicated by James Scott, Esq. R.N. Colonial Surgeon). . . . The melancholy and dreadful effect produced by eating it was lately instanced in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town, on the lady of one of the most respectable merchants, and two children, who died in the course of three hours . . . The poison is of a powerful sedative nature, producing stupor, loss of speech, deglutition, vision and the power of the voluntary muscles, and ultimately an entire deprivation of nervous power and death."

<hw>Toatoa</hw>, n. Maori name of New Zealand tree, Phyllocladus glauca, Carr., N.O. Coniferae. The Mountain Toatoa is P. alpinus, Hook.

"The toa toa, a small tree which is much prized by the natives for walking-sticks, and only grows, they say, in the neighbourhood of Tonga Riro. The stick underneath the bark is of a bright red colour, which takes a fine polish."

<hw>Tobacco, Native</hw>, n. In Australia generally, a true Tobacco, Nicotiana suaveolens, Lehm., N.O. Solanaceae; readily eaten as a forage plant by stock. In Queensland, the name is also applied to Pituri (q.v.). In Tasmania, the name is given to Cassinia billardieri, De C., N.O. Compositae. Various American tobaccos are also naturalised, and their growing and manufacture is an industry. Tobacco manufactured in the colonies, whether from imported American leaf or from leaf grown in the colonies, is called Colonial Tobacco.

"In the rich soil near the river-bed, we saw the yellowish flowers of the native tobacco, Nicotiana suaveolens."

<hw>Toe-ragger</hw>, n. In the bush a term of abuse; though curiously in one or two parts of New South Wales the word "toey," which is derived from it, is a term of praise, a "swell." The word has been explained as of convict origin, that the rags were used to soothe the galling of fetters; but the explanation is not satisfactory, for the part galled by the irons would not be the toe, but the ankle. A writer in `Truth' has cleared up the word (see quotation). It is of Maori origin. Away from Maoriland "toe-rigger" had no meaning, and a false meaning and origin were given by the change of vowel.

"The bushie's favorite term of opprobrium `a toe-ragger' is also probably from the Maori. Amongst whom the nastiest term of contempt was that of tau rika rika, or slave. The old whalers on the Maoriland coast in their anger called each other toe-riggers, and to-day the word in the form of toe-ragger has spread throughout the whole of the South Seas."

<hw>Toe-toe</hw>, and <hw>Toi-toi</hw>, Maori name of several species of native grass of the genus Arundo, especially Arundo conspicua, A. Cunn. Toe-toe is the right spelling in Maori, given in Williams' `Maori Dictionary.' In English, however, the word is frequently spelt toi-toi. It is also called Prince of Wales' feather.

1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses, Session II. No. xvii. of the former Legislative Council of New Zealand':

"Section 2. . . . there shall be levied in respect of every building constructed wholly or in part of raupo, nikau, toitoi, wiwi kakaho, straw or thatch of any description [ . . . L20]."

"The toi toi and Phorinium tenax in the corners are
New Zealand emblems."

"Where Christmas lilies wave and blow,
Where the fan-tails tumbling glance,
And plumed toi-toi heads the dance."

1878. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. iv. pt. 2, p. 90:

"Looking at it as it lay extended, it resembled a very large whale (nui tohora)."

"In the open sea, and to the south, the most prized whale next to the sperm is the black whale, or tohora (Eubalaena Australis), which is like the right whale of the North Sea, but with baleen of less value."

<hw>Tohunga</hw>, n. Maori word for a wise man. "Perhaps from Maori verb tohu, to think." (Tregear's `Polynesian Dictionary.') Tohu, a sign or omen; hence Tohunga, a dealer in omens, an augur.

"But he whose grief was most sincere
The news of that unwonted death to hear,
Was Kangapo, the Tohunga—a Priest
And fell Magician famous far and near."

1878. F. E. Maning, `Heke's War, told by an Old Chief,' `New Zealand Reader,' p. 153:

"Amongst these soldiers there was not one tohunga—not a man at all experienced in omens—or they must have had some warning that danger and defeat were near."

"She would consult a tohunga. The man she selected— one of the oldest and most sacred of the Maori priests, prophet, medicine-man, lawyer and judge."

<hw>Tolmer's Grass</hw>, n. a fibrous plant, Lepidosperma gladiatum, Labill., N.O. Cyperaceae, suitable for manufacture of paper. It is not a true grass, and is classed by Maiden (`Useful Native Plants,' p. 626) under fibres.

<hw>Tomahawk</hw>, n. a word of North-American Indian origin, applied in English to the similarly shaped short one-handed axe or hatchet. The word is not frequent in England, but in Australia the word hatchet has practically disappeared, and the word Tomahawk to describe it is in every-day use. It is also applied to the stone hatchet of the Aboriginals. A popular corruption of it is Tommy-axe.

"A plentiful assortment of . . . knives, shirts, toma-hawkes [sic], axes, jackets, scissars [sic], etc., etc., for the people in general."

"They [the Aboriginals] cut out opossums from a tree or sugar bag (wild honey) by means of a tomahawk of green stone; the handle is formed of a vine, and fixed in its place with gum. It is astonishing what a quantity of work is got through in the day with these blunt tomahawks."

"The snow had been blown together, and was frozen so hard that I had to take my tomahawk to chop it down so as to get softer snow to refresh myself with a wash."

"Shearers were very scarce, and the poor sheep got fearfully `tomahawked' by the new hands."

"Some men never get the better of this habit, but `tomahawk' as badly after years of practice as when they first began."

<hw>Tommy-axe</hw>, n. a popular corruption of the word Tomahawk (q.v.); it is an instance of the law of Hobson-Jobson.

<hw>Tomtit</hw>, n. name applied in New Zealand to two New Zealand birds of the genus Myiomoira, the species being M. toitoi, Garnot, in North Island; M. macrocephala, Gmel., in South Island.

<hw>Tonquin Bean-Tree</hw>, n. a Tasmanian variety of Native Sandalwood; also called Tonga Beanwood.

"`Tonga Bean-wood (Alyxia buxifolia, Br.). The odour is similar to that of the Tonga Bean (Dipteryx odorata). A straggling seaside shrub, three to five inches in diameter."

<hw>Tooart</hw>, or <hw>Tewart</hw>, n. a West Australian name for Eucalyptus gomphocephala, or White Gum. See Gum.

"The Tewart Tree (Eucalyptus), a variety of the White Gum, found principally in the Swan River and King George's Sound District of Western Australia. . . . Of straight growth and noble dimensions. The wood is of a yellowish or straw colour, hard, heavy, tough, strong and rigid. . . . It is used in ship-building for beams, keelsons, stern-posts, engine-bearers, and for other works below the line of flotation."

<hw>Tookytook</hw>, n. a corruption of Kotukutuku (q.v.), a Maori name equivalent to Konini, the fruit of the Fuchsia-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Toot</hw>, n. the anglicised spelling of the Maori word Tutu (q.v.).

<hw>Tooted</hw>, quasi past participle from Toot. The cattle are tooted, sc. poisoned by the Toot.

"His hearty salutation in its faultiness proved to be about on a par with `rummy-rum,' `triddy' and `toot.' The last word reminds me of a man near by who was even judged to be somewhat vain of his Maori accent and pronunciation. With one word he was indeed very particular, he could not bring himself to use that manifest corruption `toot.' With him it was ever `tutu.' He had to make rather a boggle or dodge of it when he used the colonial made verb formed on his favourite Maori noun."

<hw>Tooth-shell</hw>, n. The name is applied, in Europe, to any species of Dentalium and allied genera having a tooth-shaped shell. In Australia, it is the shell of Marinula pellucida, Cooper, a small marine mollusc used for necklaces.

<hw>Tope</hw>, n. an Australasian Shark, Galeus australis, Macl. It differs somewhat from Galeus canis, the Tope of Britain. Called also the School-Shark, in Australia.

<hw>Top-knot Pigeon</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Lopholaimus antarcticus, Shaw.

<hw>Torea</hw>, n. Maori name for all the New Zealand species of the Oyster-catchers (q.v.).

<hw>Torpedo</hw>, n. a fish, well known elsewhere, and also called elsewhere, the Numb-fish and Cramp fish. For the Australian species, see quotation.

"Our Torpedo or Electric Ray is Hypnos subnigrum, that of Tasmania is Narcine Tasmaniensis."

"Making a bag of the famous Torres Straits pigeons (Myristicivora spilorrhoa), a large white variety, highly esteemed for the table, which, arriving from the north [that is New Guinea], is distributed from October until the end of March throughout the tree-bearing islets and mainland coast, as far south as Keppel Bay."

<hw>Totara</hw>, n. Maori name for a lofty-spreading New Zealand tree, Podocarpus totara, A. Cunn., N.O. Coniferae,. In Maori, the accent falls on the first syllable; but in English use it is often placed on the second, and from Mr. Polack's spelling it must have been so as early as 1840. Called also Mahogany-pine. There are several other species, e.g. P. vivalis, Hook., the Mountain Totara; called also Mahogany Pine. See Mahogany, and Pine.

"This is an unpublished species of Podocarpus, called Totara by the natives. . . . The value placed on this tree by the natives is sometimes the occasion of quarrels, terminating in bloodshed, if it is cut down by any except the party by whom it is claimed. . . It is not unusual for the trees to descend from father to son."

"The totara is one of the finest trees in the forest, and is the principal wood used by the natives, whether for canoes, houses, or fencing."

"Totara (Podocarpus totara) and Matai (Podocarpus spicata) are large and beautiful trees found in every forest."

"The Totara Tree (Taxus or Podocarpus totara). Height, eighty to ninety feet. The wood is red in colour, close, straight, fine and even in grain . . . a good substitute for mahogany."

"With the exception of the kauri, the totara affords the most valuable timber in New Zealand, but unlike the kauri it is found almost throughout the colony."

<hw>Towai</hw>, n. Maori name for New Zealand tree, Weinmannia racemosa, Forst., N.O. Saxifrageae, i.q. Kamahai in south of South Island, and Tawhero in North Island (Wellington).

"Its banks . . . are covered almost wholly with the towai. This tree has very small dark leaves.It is used for ship- building, and is called by Englishmen the `black birch.'"

"The ake . . . and towai (Leiospermum racemosum) are almost equal, in point of colour, to rosewood."

"Towhai, Kamahi. A large tree; trunk two to four feet in diameter, and fifty feet high. Wood close-grained and heavy, but rather brittle. . . . The bark is largely used for tanning. The extract of bark is chemically allied to the gum kino of commerce, their value being about equal."

<hw>Township</hw>, n. a village, a possible future town. In the United States, the word has a definite meaning—a district, subordinate to a county, the inhabitants having power to regulate their local affairs; in Australia, the word has no such definite meaning. It may be large or small, and sometimes consists of little more than the post-office, the public-house, and the general store or shop.

"The timber of a hundred and twenty acres was cut down . . . a small township marked out, and a few huts built."

"It used to seem to me a strange colonial anomaly to call a very small village a `township,' and a much larger one a `town.' But the former is the term applied to the lands reserved in various places for future towns."

"There's a certain township and also a town,—
(For, to ears colonial, I need not state
That the two do not always homologate)."

"A few words of comparison here. A pub of Australia is a tavern or hotel in Canada; a township is a village; a stock-rider is a cow-boy; a humpy is a shanty; a warrigal or brombie 1s a broncho or cayuse; a sundowner is a tramp; a squatter is a rancher; and so on through an abundant list."

"Villages, which are always called `townships,' spring up suddenly round a railway-station or beside some country inn."

"A township—the suffix denotes a state of being—seems to be a place which is not in the state of being a town. Does its pride resent the impost of village that it is glad to be called by a name which is no name, or is the word loosely appropriated from America, where it signifies a division of a county? It is never found in England."

"There stands the town of Dandaloo—
A township where life's total sum
Is sleep, diversified with rum."

<hw>Traveller</hw>, n. used specifically for a Swagman, a Sundowner. See quotation.

"At the station where I worked for some time (as `knock-about-man') three cooks were kept during the `wallaby' season—one for the house, one for the men, and one for the travellers. Moreover, `travellers' would not unfrequently spend the afternoon at one of the three hotels (which, with a church and a pound, constituted the adjoining township), and having `liquored up' extensively, swagger up to the station, and insist upon lodging and food—which they got. I have no desire to take away the character of these gentlemen travellers, but I may mention as a strange coincidence, that, was the requested hospitality refused by any chance, a bush-fire invariably occurred somewhere on the run within twelve hours."

"Throughout the Western pastoral area the strain of feeding the `travellers,' which is the country euphemism for bush unemployed, has come to be felt as an unwarranted tax upon the industry, and as a mischievous stimulus to nomadism."

". . . never refuses to feed travellers; they get a good tea and breakfast, and often 10 to 20 are fed in a day. These travellers lead an aimless life, wandering from station to station, hardly ever asking for and never hoping to get any work, and yet they expect the land-owners to support them. Most of them are old and feeble, and the sooner all stations stop giving them free rations the better it will be for the real working man. One station-owner kept a record, and he found that he fed over 2000 men in twelve months. This alone, at 6d. a meal, would come to L100, but this is not all, as they `bag' as much as they can if their next stage is not a good feeding station."

<hw>Tree-creeper</hw>, n. popular name applied to members of an old Linnaean genus of birds. The Australian species are enumerated by Gould in quotation.

<hw>Tree-Kangaroo</hw>, called Boongary (q.v.) by the aboriginals. See Dendrolagus and Kangaroo.

<hw>Tree-Runner</hw>, n. another name for the Sittella (q.v.). The species are—

<hw>Tree-Tit</hw>, n. The word tit is terminally applied to many little English birds. In Australia, this new compound has been adopted for the two species, Short-billed Tree-tit, Smicrornis brevirostris, Gould, and Yellow-tinted Tit, S. flavescens, Gould.

<hw>Tremandra</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of Australian plants, the Purple Heath-flower. Name given by R. Brown in 1814, from the remarkably tremulous anthers. (Lat. tremere, to tremble, and Grk. 'anaer, 'andros a man, taken as equivalent to "anther.")

<hw>Trevally</hw>, or <hw>Trevalli</hw>, or <hw>Trevalla</hw>, or <hw>Travale</hw>, n. an Australian fish. In various localities the name is applied to several fishes, which are most of them of the family Carangidae, or Horse-Mackerels. An Old-World name for the Horse-Mackerels is Cavalli (Ital. cavallo, a little horse). Trevalli is sometimes called Cavalli; this was probably its original name in Australia, and Trevalli a later corruption.

Black Trevally— Teuthis nebulosa, Quoy, family Teuthididae (a New South Wales fish).

Mackerel T. (so called in Tasmania)— Neptonemus dobula, Gunth., family Carangidae.

Silver T.— Another Tasmanian name for the White Trevally, Caranx georgianus (see below).

Snotgall T.—
Neptonemus travale, Casteln. (in Victoria);
N. brama, Gunth. in Tasmania); both of the family
of Carangidae.

White T.— Caranx georgianus, Cuv. and Val., family Carangidae; (so called in New South Wales, New Zealand, and Tasmania; in Victoria it is called Silver Bream). Teuthis javus, Linn., family Tuethididae.

The Maori name for the Trevally is Awara, and in Auckland it is sometimes called the Yellow-Tail (q.v.). See also quotation, 1886.

Guenther says, the genus Teuthis is readily recognised by the peculiar structure of the ventral fins, which have an outer and an inner spine and three soft rays between.

"Several canoes came off to the ship, and two or three of them sold us some fish—cavallys as they are called—which occasioned my giving the Islands the same name."

"Dr. Hector says: `The trevalli is the arara of the Maoris, or the trevalli or cavalli of the fishermen . . . In Auckland it is sometimes called the yellow-tail, but this name appears to be also used for the king-fish. The fish known as trevalli in the Dunedin market is a different fish, allied to the warehou.'"

<hw>Triantelope</hw>, n. a European comic variation of the scientific name Tarantula. It is applied in Australia to a spider belonging to a quite different genus, Voconia, a perfectly harmless spider, though popularly supposed to be poisonous. It has powerful mandibles, but will attack nobody unless itself attacked.

"The tarantulas, or `triantelopes,' as the men call them, are large, ugly spiders, very venomous."

"There is no lack of spiders either, of all sorts and sizes, up to the large tarantula, or tri-antelope, as the common people persist in calling it."

<hw>Tribonyx</hw>, n. There are several species of this bird in Australia and Tasmania, where they go by the name of Native Hen, and sometimes, erroneously, Moor-hen (q.v.). For the species, see Native Hen. No species of Tribonyx has been found wild in New Zealand, though other birds have been mistaken for the genus.

"I ought perhaps here to refer to a species mentioned in the former Introduction as a newly discovered addition to the New Zealand Avifauna, but now omitted from the list . . ."

"Tribonyx, a bird incapable of flight, but admirably adapted for running."

<hw>Trichosurus</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of the Phalangers (q.v.), or Australian Opossums (q.v.). (Grk. trichos, of hair, and 'oura, tail.)

<hw>Trickett</hw>, n. slang name for a long drink of beer in New South Wales, after Trickett, the New South Wales champion sculler.

<hw>Trigger-plant</hw>, n. i.q. Hairtrigger (q.v.) plant; called also Jack-in-a-box.

<hw>Trigonia</hw>, n. a bivalve marine mollusc with a nacreous interior, much admired in Tasmania and used for pendants and necklaces, Trigonia margaritacea, Lamarck, of the order Pectinaceae. It is the largest trigonia occurring in Australasia, and the only one found in Tasmania. Numerous extinct species are characteristic of the Mesozoic rocks. The only living species existing are confined to Australia.

<hw>Trooper</hw>, n. a mounted policeman. The use is transferred from the name for a private soldier in a cavalry regiment. The Native troopers, or Black police, in Queensland, are a force of aboriginal police, officered by white men.

"A violent effort [was] made by the troopers on duty to disperse an assemblage which occupied the space of ground in front of the hustings."

<hw>Tropic-bird</hw>, n. The English name is applied because the bird is usually seen in the tropics. The species observed in Australia are—Red-tailed, Phaeton rubricaudus, Bodd.; White-tailed, P. candidus, Briss.

"Phaeton Phoenicurus, Gmel., Red-tailed Tropic Bird; New Holland Tropic Bird, Latham, `General History, vol. x. p. 448."

<hw>Tropidorhynchus</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of birds peculiar to Australia and New Guinea. The typical species has a knob on the bill, and the head and neck destitute of feathers. From Grk. tropis, the keel of a ship, and rhunchos, "beak." They are called Friar Birds (q.v.), and the generic name of Tropidorhynchus has been replaced by Philemon (q.v.).

<hw>Trout</hw>, n. The English Trout has been naturalised in Australia. In Tasmania, the name of Trout, or Mountain-Trout, is also given to species of the genus Galaxias. See Salmon.

<hw>Trumpeter</hw>, n. (1) A fish of Tasmanian, New Zealand, and Australian waters, but chiefly of Hobart— Latris hecateia, Richards., family Cirrhitidae, much esteemed as a food-fish, and weighing sometimes 50 or 60 lbs. The name is probably from the noise made by the fish when taken out of the water. The name was formerly given to a different fish in Western Australia. See also Bastard-Trumpeter, Morwong, and Paper-fish.

1834. M. Doyle, `Letters and Journals of G. F. Moore, Swan River Settlement,' p. 191:

"Many persons are trying to salt fish, which are very numerous in the river about and below Perth, as you must have seen by one of my letters, in which I mentioned our having taken 10,000 at one draught of the seine; these are of the kind called herrings, but do not look very like them; they make a noise when out of the water, and on that account are also called trumpeters."

"The finest kinds are the guard-fish of the mainland and the trumpeter of the Derwent in Tasmania."

"The first of these [Latris] is the genus of the well-known
`Hobart Town trumpeter,' a fish deservedly of high reputation."

(2) An obsolete name in Tasmania for the black Crow-Shrike (q.v.), Strepera fuliginosa, Gould.

<hw>Tuan</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the Flying-Squirrel (q.v.). See also Pongo.

"The flying-squirrel, or tuan, is much sought after for its fine fur; of these there are two kinds, a large one of a dark colour, only found 1n the mountains; and a smaller description found in all parts of the colony, and better known by the native name, tuan."

"The Touan, the little grey flying-squirrel, only begins to fly about at night, and slides down from his bough sudden and sharp."

<hw>Tuatara</hw>, n. the Maori name of a New Zealand lizard, or reptile, Hatteria punctata, Gray; called also Sphenodon puntatum.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 218:

"A small boy of a most precocious nature, who was termed `tua tara,' from a horrid sort of lizard that the natives abhor."

"The Tuatara is the largest existing New Zealand reptile. It is closely allied to the Lizards; but on account of certain peculiarities of structure, some of which tend to connect it with the Crocodiles, is placed by Dr. Guenther in a separate order (Rhynchocephalina)."

<hw>Tucker</hw>, n. Australian slang for food. To tuck in is provincial English for to eat, and tuck is a school-boy word for food, especially what is bought at a pastrycook's. To make tucker means to earn merely enough to pay for food.

"When a travelling man sees a hut ahead, he knows there's water inside, and tucker and tea."

<hw>Tui</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand bird, Prosthemadera novae-zelandae, Gray; called the Parson-bird (q.v.), and earlier the Poe (q.v.). Another name is the Koko, and the young bird is distinguished as Pi-tui, or Pikari. It is also called the Mocking bird.

"Tui. This remarkable bird, from the versatility of its talents for imitation, has by some been called `the Mocking-Bird.'"

"The little birds were chiefly the tui, or mocking-bird. It resembles a blackbird in size and plumage, with two graceful bunches of white feathers under the neck. It abounds in the woods, and is remarkably noisy and active . . . it imitates almost every feathered inhabitant of the forest, and, when domesticated, every noise it hears."

"I saw several birds named the Tooi; they are black, about the size of a starling, and are sometimes called Parson-birds, as they have two white feathers like clergymen's bands in front of them."

"One of the prettiest creatures is the tui, Parson-Bird of the colonists (Prosthemadera Novae-Zelandae), which roves about in the lofty, leafy crowns of the forest-trees."

"Woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring
The Tui up to sing his morning hymns."

"I hear the swell
Of Nature's psalms through tree and bush,
From tui, blackbird, finch and thrush."

As the forest soft echoes brought back their sweet chorus,
The tuis seemed silent from envy and spleen."

<hw>Tulip-tree</hw>, n. The name is given, in Australia, to Stenocarpus cunninghamii, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae, on account of the brilliancy of its bright-red flowers; called also Queensland Fire-tree.

<hw>Tulip-wood</hw>, n. The name is given, in Australia, to Aphnanthe philipinensis, Planch., N.O. Urticaceae, and to the timber of Harpullia pendula, Planch., N.O. Sapindaceae. It is, further, a synonym for the Emu-Apple.

"The tulip-wood, with its variegated flowers and delightful perfume, grows in abundance."

<hw>Tumata-kuru</hw>, n. Maori name for plant better known as Wild Irishman (q.v.), Discaria toumatou, Raoul. "A thorny plant, very difficult to handle." (Vincent Pyke.) Tumatagowry, or Matagory (q.v.), is the Southern corruption of contractors, labourers, and others.

"Upon the arid flats, patches of Tumatu-kuru, and of a purple-flowering broom, struggle to maintain a scraggy existence."

"The tumatakuru merits a place in this work rather on account of its value in the past than of its present usefulness. In the early days of settlement in the South Island this afforded the only available timber in many mountain-valleys, and was frequently converted by hand sawyers for building purposes; being of great durability, it was found very serviceable, notwithstanding its small dimensions: the formation of roads has deprived it of value by facilitating the conveyance of ordinary building timber."

<hw>Tupara</hw>, n. Maori corruption of "two-barrel." Compare the aboriginal word Whilpra (q.v.).

"He had previously despatched a messenger to me, begging me to bring some tupara, or `two-barrel.'"

"They were labouring under the `tupera fever' [in 1840]. The percussion-gun had made its appearance, and the natives were not slow to see how much more effectual a weapon it was than the old flint `brown-bess.' And when they saw the tupera, double-barrelled gun, the rage at once set in to possess it."

<hw>Tupong</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a Southern Australian fish, Aphritis bassii, Castln., family Trachinidae. Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson says it is called Marble-fish in the Geelong district. It is also known as the Freshwater Flathead.

<hw>Tupuna</hw>, n. Maori word, meaning ancestor, progenitor, male or female. Often used in the Land Courts in the question: "Who are your tupuna?"

"I asked his permission to ascend Tonga Riro . . . But he steadily refused, saying, `I would do anything else to show you my love and friendship, but you must not ascend my tepuna, or ancestor.'"

"One evening a smart, handsome lad came to tell me his tupuna was dying . . . The tribe were ke poto or assembled to the last man about the dying chief."

<hw>Turbot</hw>, n. The name is given to a New Zealand fish, called also Lemon-Sole (q.v.) or Yellow-belly (q.v.), Ammotretis guntheri.

"Turbot—a fish not uncommon in the Dunedin market, where it goes by the name of `lemon-sole.'"

<hw>Turkey</hw>, n. This common English bird-name is applied in Australia to three birds, viz.—

(1) To the bird Eupodotis australis, Gray, which is a true Bustard, but which is variously called the Native Turkey, Plain Turkey (from its frequenting the plains), and Wild Turkey.

(2) To the bird Talegalla lathami, Gould, called the Brush Turkey (from its frequenting the brushes), Wattled Turkey and Wattled Talegalla (from its fleshy wattles), and sometimes, simply, Talegalla. By Latham it was mistaken for a Vulture, and classed by him as the New Holland Vulture. (`General History of Birds,' 1821, vol. i. p. 32.)

(3) To the bird Leipoa ocellata, Gould, called the Scrub-Turkey (from its frequenting the Scrubs, the Lowan (its aboriginal name), the Native Pheasant (of South Australia); in the Mallee district it is called Mallee-bird, Mallee-fowl, Mallee-hen.

In the following quotations the number of the bird referred to is placed in square brackets at the end.

"We passed several nests of the Brush-Turkey (Talegalla
Lathami, Gould)." [2.]

"Otis Australasianus, Gould, Australian Bustard; Turkey, Colonists of New South Wales; Native Turkey, Swan River." [1.]

"Talegalla Lathami, Wattled Talegalla; Brush-Turkey of the Colonists." [2.]

"The bird that repaid the sportsman best was the plain turkey or bustard (Otis Australasianus), a noble fellow, the male weighing from eighteen to twenty pounds. They differ from the European birds in being good flyers. . . . The length of the wings is very great, and they look like monsters in the air." [1.]

"The scrub-turkey (Talegalla Lathami) is a most curious bird; its habitat is in the thickest scrubs. In appearance it much resembles the English hen turkey, though but little larger than a fowl." [2.]

"Look at this immense mound. It is a scrub-turkey's nest. Thirty or forty lay their eggs in it. One could hardly imagine they could gather such a huge pile of sticks and earth and leaves. They bury their eggs, and heap up the nest until the laying time ceases. The moist heap heats and incubates the eggs. The young turkeys spring out of the shell, covered with a thick warm coat, and scratch their way into daylight, strong and able to provide food for themselves." [3.]

"The bustard (Eupodotis Australis) is known by the colonists as the native turkey. It is excellent eating and is much sought after on that account. The hen bird lays only one egg, depositing it on the bare ground. Formerly they were numerous in the neighbourhood of Melbourne, but they have now been driven further inland; they are still abundant on the western plains and on the open Saltbush country of the Lower Murray. They are difficult to approach on foot, but it is easy to get within gunshot of them on horseback or driving. The natives used formerly to capture them in an ingenious manner by means of a snare; they approached their intended victim against the wind under cover of a large bush grasped in the left hand, while in the right was held a long slender stick, to the end of which was fastened a large fluttering moth, and immediately below a running noose. While the bird, unconscious of danger, was eyeing and pecking at the moth, the noose was dexterously slipped over its head by the cunning black, and the astonished bird at once paid the penalty of its curiosity with its life." [1.]

"In the first division are several specimens of the Brush-Turkey (Talegalla Lathami) of Australia. These birds have excited world-wide interest in scientific circles, by their ingenious mode of incubating. They construct a large mound of vegetable mould and sand; mixed in such proportions that a gentle heat will be maintained, which hatches the buried eggs. The young chicks can look after themselves shortly after bursting the egg-shell." [2.]

"The brush-turkeys, which are not really turkeys but birds of that size, build big mounds of decaying vegetable matter, lay their eggs on the top, cover them over with leaves, and leave the whole to rot, when the heat of the sun above and of the fermentation below, hatches the eggs, and the young creep out to forage for themselves without ever knowing their parents." [2.]

"The well-known `wild turkey' of Australian colonists is a bustard, and he has the good sense to give a wide berth to the two-legged immigrants indeed the most common method of endeavouring to secure an approach to him is to drive up to him in a buggy, and then to let fly. The approach is generally made by a series of concentric circles, of which the victim is the centre. His flesh is excellent, the meat being of a rich dark colour, with a flavour resembling that of no other game bird with which I am acquainted." [1.]

"The brush-turkey (Talegalla), another of the sand-builders, lays a white egg very much like that of a swan, while the third of that wonderful family, the scrub-hen or Megapode, has an egg very long in proportion to its width." [2.]

<hw>Turmeric</hw>, i.q. Stinkwood (q.v.); also applied occasionally to Hakea dactyloides, Cav., N.O. Proteaceae. See Hakea.

<hw>Turnip-wood</hw>, n. the timbers of the trees Akania hillii, J. Hook., N.O. Sapindaceae, and Dysoxylon Muelleri, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae, from their white and red colours respectively.

<hw>Turpentine, Brush</hw>, name given to two trees— Metrosideros leptopetala, F. v. M., also called Myrtle; and Rhodamnia trinervia, Blume, both N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Turpentine-Tree</hw>, n. The name is applied to many trees in Australia yielding a resin, but especially to the tree called Tallow-Wood (q.v.), Eucalyptus microcorys, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae; to Eucalyptus punctata, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae, called also Leather- Jacket, Hickory, Red-, and Yellow-Gun, and Bastard-Box; and to E. stuartiana, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. In New Zealand, it is also applied to the Tarata. See Mapau.

"[E. Stuartiana is] frequently called Turpentine Tree, or Peppermint Tree. In Victoria it is known as Apple Tree, Apple-scented Gum, White Gum, and Mountain Ash. It is the Woolly Butt of the county of Camden (New South Wales). Occasionally it is known as Stringybark. It is called Box about Stanthorpe (Queensland), Tea Tree at Frazer's Island (Queensland), and Red Gum in Tasmania."

<hw>Tussock-grass</hw>, n. Tussock is an English word for a tuft of grass. From this a plant of the lily family, Lomandra longifolia, R. Br., N.O. Lilaceae, is named Tussock-grass; it is "considered the best native substitute for esparto." (`Century.')

"Now, a `sun-downer,' or `tussocker'—for the terms are synonymous—is a pastoral loafer; one who loiters about till dusk, and then makes for the nearest station or hut, to beg for shelter and food."

<hw>Tutu</hw>, or <hw>Toot</hw>, n. Maori name for a shrub or small tree, Coriaria ruscifolia, Linn., or C. sarmentosa, Forst., of New Zealand, widely distributed. It bears greenish flowers, and shiny pulpy black berries. From these the Maoris make a wine resembling light claret, taking care to strain out and not to crush the seeds, which are poisonous, with an action similar to that of strychnine. It goes also by the name of Wineberry-bush, and the Maori name is Anglicised into Toot. In Maori, the final u is swallowed rather than pronounced. In English names derived from the Maori, a vowel after a mute letter is not sounded. It is called in the North Island Tupakihi. In Maori, the verb tutu means to be hit, wounded, or vehemently wild, and the name of the plant thus seems to be connected with the effects produced by its poison. To "eat your toot": used as a slang phrase; to become acclimatised, to settle down into colonial ways.

"The plant called `tutu' or `toot' appears to be universal over New Zealand. If eaten by sheep or cattle with empty stomachs, it acts in a similar manner to green clover, and sometimes causes death; but if partaken of sparingly, and with grass, it is said to possess highly fattening qualities. None of the graziers, however, except one, with whom I conversed on the subject, seemed to consider toot worth notice; . . . it is rapidly disappearing in the older settled districts and will doubtless soon disappear here."

"The wild shrub Tutu (Coriaria ruscifolia), greedily devoured by sheep and cattle, produces a sort of `hoven' effect, something like that of rich clover pastures when stock break in and over feed. . . . Bleeding and a dose of spirits is the common cure. . . Horses and pigs are not affected by it."

"The toot-plant, tutu or tupakihi of the Maoris (Coriaria sarmentosa, Forst. = C. ruscifolia, L.), is a small bush, one of the most common and widely distributed shrubs of the islands. [New Zealand.] It produces a sort of `hoven' or narcotic effect on sheep and cattle, when too greedily eaten. It bears a fruit, which is produced in clusters, not unlike a bunch of currants, with the seed external, of a purple colour. The poisonous portion of the plant to man are the seeds and seedstalks, while their dark purple pulp is utterly innoxious and edible. The natives express from the berries an agreeable violet juice (carefully avoiding the seed), called native wine."

"The tutu-tree,
Whose luscious purple clusters hang so free
And tempting, though with hidden seeds replete
That numb with deadly poison all who eat."

"Tupakihi, tree tutu. A perennial shrub ten to eighteen feet high; trunk six to eight inches in diameter. The so-called berries (fleshy petals) vary very much in succulence. . . . The juice is purple, and affords a grateful beverage to the Maoris; and a wine, like elderberry wine, has been made from them. The seeds and leaves contain a poisonous alkaloid, and produce convulsions, delirium and death, and are sometimes fatal to cattle and sheep."

"When footpaths about Christchurch were fringed with tutu bushes, little boys were foolish enough to pluck the beautiful berries and eat them. A little fellow whose name was `Richard' ate of the fruit, grew sick, but recovered. When the punster heard of it, he said, `Ah! well, if the little chap had died, there was an epitaph all ready for him, Decus et tutamen. Dick has ate toot, amen.'"

"You will gather from this that I'm not `broken in,'
And the troublesome process has yet to begin
Which old settlers are wont to call `eating your tutu;'
(This they always pronounce as if rhyming with boot)."

"The poisonous tutu bushes. A berry-bearing, glossy-leaved plant, deadly to man and to all animals, except goats."

"The Cockney new chum soon learnt to `eat his toot,' and he quickly acquired a good position in the district."

<hw>Twenty-eight</hw>, n. another name for the Yellow-collared Parrakeet. Named from its note. See Parrakeet.

"Platycercus Semitorquatus, Quoy and Gaim., Yellow-collared Parrakeet; Twenty-eight Parrakeet, Colonists of Swan River. It often utters a note which, from its resemblance to those words, has procured for it the appellation of `twenty-eight' Parrakeet from the Colonists; the last word or note being sometimes repeated five or six times in succession."

<hw>Umbrella-bush</hw>, Acacia osswaldi, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae.

"Often called `Umbrella-Bush,' as it is a capital shade tree.
A small bushy tree."

"The plant is exquisitely adapted for tall hedges. It is often called the `umbrella tree,' as it gives a capital shade. The heart-wood is dark, hard, heavy and close-grained."

<hw>Umbrella-grass</hw>, i.q. Native Millet, Panicum decompositum, R. Br., N.O. Gramineae. See Millet. It is called Umbrella-grass, from the shape of the branches at the top of the stem representing the ribs of an open umbrella.

<hw>Umbrella-tree</hw>, n. name given to Brassaia actinophylla, Endl., N.O. Araliaceae, from the large leaves being set, like umbrella-ribs, at the top of numerous stems.

"The tangi had terminated; the umu or `cooking holes' were smoking away for the feast."

"The native oven (umu hangi) is a circular hole of about two feet in diameter and from six to twelve inches deep."

". . . being all in and around the umus (or native ovens) in which they had been cooked."

1882. S. Locke, `Traditions of Taupo,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xv. art. liv. p. 440:

"They killed Kurimanga the priest and cooked him in an oven, from which circumstance the place is called Umu-Kuri."

1889. S. P. Smith, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxii. p. 98:

"The oumu or haangi, in which food was cooked, was only a hole scooped in the ground, of a size proportioned to that which was to be cooked."

<hw>Union Nut</hw>, n. a fine cabinet timber, Bosistoa sapindiformis, F. v. M., N.O. Rutaceae.

<hw>"Unlock the lands."</hw> A political cry in Victoria, meaning open up for Free-selection (q.v.) the lands held by squatters on lease.

"The democratic party, that had for its watchword the expressive phrase, `Unlock the lands.'"

<hw>Unpayable</hw>, adj. not likely to pay for working; not capable of yielding a profit over working expenses. (A very rare use.)

"Unpayable Lines.—The Commissioner of Railways has had a return prepared showing the results of the working of 48 lines for the year ending 30th June, 1896. Of these, 33, covering 515 miles, do not pay working expenses, and are reckoned to be the worst lines in the colony."

<hw>Utu</hw>, n. a Maori word for "Return, price paid, reward, ransom, satisfaction for injuries received, reply." (Williams.) Sometimes corrupted by Englishmen into Hoot (q.v.).

"Utu or payment is invariably expected for any injustice committed, and is exacted in some shape, the sufferer feeling debased in his own opinion until he obtains satisfaction. The Utu, similar to the tapu, enters into everything connected with this people."

"He asserted that we should pay for the tapu; but suggested as an amendment that the utu or `payment' should be handed to him."

"Utu, which may be freely translated `blood for blood,' is with him [the Maori] a sacred necessity. It is the lex talionis carried out to the letter. The exact interpretation of the formidable little word `Utu' is, I believe, `payment.'"

"The learned commissioner's court was instantly besieged by bands of natives vociferating for more `utu' (payment), and threatening the settlers with the tomahawk if more `utu' were not instantly accorded."

"Besides that, for such shining service done,
A splendid claim, he reckoned, would arise
For `utu'—compensation or reward."

"Blood for blood, or at least blood money, is Maori law. Better the blood of the innocent than none at all, is a recognised maxim of the Maori law of utu."

<hw>Vandemonian</hw>, n. and adj. belonging to Van Diemen's land, the old name of Tasmania; generally used of the convicts of the early days; and the demon in the word is a popular application of the law of Hobson-Jobson. Now obsolete.

"The Van Diemonians, as they unpleasingly call themselves, or permit themselves to be called, are justly proud of their horse-flesh."

"One of the first acts of the Legislative Assemblies created by the Australian Reform Bill of 1850 was to pass . . . acts levelled against Van Diemonian expirees."

"`I never wanted to leave England,' I have heard an old Vandemonian observe boastfully. `I wasn't like one of these `Jemmy Grants' (cant term for `emigrants'); I could always earn a good living; it was the Government as took and sent me out."

<hw>Vandemonianism</hw>, n. rowdy conduct like that of an escaped convict; the term is now obsolete.

"Mr. Houston looked upon the conduct of hon. gentlemen opposite as ranging from the extreme of vandemonianism to the extreme of nambypambyism."

<hw>Van Diemen's Land</hw>, the name given to the colony now called Tasmania, by Abel Jansz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, in 1642, after Anthony Van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The name was changed to Tasmania (q.v.) in 1853, on the granting of Responsible Government.

<hw>Vedalia</hw>, n. a genus of greedily predatory ladybirds. The V. cardinalis of Australia was imported by the United States Government from Australia and New Zealand into California in 1888-89, in order to kill the fluted scale (Icerya purchasi), a fruit-pest. It destroyed the scale in nine months.

<hw>Velvet-fish</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Holoxenus cutaneus, Gunth., family Cirrhitidae. The skin is covered with minute appendages, so soft to the touch as to suggest velvet; the colour is deep purplish red.

<hw>Verandah</hw>, n. In Australia, the heat of the sun makes verandahs much commoner than in England. They are an architectural feature of all dwelling-houses in suburb or in bush, and of most City shops, where they render the broad side-walks an almost continuous arcade. "Under the Verandah " has acquired the meaning, "where city men most do congregate."

"In Melbourne there is the `verandah'; in Sandhurst there is a `verandah'; in Ballaarat there is a `verandah.' The verandah is a kind of open exchange—some place on the street pavement, apparently selected by chance, on which the dealers in mining shares do congregate."

"What I miss most in London is the Verandahs. With this everlasting rain there is no place to get out of a shower, as in Melbourne. But I suppose it pays the umbrella-makers."

<hw>V-hut</hw>, a term used in the province of Canterbury, New Zealand. See quotations.

"The form is that of a V hut, the extremities of the rafters being left bare, so as to form buttresses to the walls" (of the church).

"I am now going to put up a V-hut on the country that I took up on the Rangitata. . . . It consists of a small roof set up on the ground; it is a hut all roof and no walls."

"In case my readers may not know what a `V' hut is like, I will describe one:—It is exactly as if you took the roof off a house and stood it on the ground, you can only stand upright in the middle."

"Not long ago a Canterbury lady said—`I was born in a V-hut, and christened in a pie-dish.'"

<hw>Victoria</hw>, n. the name of the smallest of all the Australian colonies. It was separated from New South Wales in 1851, when it was named after Queen Victoria. Sir Thomas Mitchell had before given it the name of "Australia Felix," and Dr. J. D. Lang wanted the name "Phillipsland." He published a book with that title in 1847. Previous to separation, the name used was "the Port Phillip District of New South Wales."

<hw>Village Settlement</hw>, the system, first adopted in New Zealand, whence it spread to the other colonies, of settling families on the land in combination. The Government usually helps at first with a grant of money as well as granting the land.

<hw>Vine</hw>, n. In Australia, the word is loosely applied to many trailing or creeping plants, which help to form scrubs and thickets. In the more marked cases specific adjectives are used with the word. See following words.

"Vitis in great abundance and of many varieties are found especially in the scrubs, hence the colonists call this sort of brush, vine-scrub."

<hw>Vine, Burdekin</hw>. Called also Round Yam, Vitis opaca, F. v. M., N.O. Ampelideae.

<hw>Vine, Macquarie Harbour</hw>, or <hw>Macquarie Harbour Grape</hw> (q.v.). Same as Native Ivy. See Ivy.

"Muhlenbeckia adpressa is the Macquarie Harbour Vine of Tasmania, an evergreen climbing or trailing shrub of most rapid growth, sometimes 60 feet in length. It produces racemes of fruit somewhat resembling grapes or currants, the nut being invested with the large and fleshy segments of the calyx. The fruit is sweetish and subacid, and is used for tarts."

"How we saw the spreading myrtles,
   Saw the cypress and the pine,
Saw the green festoons and bowers
   Of the dark Macquarie vine,
Saw the blackwoods and the box-trees,
   And the spiral sassafrases,
Saw the fairy fern-trees mantled
   With their mossy cloak of grasses."

<hw>Waddy</hw>. (1) An aboriginal's war club. But the word is used for wood generally, even for firewood. In a kangaroo hunt, a man will call out, "Get off and kill it with a waddy," i.e. any stick casually picked up. In pigeon-English, "little fellow waddy" means a small piece of wood.

In various dictionaries, e.g. Stanford, the word is entered as of aboriginal origin, but many now hold that it is the English word wood mispronounced by aboriginal lips. L. E. Threlkeld, in his `Australian Grammar,' at p. 10, enters it as a "barbarism "—"waddy, a cudgel." A `barbarism,' with Threlkeld, often means no more than `not in use on the Hunter River'; but in this case his remark may be more appropriate.

On the other hand, the word is given as an aboriginal word in
Hunter's `Vocabulary of the Sydney Dialect' (1793), and in
Ridley's `Kamilaroi' (1875), as used at George's River. The
Rev. J. Mathew writes:

"The aboriginal words for fire and wood are very often, in fact nearly always, interchangeable, or interchanged, at different places. The old Tasmanian and therefore original Australian term for wood and fire, or one or the other according to dialect, is wi (wee) sometimes win. These two forms occur in many parts of Australia with numerous variants, wi being obviously the radical form. Hence there were such variants as wiin, waanap, weenth in Victoria, and at Sydney gweyong, and at Botany Bay we, all equivalent to fire. Wi sometimes took on what was evidently an affixed adjective or modifying particle, giving such forms as wibra, wygum, wyber, wurnaway. The modifying part sometimes began with the sound of d or j (into which of course d enters as an element). Thus modified, wi became wadjano on Murchison River, Western Australia; wachernee at Burke River, Gulf of Carp.; wichun on the Barcoo; watta on the Hunter River, New South Wales; wudda at Queanbeyan, New South Wales. These last two are obviously identical with the Sydney waddy = `wood.' The argument might be lengthened, but I think what I have advanced shows conclusively that Waddy is the Tasmanian word wi + a modifying word or particle."

"It is amusing to see the consequential swagger of some of these dingy dandies, as they pass lordly up our streets, with a waddie twirling in their black paws."

"Such a weapon as their waddy is: it is formed like a large kitchen poker, and nearly as heavy, only much shorter in the handle. The iron-bark wood, of which it is made, is very hard, and nearly as heavy as iron."

"The word `waddie,' though commonly applied to the weapons of the New South Wales aborigines, does not with them mean any particular implement, but is the term used to express wood of any kind, or trees. `You maan waddie 'long of fire,' means `Go and fetch firewood.'"

"The Lachlan black, who, with his right hand full of spears, his whaddie and heleman in his left, was skipping in the air, shouting his war cry."

"The waddy is a heavy, knobbed club about two feet long, and is used for active service, foreign or domestic. It brains the enemy in the battle, or strikes senseless the poor gin in cases of disobedience or neglect."

"The landlord swore to the apparition of a huge blackfellow flourishing a phantasmal `waddy.'"

1879. C. W. Schuermann, `Native Tribes of Australia—Port Lincoln Tribe,' p. 214:

"The wirris, by the whites incorrectly named waddies, are also made of gum saplings; they are eighteen inches in length, and barely one inch in diameter, the thin end notched in order to afford a firm hold for the hand, while towards the other end there is a slight gradual bend like that of a sword; they are, however, without knobs, and every way inferior to the wirris of the Adelaide tribes. The natives use this weapon principally for throwing at kangaroo-rats or other small animals."

"The `waddy' is a powerful weapon in the hands of the native. With unerring aim he brings down many a bird, and so materially assists in replenishing the family larder."

"A general name for all Australian clubs is `waddy,' and, although they are really clubs, they are often used as missiles in battle."

1855. Robert Lowe (Viscount Sherbrooke), `Songs of the Squatters,' canto ii. st. 7:

"When the white thieves had left me, the black thieves
appeared,
My shepherds they waddied, my cattle they speared."

"Only three weeks before he had waddied his gin to death for answering questions asked her by a blacktracker."

"For they waddied one another, till the plain was strewn with
dead,
While the score was kept so even that they neither got
ahead."

<hw>Waddy Wood</hw>, or <hw>White Wood</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the tree Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae; from which the aboriginals there chiefly made their Waddies.

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 156:

"11th October, 1848. . . a sample of a very fine close-grained white timber, considered by him suitable for wood-engraving purposes, obtained in a defile of Mount Wellington. It seems to be the young wood of Pittosporum bicolor, formerly in high estimation amongst the Aborigines of Tasmania, on account of its combined qualities of density, hardness, and tenacity, as the most suitable material of which to make their warlike implement the waddie."

<hw>Wagtail</hw>, or <hw>Wagtail Fly-catcher</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Rhipidura tricolor, the Black-and-white Fantail, with black-and-white plumage like a pied wagtail. See also quotation, 1896. The name is applied sometimes in Gippsland, and was first used in Western Australia as a name for the Black-and-white Fantail. See Fantail.

"He pointed to a Willy-wagtail which was hopping cheerfully from stone to stone."

1896. A. J. North, `List of the Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales,' pt i. p. 13:

"Salltoprocta motacilloides, Vig. and Horsf. `Black and White Fantail.' `Water Wagtail.'. . . From this bird's habit of constantly swaying its lengthened tail feathers from side to side it is locally known in many districts as the `Willy Wagtail.'"

"Having enquired how many (wives) the Kings of England had, he laughed heartily at finding they were not so well provided, and repeatedly counted `four wahine' (women) on his fingers."

"It is not fit that a daughter of the great tribe should be the slave-wife of the pakeha and the slave of the white wahine."

<hw>Waipiro</hw>, n. Maori name for spirits,— literally, stinking water, from piro, stinking, and wai, water. In New Zealand geography, the word Wai is very common as the first part of many names of harbours, lakes, etc. Compare North-American Indian Fire-water.

"Another native keeps a grog-shop, and sells his waipero, as he says, to Hourangi drunken pakehas."

"He would go on shore, in spite of every warning, to get some water to mix with his waipiro, and was not his canoe found next day floating about with his paddle and two empty case bottles in it?"

1887. The Warrigal, `Picturesque New Zealand,' `Canterbury Weekly Press,' March 11:

"The priest was more than epigrammatic when he said that the Maoris' love for `waipiro' (strong waters) was stronger than their morals."

<hw>Wait-a-while</hw>, n. also called Stay-a-while: a thicket tree.

"Acacia colletioides, A. Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae, `Wait-a-while' (a delicate allusion to the predicament of a traveller desirous of penetrating a belt of it)."

<hw>Waka</hw>, n. Maori word for canoe. Waka huia is a box for keeping feathers, originally the feathers of the huia (q.v.).

"`Whaka' is the native name, or rather the native genetic term, for all canoes, of which there are many different kinds, as tete, pekatu, kopapa, and others answering in variety to our several descriptions of boats, as a `gig,' a `whaleboat,' a `skiff,' a `dingy,' etc."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `On the Maori Canoe,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. iv. p. 72:

"Canoes may be divided into four classes; Waka-taua or Waka-hitau were canoes, fully carved; the Waka-tetee, which, generally smaller, had a plain figure-head and stern; Waka-tiwai, an ordinary canoe of one piece, and the kopapa or small canoe, usually used for fishing, travelling to cultivation, etc."

<hw>Waler</hw>, n. Anglo-Indian name for an Australian horse imported from New South Wales into India, especially for the cavalry. Afterwards used for any horse brought from Australia.

"Horses are exported largely from Australia to India even. I have heard men from Bengal talk of the `Walers,' meaning horses from New South Wales."

"Well, young Shaver, have you seen the horses? How is the
Waler's off fore-leg?"

"The soul of the Regiment lives in the Drum-Horse who carries the silver kettle-drums. He is nearly always a big piebald Waler."

"C. R. Gaunt is Senior Subaltern of the 4th (Royal Irish)
Dragoon Guards, at present stationed at Rawul Pindi in India.
He won the Regimental Cup Steeplechase this year on an
Australian mare of his own. Australian horses are called
`Walers' in India, from the circumstance of their being
generally imported from New South Wales."

<hw>Wallaby</hw>, n. a name used for the smaller kinds of Kangaroos of the genus Macropus (q.v.), formerly classed as Halmaturus. An aboriginal word. See Collins, 1798, below. (Wolbai, in the Kabi dialect of South Queensland, means a young creature.) Also spelt Walloby, Wallabee, and Wallobi. As in the case of Kangaroo (q.v.), the plural is a little uncertain, Wallaby or Wallabies. Some of them are sometimes called Brush-Kangaroos (q.v.). The following are the species—

In addition, there are six species of Rock-Wallaby (q.v.), genus Petrogale (q.v.). See also Paddymelon.

Three species of Nail-tailed Wallabies, genus Onychogale (q.v.), are confined to Australia. They are the Nail-tailed Wallaby, Onychogale unguifera, Gould; Bridled W., O. frenata, Gould; Crescent W., O. lunata, Gould.

Three species of Hare-Wallabies (genus Lagorchestes, q.v.), confined to Australia, are the Spectacled Hare-Wallaby, Lagorchestes conspiculatus, Gould; Common H. W., L. leporoides, Gould; Rufous H. W., L. hirsutus, Gould.

One species, called the Banded-Wallaby (genus, Lagostrophus, q.v.), confined to Western Australia, is L. fasciatus, Peron and Less.

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocabulary]:

"In the long coarse grass with which these flats are always covered, a species of small kangaroo is usually found, which the natives call the `wallaby.' Their colour is darker than that of the forest kangaroo, approaching almost to that of a fox, and they seat themselves in the grass like a hare or a rabbit."

"The rock Wallaby, or Badger, also belongs to the family of the kangaroo; its length from the nose to the end of the tail is three feet; the colour of the fur being grey-brown."

"Sipping doubtfully, but soon swallowing with relish, a plate of wallabi-tail soup."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 18:

"I have also been frowned upon by bright eyes because I could not eat stewed wallabi. Now the wallabi is a little kangaroo, and to my taste it is not nice to eat even when stewed to the utmost with wine and spices."

"To hear . . . that wallabies are `the women of the native race' cannot but be disconcerting to the well-regulated colonial mind." [He adds a footnote]: "It is on record that a journalistically fostered impression once prevailed, to high English circles, to the effect that a certain colonial Governor exhibited immoral tendencies by living on an island in the midst of a number of favourite wallabies, whom he was known frequently to caress."

"Of tons of 'baccy, and tons more to follow,—
Of wallaby as much as thou could'st swallow,—
Of hollow trees, with 'possums in the hollow."

"My two companions . . . went off with the keeper [sic] to shoot wallaby. Sir George (Grey) has a paternal affection for all his creatures, and hates to have them killed. But the wallaby multiply so fast that the sheep cannot live for them, and several thousands have to be destroyed annually."

"`Morality!' exclaimed the colonist. `What does your lordship suppose a wallaby to be?' `Why, a half-caste, of course.' `A wallaby, my lord, is a dwarf kangaroo!'"

<hw>Wallaby-Bush</hw>, n. a tall shrub or tree, Beyeria viscosa, Miq., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. Same as the Pinkwood of Tasmania.

<hw>Wallaby-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Danthonia penicillata, F. v. M., N.O. Gramineae.

<hw>Wallaby-skin</hw>, the skin, with the hair on it, of the wallaby, prized as a warm and ornamental fur for rugs.

<hw>Wallaby track, On the</hw>, or <hw>On the Wallaby</hw>, or <hw>Out on the Wallaby</hw>, or simply <hw>Wallaby</hw>, as adj. [slang]. Tramping the country on foot, looking for work. Often in the bush the only perceptible tracks, and sometimes the only tracks by which the scrub can be penetrated, are the tracks worn down by the Wallaby, as a hare tramples its "form." These tracks may lead to water or they may be aimless and rambling. Thus the man "on the wallaby" may be looking for food or for work, or aimlessly wandering by day and getting food and shelter as a Sundowner (q.v.) at night.

"The Wimmera district is noted for the hordes of vagabond `loafers' that it supports, and has earned for itself the name of `The Feeding Track.' I remember an old bush ditty, which I have heard sung when I was on the `Wallaby.' . . . At the station where I worked for some time (as `knockabout man') three cooks were kept during the `wallaby' season—one for the house, one for the men, and one for the travellers."

"`What is the meaning of `out on the wallaby'?' asked Ernest. `Well, it's bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat; if we can't get work, living on the country, till things turn round a little.'"

"Our friends who pursue the ever-lengthening but not arduous track of the wallaby in Australia."

"The wallaby track? That's the name in Australia for trampin' west, through the plains of the Never Never Country, lookin' for the luck o' the world."

"`On the Wallaby: a Book of Travel and Adventure.' `On the Wallaby' is an Australianism for `on the march,' and it is usually applied to persons tramping the bush in search of employment."

"A `wallaby' Christmas, Jack, old man!—
   Well, a worse fate might befall us!
The bush must do for our church to-day,
   And birds be the bells to call us.
The breeze that comes from the shore beyond,
   Thro' the old gum-branches swinging,
Will do for our solemn organ chords,
   And the sound of children singing."

"Though joys of which the poet rhymes
Was not for Bill an' me
I think we had some good old times
Out on the Wallaby."

<hw>Wallaroo</hw>, n. native name for a large species of Kangaroo, the mountain kangaroo, Macropus robustus, Gould. The black variety of Queensland and New South Wales is called locally the Wallaroo, the name Euro being given in South and Central Australia to the more rufous- coloured variety of the same species.

In the aboriginal language, the word walla meant `to jump,' and walla-walla `to jump quickly.'

"The wallaroo, of a blackish colour, with coarse shaggy fur, inhabiting the hills."

"Some very fierce and ready to attack man, such as the large mountain `wolloroo.'"

"Charley shot a Wallooroo just as it was leaping, frightened by our footsteps, out of its shady retreat to a pointed rock."

"Up the steep,
Between the climbing forest-growths they saw,
Perched on the bare abutments of the hills,
Where haply yet some lingering gleam fell through,
The wallaroo look forth."

[Footnote]: "A kind of large kangaroo, peculiar to the higher and more difficult mountains."

"A wallaroo, a peculiar kind of kangaroo (Macropus robustus), which was kept tame at a station, showed a marked fondness for animal food, particularly for boiled salt beef. A dove had been its companion, and these two animals were the best of friends for half-a-year, when the wallaroo one day killed its companion and partly ate it."

"Professor Baldwin Spencer kindly deals with the question as follows:—What is the distinction between a wallaroo and a wallaby?—A wallaroo is a special form of kangaroo (Macropus robustus) living in the inland parts of Queensland and New South Wales. Wallaby is the name given to several kinds of smaller kangaroos, such as the common scrub wallaby (Macropus ualabatus) of Victoria. The wallaroo is stouter and heavier in build, its fur thicker and coarser, and the structure of its skull is different from that of an ordinary wallaby."

<hw>Wallflower, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Pultenaea subumbellata, Hook., N.O. Leguminosae. In Australia, used as another name for one of the Poison- Bushes (q-v.).

<hw>Wandoo</hw>, n. Western Australian aboriginal word for the White Gum-tree of Western Australia, Eucalyptus redunca, Schauer, N.O. Myrtaceae. It has a trunk sometimes attaining seventeen feet in diameter, and yields a hard durable wood highly prized by wheelwrights.

<hw>Waratah</hw>, n. an Australian flower. There are three species, belonging to the genus Telopea, N.O. Proteaceae. The New South Wales species, T. speciosissima, R. Br., forms a small shrub growing on hill-sides, as does also the Tasmanian species, T. truncata, R. Br.; the Victorian species, T. oreades, F. v. M., called the Gippsland Waratah, grows to a height of fifty feet. It has a bright crimson flower about three inches in diameter, very regular. Sometimes called the Australian or Native Tulip. As emblematic of Australia, it figures on certain of the New South Wales stamps and postcards. The generic name, Telopea (q.v.), has been corrupted into Tulip (q.v.). Its earliest scientific generic name was Embothrium, Smith.

"The most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New
Holland affords is, by common consent both of Europeans and
Natives, the Waratah."

1801. Governor King, in `Historical Records of New South Wales' (1896), vol, iv. p. 514 (a Letter to Sir Joseph Banks):

"I have also sent in the Albion a box of waratahs, and the earth is secured with the seed."

"Bennillong assisted, placing the head of the corpse, near which he stuck a beautiful war-ra-taw."

[Description, but not the name.] "A plant called the gigantic lily also flourishes on the tops of these mountains, in all its glory. Its stems, which are jointy, are sometimes as large as a man's wrist, and ten feet high, with a pink and scarlet flower at the top, which when in full blossom (as it then was) is nearly the size of a small spring cabbage."

"Interspersed with that magnificent shrub called warratah or tulip-tree, and its beautiful scarlet flowers."

"The most common of them was, however, the Telopia [sic] Tasmaniensis, or waratah, or scarlet tulip tree, as it has been occasionally termed by stock-keepers."

"And waratah, with flame-hued royal crown,
Proclaim the beauties round Australia's own."

"And the waratahs in state,
With their queenly heads elate,
And their flamy blood-red crowns,
And their stiff-frill'd emerald gowns."

"Outside the tropical Queensland forests, the scarlet flowering gum of Western Australia, and the Waratah, of Blue Mountains fame, are its [i.e. the wattle's] only rivals."

"The memory of many residents runs back to the time when the waratah and the Christmas-bush, the native rose and fuchsia, grew where thickly-peopled suburbs now exist. . . . The waratah recedes yearly."

"The wattles and waratahs are creditable instances of the value of our Australian flowers for art purposes, and the efforts of the artists to win recognition for their adaptability as subjects for the artist's brush are deserving of acknowledgment."

<hw>Warbler</hw>, n. This English birdname is applied loosely to many birds of different genera in Australia and New Zealand.

The majority of the Australian Warblers have now had other names assigned to them. (See Fly-eater and Gerygone.) The name has been retained in Australia for the following species—

"Grey Warbler (Gerygone flaviventris) also belongs to an Australian genus. It is remarkable for its curious and beautifully formed nest, and as being the foster-parent to the Longtailed Cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the Warbler's nest."

<hw>Warden</hw>, n. The term is applied specifically to the Government officer, with magisterial and executive powers, in charge of a goldfield.

"The chief official in a digging settlement, the padra [sic] of the district, is entitled the warden."

<hw>Warehou</hw>, n. Maori name for the fish Neptonemus brama, Gunth., called Snotgall-Trevally in Tasmania, and called also Sea-Bream. See Trevally.

<hw>Warrener</hw>, n. a name applied by Tasmanian children to the larger specimens of the shells called Mariners (q.v.). The name is an adaptation, by the law of Hobson-Jobson, from a Tasmanian aboriginal word, Yawarrenah, given by Milligan (`Vocabulary,' 1890), as used by tribes, from Oyster Bay to Pittwater, for the ear-shell (Haliotis). The name has thus passed from shell to shell, and in its English application has passed on also to the marine shell, Turbo undulatus.

<hw>Warrigal</hw>, n. and adj. an aboriginal word, originally meaning a Dog. Afterwards extended as an adjective to mean wild; then used for a wild horse, wild natives, and in bush-slang for a worthless man. The following five quotations from vocabularies prove the early meaning of the word in the Port Jackson district, and its varying uses at later dates elsewhere.

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocab.]:

The quotations which follow are classed under the different meanings borne by the word.

"I have heard that the dingo, warragal or native dog, does not hunt in packs like the wolf and jackal."

[A picture of two dingoes, and beneath them the following quotation from Kendall—]:

"The following little poem, entitled `The Warrigal' (Wild Dog) will prove that he (H. Kendall) observed animal life as faithfully as still life and landscape:

`The sad marsh-fowl and the lonely owl
Are heard in the fog-wreath's grey,
Where the Warrigal wakes, and listens and takes
To the woods that shelter the prey.'"

"There, night by night, I heard the call
The inharmonious warrigal
Made, when the darkness swiftly drew
Its curtains o'er the starry blue."

1881. `The Australasian,' May 21, p. 647, col. 4 ["How we ran in `The Black Warragal'": Ernest G. Millard, Bimbowrie, South Australia]:

"You must let me have Topsail today, Boss,.
If we're going for that Warrigal mob."

"Six wild horses—warrigals or brombies, as they are called—have been driven down, corralled, and caught. They have fed on the leaves of the myall and stray bits of salt-bush. After a time they are got within the traces. They are all young, and they look not so bad."

"Mike will fret himself to death in a stable, and maybe kill the groom. Mike's a warrigal he is."

"Warrigal. In this Cook district, and I believe in many others, a blackfellow who has broken any of the most stringent tribal laws, which renders him liable to be killed on sight by certain other blacks, is warri, an outlaw."

"Here's a real good wholesome cabbage—warrigal cabbage the shepherds call it."

<hw>Washdirt</hw>, n. any alluvial deposit from which gold is obtained by washing; or "the auriferous gravel, sand, clay, or cement, in which the greatest proportion of gold is found." (Brough Smyth's `Glossary,' 1869.) Often called dirt (q.v.).

"In colour the washdirt is of a browner and more iron-stained appearance than the white free wash met across the creek."

<hw>Waterbush</hw>, n. an Australian tree, i.q. Native Daphne. See Daphne.

<hw>Watergrass</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Manna grass, Poa fluitans, Scop., N.O. Gramineae.

<hw>Water-hole</hw>, n. The word pond is seldom used in Australia. Any pond, natural or artificial, is called a Water-hole. The word also denotes a depression or cavity in the bed of an intermittent river, which remains full during the summer when the river itself is dry.

"`Water-holes' appeared at intervals, but they seemed to have little water in them."

"About four miles from last night's camp the chain of large water-holes commences, and continues beyond tonight's camp."

"The water-hole was frozen over, so she was obliged to go on farther, where the water ran."

"A bottomless water-hole, about 300 feet wide, exists at
Maryvale homestead, Gipps Land."

"`That will be another water-hole.' `What an ugly word . . . why don't you call them pools or ponds?' `I can't tell you why they bear such a name, but we never call them anything else, and if you begin to talk of pools or ponds you'll get well laughed at.'"

[The murderer] has not since been heard of. Dams and waterholes have been dragged . . . but without result."

<hw>Water-Myrtle</hw>, an Australian tree, Tristania neriifolia, R. Br., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Water-Tree</hw>, n. a tree from which water is obtained by tapping the roots, Hakea leucoptera, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae; called also Needle-bush. The quotation describes the process, but does not name the tree.

"I expressed my thirst and want of water. Looking as if they understood me, they [the aboriginals] hastened to resume their work, and I discovered that they dug up the roots for the sake of drinking the sap . . . They first cut these roots into billets, and then stripped off the bark or rind, which they sometimes chew, after which, holding up the billet, and applying one end to the mouth, they let the juice drop into it."

<hw>Wattle</hw>, n. The name is given to very many of the various species of Acacia (q.v.), of which there are about 300 in Australia, besides those in Tasmania and New Zealand. There is no English tree of that name, but the English word, which is common, signifies "a twig, a flexible rod, usually a hurdle; . . . the original sense is something twined or woven together; hence it came to mean a hurdle, woven with twigs; Anglo-Saxon, watel, a hurdle." (Skeat.) In England the supple twigs of the osier-willow are used for making such hurdles. The early colonists found the long pliant boughs and shoots of the indigenous Acacias a ready substitute for the purpose, and they used them for constructing the partitions and outer-walls of the early houses, by forming a "wattling" and daubing it with plaster or clay. (See Wattle-and-dab.) The trees thus received the name of Wattle-trees, quickly contracted to Wattle. Owing to its beautiful, golden, sweet-scented clusters of flowers, the Wattle is the favourite tree of the Australian poets and painters. The bark is very rich in tannin. (See Wattle-bark.) The tree was formerly called Mimosa (q.v.). The following list of vernacular names of the various Wattles is compiled from Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'; it will be seen that the same vernacular name is sometimes applied to several different species—

Black Wattle—
Acacia binervata, De C., of Illawarra and South.
A. decurrens, Willd., older colonists of New South
Wales.
A. cunninghamii, Hook.
A. nervifolia, Cunn.

Golden W. (q.v.)— A. pycnantha, Benth.; in Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. It is also called Green Wattle, and also, for the sake of distinction between some other tan-bark wattles, the Broad-leaved Wattle. A. longifolia, Willd.; in New South Wales and Queensland.

Green W.—
A. decurrens, Willd., older colonists New South Wales.
A. pycnantha, Benth.
A. discolor, Willd.; so called in Tasmania, and called
also there River Wattle.

Silver W.— A. dealbata, Link. Silver Wattle, owing to the whiteness of the trunk, and the silvery or ashy hue of its young foliage. A. decurrens, Willd. A. melanoxylon, R. Br. (Blackwood). A. podalyriafolia, Cunn.; called Silver Wattle, as it has foliage of a more or less grey, mealy, or silvery appearance.

"The acacias are the common wattles of this country, their bark affording excellent tan, as well as an extract to export to England; while from their trunks and branches clear transparent beads of the purest Arabian gum are seen suspended in the dry spring weather, which our young currency bantlings eagerly search after and regale themselves with."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 328:

"One of my specimens . . . I shot in a green wattle-tree close to Government House."

"The black and silver Wattle (the Mimosa), are trees used in housework and furniture."

"Leptospermum lanigerum, hoary tea-tree, Acacia decurrens, and black wattle; Corraea alba, Cape Barren tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colonies."

"Few, indeed, of the native Australian flowers emit any perfume except the golden and silver wattle (the Mimosae tribe): these charm the senses, and fully realize the description we read of in the `Arabian Nights' Entertainments' of those exotics, the balmy perfume of which is exhaled far and near."

"These trees were termed `Wattles,' from being used, in the early days of the colony, for forming a network or wattling of the supple twigs for the reception of the plaster in the partitions of the houses."

"Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata, Lindl.), so called from the whiteness of the trunk and the silvery green of the foliage."

"The mimosa, or wattle, . . . ushers in the Spring with its countless acres of charming and luxuriant yellow and highly scented blossom . . . The tanning properties of its bark are nearly equal in value to those of the English oak."

"The generic name [Acacia] is so familiarly known, that the appellation `Wattle' might well be dispensed with. Indeed the name Acacia is in full use in works on travels and in many popular writings for the numerous Australian species."

"Called `Silver Wattle.' The bark, which is used for tanning, is said to give a light colour to leather; value, L3 10s. per ton."

"A dense clump of wattles, a sort of mimosa—tall, feathery, graceful trees, with leaves like a willow and sweet-scented yellow flowers."

"The ordinary name for species of the genus Acacia in the colonies is `Wattle.' The name is an old English one, and signifies the interlacing of boughs together to form a kind of wicker-work. The aboriginals used them in the construction of their abodes, and the early colonists used to split the stems of slender species into laths for `wattling' the walls of their rude habitations."

"It pleased him yearly to see the fluffy yellow balls bedeck his favourite trees. One would have said in the morning that a shower of golden shot had bespangled them in the night-time. Late in the autumn, too, an adventurous wattle would sometimes put forth some semi-gilded sprays—but sparsely, as if under protest."

"Yet the spring shed blossoms around the ruin,
The pale pink hues of the wild briar rose,
The wild rose wasted by winds that blew in
The wattle bloom that the sun-god knows."

<hw>Wattle-and-Dab</hw>, a rough mode of architecture, very common in Australia at an early date. The phrase and its meaning are Old English. It was originally Wattle-and-daub. The style, but not the word, is described in the quotation from Governor Phillip, 1789.

"The huts of the convicts were still more slight, being composed only of upright posts, wattled with slight twigs, and plaistered up with clay."

"Wattle and daub. . . . You then bring home from the bush as many sods of the black or green wattle (acacia decurrens or affinis) as you think will suffice. These are platted or intertwined with the upright posts in the manner of hurdles, and afterwards daubed with mortar made of sand or loam, and clay mixed up with a due proportion of the strong wiry grass of the bush chopped into convenient lengths and well beaten up with it, as a substitute for hair."

"The hut of the labourer was usually formed of plaited twigs or young branches plastered over with mud, and known by the summary definition of `wattle and dab.'"

"Wattles, so named originally, I conceive, from several of the genus being much used for `wattling' fences or huts. A `wattle and dab' but is formed, in a somewhat Robinson Crusoe style, of stout stakes driven well into the ground, and thickly interlaced with the tough, lithe wattle-branches, so as to make a strong basket-work, which is then dabbed and plastered over on both sides with tenacious clay mortar, and finally thatched."

"It was built of what is known as `wattle and dab,' or poles and mud, and roofed with the bark of the gum-tree."

<hw>Wattle-bark</hw>, n. the bark of the wattle; much used in tanning, and forms a staple export.

"A proprietor of land at Mount Gambier has refused L4000 for the wattle-bark on his estate."

"The bark of this species is used in tanning light skins, but the bark is considered weak in tannin, and only worth thirty shillings per ton in Queensland. Called `Black-wattle bark.'"

"Bark.—There is a moderate inquiry for good descriptions, but faulty are almost unsaleable:—Bundled Black Wattle, superior, L5 to L6 per ton; do. do., average, L3 to L4 10s. per ton; chopped Black Wattle, L5 to L6 5s. per ton; ground, approved brands, up to L8 per ton; do., average, L5 to L6 per ton."

<hw>Wattle-bird</hw>, n. an Australian bird, so called from the wattles or fleshy appendages hanging to his ear. In the Yellow species they are an inch long. The species are—

The earlier scientific names occur in the quotation, 1848. In New Zealand, the Kokako (q.v.) is also called a Wattle-bird, and the name used to be applied to the Tui (q.v.).

"The wattle-bird, which is about the size of a snipe, and considered a very great delicacy."

"Anthochaera inauris, Wattled Honey-eater; Wattled Bird of the Colonists of Van Diemen's Land" (pl. 54). "A. Carunculata, Wattled Bird of the Colonists; the Merops Carunculatus of older writers "(pl. 55). "A. Mellivora, Vig. and Horsf., Bush Wattle Bird" (pl. 56). "A. Lunulata, Gould, Little Wattle Bird, Colonists of Swan River" (pl. 57).

"Kangaroo-steaks frying on the fire, with a piece of cold beef, and a wattle-bird pie also ready on the board."

"This bird they called the Wattle-bird, and also the Poy-bird, from its having little tufts of curled hair under its throat, which they called poies, from the Otaheitan word for ear-rings. The sweetness of this bird's note they described as extraordinary, and that its flesh was delicious, but that it was a shame to kill it."

"The wattle-bird, with joyous scream
Bathes her soft plumage in the cooling stream."

"The pretty, graceful wattle-birds are . . . much esteemed for the table, cooked as snipe and woodcocks are in England . . . Our pretty, elegant wattle-bird wears a pair of long pendant drops, shaded from the deepest amber to white, lovelier than any goldsmith's work. Its greyish plumage, too, is very beautiful; the feathers on the breast are long, pointed, and tinted with golden yellow."

"Close season. All Honey-eaters (except Wattle-birds and
Leatherheads); from 1st day of August to loth day of December."

<hw>Wattle-gold</hw>, n. poetic name for the blossom of the Wattle.

"My wealth has gone, like the wattle-gold
You bound one day on my childish brow."

"Wattle-Gum, the gum of the Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata, Lindl.), is exceedingly viscous, and probably quite as useful as Gum-Arabic. The gum of the Black Wattle (Acacia mollissima, Willd.), which is often mixed with the other, is very often inferior to it, being far less viscous."

<hw>Wax-cluster</hw>, n. an Australian shrub, Gaultheria hispida, R. Br., N.O. Ericaceae. A congener of the English winter-green, or American checkerberry, with white berries, in taste resembling gooseberries; called also Chucky-chucky (q.v.), and Native Arbutus.

"Gaultheria hispida. The wax-cluster, abundant in the middle region of Mount Wellington, and in other elevated and moist situations in the colony. This fruit is formed by the thickened divisions of the calyx, enclosing the small seed vessel; when it is ripe it is of a snowy white. The flavour is difficult to describe, but it is not unpleasant. In tarts the taste is something like that of young gooseberries, with a slight degree of bitterness."

"Gaultheria hispida.—The `Snowberry' or `Wax cluster' is also called native Arbutus, from the form of the white flowers which precede the fruit. The latter is of a peculiar brioche-like form, and as the deep clefts open, the crimson seed-cells peep through."

<hw>Wax-Eye</hw>, i.q. one of the many names for the bird called Silver-Eye, White-Eye, Blight-Bird, etc. See Zosterops.

<hw>Waybung</hw>, n. aboriginal name for an Australian Chough, Corcorax melanoramphus, Vieill.

<hw>Weaver-bird</hw>, n. The English name Weaver-bird, in its present broad sense as applied to a wide variety of birds, is modern. It alludes to their dexterity in "weaving" their nests. It is applied in Australia to Callornis metallica, a kind of Starling.

"The elegant, metallic-looking, `glossy starlings' (Callornis metallica) greedily swoop, with a horrible shriek, upon the fruit of the Australian cardamom tree. The ingenious nests of this bird were found in the scrubs near Herbert Vale—a great many in the same tree. Although this bird is a starling, the colonists call it `weaver-bird.'"

<hw>Wedge-bill</hw>, n. an Australian bird. This English name for a species of humming-bird is applied in Australia to Sphenostoma cristata, Gould.

"Wedge-bill. [Close season.] From 1st day of August to 10th day of December next following in each year."

<hw>Weeping-Myall</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Acacia pendula, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae. See Myall.

<hw>Weka</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Wood-hen (q.v.) of New Zealand, so called from its note. There are two species—

The specimens intergrade to such an extent that precise limitation of species is extremely difficult; but Sir W. L. Buller set them out as these two in 1878, regarding other specimens as varieties. The birds are sometimes called Weka-Rails, and the Maori name of Weka-pango is given to the Black Wood-hen (0. fuscus, Du Bus.).

"Two young weka, or wood-hens, about as large as sparrows . . . were esteemed a valuable addition to our scanty supper."

"Wood-hens, or Waikas, are a great stand-by in the bush. Their cry can be imitated, and a man knowing their language and character can catch them easily. They call each other by name, pronounced `Weeka,' latter syllable being shrill and prolonged, an octave higher than the first note. . . . The wood-hen is about the size of a common barn-door fowl; its character is cunning, yet more fierce than cunning, and more inquisitive than either."

"Until the numbers of the wekas are considerably reduced. They are very like a hen pheasant without the long tail-feathers, and until you examine them you cannot tell they have no wings, though there is a sort of small pinion among the feathers, with a claw at the end of it. They run very swiftly, availing themselves cleverly of the least bit of cover."

"Another famous bird of chase with the natives is the weka (Ocydromus Australis), or the wood-hen, belonging to the class of rails, which have already become quite scarce upon North Island. In the grassy plains and forests of the Southern Alps, however, they are still found in considerable numbers. It is a thievish bird, greedy after everything that glistens; it frequently carries off spoons, forks, and the like, but it also breaks into hen-coops, and picks and sucks the eggs."

"Fortunately, the weka bears so obnoxious a character as an evil-doer that any qualm of conscience on the score of cruelty is at once stilled when one of these feathered professors of diablerie is laid to rest."

"We-ki! we-ki! we-ka! Three times the plaintive cry of the `wood-hen' was heard. It was a preconcerted signal."

<hw>Well-in</hw>, adj. answering to `well off,' `well to do,' `wealthy'; and ordinarily used, in Australia, instead of these expressions.

"He's a well-in squatter that took up runs or bought them cheap before free-selection, and land-boards, and rabbits, and all the other bothers that turn a chap's hair grey before his time."

<hw>Western Australia</hw>, the part of the Continent first sighted in 1527 by a Portuguese, and the last to receive responsible government, in 1890. It had been made a Crown colony in 1829.

<hw>Westralia</hw>, n. a common abbreviation for Western Australia (q.v.). The word was coined to meet the necessities of the submarine cable regulations, which confine messages to words containing not more than ten letters.

"The latest example is the El Dorado of Western Australia, or as she is beginning to be more generally called `Westralia,' a name originally invented by the necessity of the electric cable, which limits words to ten letters, or else charges double rate."

<hw>Weta</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand insect— a huge, ugly grasshopper, Deinacrula megacephala, called by bushmen the Sawyer.

"The weta, a suspicious-looking, scorpion-like creature, apparently replete with `high concocted venom,' but perfectly harmless."

"One of the ugliest-looking creatures that I have ever seen. It is called `Weta,' and is of tawny scorpion-like colour, with long antenna and great eyes, and nasty squashy-looking body, with (I think) six legs. It is a kind of animal which no one would wish to touch: if touched, it will bite sharply, some say venomously. It is very common but not often seen, and lives chiefly among dead wood and under stones."

1888. J. Adams, `On the Botany of Te Moehau,' `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 41:

"Not a sound was heard in that lonely forest, except at long intervals the sharp noise produced by the weta."

<hw>Whaler</hw>, n. used specifically as slang for a Sundowner (q.v.); one who cruises about.

"The nomad, the `whaler,' it is who will find the new order hostile to his vested interest of doing nothing."

<hw>Whaler/2</hw>, n. name given in Sydney to the Shark, Carcharias brachyurus, Gunth., which is not confined to Australasia.

<hw>Whare</hw>, n. Maori word for a house; a dissyllable, variously spelt, rhyming with `quarry.' It is often quaintly joined with English words; e.g. a sod-whare, a cottage built with sods. In a Maori vocabulary, the following are given: whare-kingi, a castle; whare-karakia, a church; whare-here, the lock-up.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 225:

"We were much amused at seeing the ware-puni, or sleeping- houses, of the natives. These are exceedingly low, and covered with earth, on which weeds very often grow. They resemble in shape and size a hot-bed with the glass off."

"I fell upon what I thought a good place on which to fix my warre, or bush-cottage."

"Then pitch your tent, or run up a couple of grass warres somewhat bigger than dog-kennels."

"The village was sacked and the wharries one after another set fire to and burnt.'"

1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences or Incidents of Thirty-Four Years in New Zealand,' p. 87:

"In the roughest colonial whare there is generally one or more places fitted up called bunks."

1882. R. C. Barstow, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xv. art. liii. p. 428:

"Ten minutes more brought us to my friend's `whare,'—the Maori name for house."

"The pas close at hand give up their population,—only the blind, the sick, and the imbecile being left to guard the grimy, smoke-dried whares."

<hw>Whata</hw>, n. Maori word for a storehouse on posts or other supports, like a Pataka (q.v.). Futtah (q.v.) is a corruption, probably of Irish origin.

"In one corner was a ware-puni, occupied by Barrett and his family, and in the middle a wata, or `storehouse,' stuck upon four poles about six feet high, and only approachable by a wooden log with steps cut in it."

1891. Rev. J. Stack, `Report of Australasian Association for Advancement of Science,' #G. vol. iii. p. 378:

"The men gathered the food and stored it in Whatas or store- rooms, which were attached to every chief's compound, and built on tall posts protect the contents from damp and rats."

<hw>Whau</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand Cork-tree, Entelea arborescens, R. Br., N.O. Tiliaceae.

"In the morning the dull monotonous double note of the whee-whee (so named from the sound of its calls), chiming in at regular intervals as the tick of a clock, warns us . . . it is but half an hour to dawn."

<hw>Whekau</hw>, n. Maori name for the bird Sceloglaux albifacies, Gray, a New Zealand owl, which is there called the Laughing-Jackass. See Jackass.

"Sceloglaux Albifacies, Wekau. Another of the strange inhabitants of our antipodal country, New Zealand. An owl it unquestionably is, but how widely does it differ from every other member of its family."

1885. A. Reischek, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. xiii. p. 97:

"Athene albifacies, Laughing owl (whekau). Owls are more useful than destructive, but this species I never saw in the north or out-lying islands, and in the south it is extremely rare, and preys mostly on rats."

"Already several species have disappeared from the mainland . . . or are extremely rare, such as . . . Laughing owl (Whekau)."

<hw>Whelk</hw>, or <hw>Native Whelk</hw>, n. a marine mollusc, Trochocochlea constricta. See Perriwinkle.

<hw>Whilpra</hw>, n. See quotation, and compare the Maori word Tupara (q.v.)

"The term whilpra being a corruption of wheelbarrow, which the Lake Torrens natives have acquired from the whites as the name for a cart or waggon."

<hw>Whio</hw>, n. (originally <hw>Whio-Whio</hw>), also<hw>Wio</hw>, Maori name for the New Zealand Duck, Hymenolaemus malacorhynchus, Gmell., called the Blue-Duck or Mountain Duck of New Zealand. See Duck, Professor Parker's quotation, 1889. The bird has a whistling note. The Maori verb, whio, means to whistle.

"Wio (Hymenolaemus malacorhynchus), the blue duck, is found abundantly in the mountain-streams of the south part of the North Island, and in the Middle Island. It takes its name from its cry."

1877. W. Buller, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. x. art. xix. p. 199:

"Captain Mair informs me that the wio is plentiful in all the mountain-streams in the Uriwera country. When marching with the native contingent in pursuit of Te Kooti, as many as forty or fifty were sometimes caught in the course of the day, some being taken by hand, or knocked over with sticks or stones, so very tame and stupid were they."

1885. H. Martin, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. xxii. p. 113:

"Hymenolaemus malacorhynchus, Whio, Blue Duck. Both Islands." [From a list of New Zealand birds that ought to be protected.]

<hw>Whip-snake</hw>, n. or Little Whip-Snake. See under Snake.

<hw>Whip-stick</hw>, n. variety of dwarf Eucalypt; one of the Mallees; forming thick scrub.

"He had lost his way, when he would fain have crost
A patch of whip-stick scrub."

<hw>Whip-tail</hw>, n. (1) A fancy name for a small Kangaroo. See Pretty-Faces, quotation.

<hw>Whistling Dick</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for a Shrike-Thrush. Called also Duke- Willy.

"Colluricincla Selbii, Jard., Whistling Dick of the Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Whistling Duck</hw>, n. See Duck. The bird named below by Leichhardt appears to be a mistake; vide Gould's list at word Duck.

"The Leptotarsis, Gould (whistling duck), which habitually crowd close together on the water."

<hw>Whitebait</hw>, n. a fish; not, as in England, the fry of the herring and sprat, but in Victoria, Engraulis antarcticus, Castln.; and in New Zealand, the young fry of Galaxias attenuatus, Jenyns (Inanga, q.v.). The young of the New Zealand Smelt (q.v.), Retropinna richardsonii, Gill, are also called Whitebait, both in New Zealand and in Tasmania.

"Anchovies or Engraulis have a compressed body with a very wide lateral mouth, and a projecting upper jaw. Scales large. We have two species—E. antarcticus, Casteln., and E. nasutus, Casteln. The first-named species is by many erroneously believed to be identical, or at most a variety of E. encrassicholus of Europe. Count Castelnau states that it is very common in the Melbourne market at all seasons, and goes by the name of `whitebait.'"

"Retropinna Richardsonii, whitebait or smelt. Captured in great abundance in the river Tamar, in the prawn nets, during the months of February and March, together with a species of Atherina, and Galaxias attenuatus, and are generally termed by fishermen whitebait. Dr. Guenther had formerly supposed that this species was confined to New Zealand; it appears, however, to be common to Australia and Tasmania."

<hw>Whitebeard</hw>, n. name applied to the plant Styphelia ericoides, N.O. Epacrideae.

<hw>White-Eye</hw>, n. another name for the bird called variously Silver-Eye, Wax-Eye, Blight-Bird, etc., Zosterops (q.v.).

"Zosterops Dorsalis, Vig. and Horsf, Grey-backed Zosterops; White-eye, Colonists of New South Wales."

"The unique migration on the part of the white-eyes has not been satisfactorily accounted for. One authority invents the ingenious theory that the original white-eyes went to New Zealand after the memorable `Black Thursday' of Australia in 1851."

<hw>White-face</hw>, n. a name applied to the Australian bird, Xerophila leucopsis, Gould. Another species is the Chestnut-breasted White face, X. pectoralis, Gould.

<hw>White Gallinule</hw>, n. one of the birds of the family called Rails. The White Gallinule was recorded from New South Wales in 1890, and also from Lord Howe Island, off the coast, and from Norfolk Island. The modern opinion is that it never existed save in these two islands, and that it is now extinct. It was a bird of limited powers of flight, akin to the New Zealand bird, Notornis mantilli which is also approaching extinction. Only two skins of the White Gallinule are known to be in existence.

"White Gallinule. This beautiful bird greatly resembles the purple Gallinule in shape and make, but is much superior in size, being as large as a dunghill fowl. . . . This species is pretty common on Lord Howe's Island, Norfolk Island, and other places, and is a very tame species."

1882. E. P. Ramsay, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' p. 86:

"The attention of some of our early Naturalists was drawn to this Island by finding there, the now extinct `White Gallinule,' then called (Fulica alba), but which proves to be a species of Notornis."

<hw>White-head</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand, Clitonyx albicapilla, Buller. Found in North Island, but becoming very rare. See Clitonyx.

<hw>White-Pointer</hw>, n. a New South Wales name for the White-Shark. See Shark.

"Caranx georgianus, the `white trevally.' . . There are several other species of Caranx in Port Jackson. In Victoria it is called silver bream. Count Castelnau says it is very beautiful when freshly taken from the water, the upper part being a light celestial blue or beautiful purple, the lower parts of a silvery white with bright iridescent tinges . . . There is another fish called by this name which has already been described amongst the Teuthidae, but this is the White Trevally as generally known by New South Wales fishermen."

<hw>Whitewood</hw>, n. another name for Cattle-Bush (q.v.). A Tasmanian name for Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae. Called Cheesewood in Victoria, and variously applied, as a synonym, to other trees; it is also called Waddy-wood (q.v.).

<hw>Whiting</hw>, n. Four species of the fish of the genus Sillago are called Whiting in Australia (see quotation). The New Zealand Whiting is Pseudophycis breviusculus, Richards., and the Rock-Whiting of New South Wales is Odax semifaciatus, Cuv. and Val., and O. richardsonii, Gunth.; called also Stranger (q.v.). Pseudophycis is a Gadoid, Sillago belongs to the Trachinidae, and Odax to the family Labridae or Wrasses.

"The `whitings' are not like those of Europe. There are, in all, four Australian species—the common sand-whiting (Sillago maculata), abundant on the New South Wales coast; the trumpeter-whiting (S. bassensis), also abundant here, and the most common species in Brisbane; S. punctata, the whiting of Melbourne, and rare on this coast; and S. ciliata."

<hw>Widgeon</hw>, n. the common English name for a Duck of the genus Mareca, extended generally by sportsmen to any wild duck. In Australia, it is used as another name for the Pink-eyed (or Pink-eared) Duck. It is also used, as in England, by sportsmen as a loose term for many species of Wild-Duck generally.

<hw>Wild Geranium</hw>, n. In Australia, the species is Pelargonium australe, Willd., N.O. Geraniaceae.

<hw>Wild Irishman</hw>, a spiny New Zealand shrub, Discaria toumatou, Raoul, N.O. Rhamneae. The Maori name is Tumata-Kuru (q.v.).

"Certain species of Acyphilla and Discaria, rendering many tracts, where they grow in larger quantities, wholly inaccessible. On account of their slender blades terminating in sharp spines the colonists have named them `spear-grass,' `wild Irishman,' and `wild Spaniard.'"

(1) Discaria toumatou, a spiny shrub or tree; called Tumatakuru Matagory, and Wild Irishman.

(2) Aciphylla colensoi, a grass, called Sword-grass, Spear grass, Spaniard, and Scotchman.

"Interspersed with the Spaniards are generally clumps of `Wild Irishman'—a straggling sturdy bramble, ready to receive and scratch you well if you attempt to avoid the Spaniard's weapons."

"Tumata kuru, Wild Irishman. A bush or small tree with spreading branches; if properly trained would form a handsome hedge that would be stronger than whitethorn. The species were used by the Maoris for tattooing."

"Almost impenetrable scrub, composed mainly of wild Irishman (Discaria toumatou) and Sword-grass (Aciphylla Colensoi)."

<hw>Wild Yam</hw>, n. a parasitic orchid, Gastrodia sesamoides, R. Br., N.O. Orchideae.

<hw>Wilga</hw>, n. a tree. Called also Dogwood and Willow, Geijera parviflora, Lindl., N.O. Rutaceae. Adopted by the colonists from the aboriginal name.

<hw>Willow Myrtle</hw>, n. a tree, Agonis flexuosa, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae, with willow-like leaves and pendent branches, native of West Australia, and cultivated for ornament as a greenhouse shrub.

<hw>Willow, Native</hw>, n. i.q. Boobialla (q.v.), and also another name for the Poison-berry Tree (q.v.).

<hw>Willy Willy</hw>, n. native name for a storm on North-west of Australia.

"Seeing in your issue of this morning a telegraphic report of a `willy willy' in the north-west portion of West Australia, it may be of interest to hear a little about these terrific storms of wind and rain. The portion of the western coast most severely visited by these scourges is said to be between the North-wet Cape and Roebuck Bay; they sometimes reach as far south as Carnarvon and north as far as Derby. The approach of one of these storms is generally heralded by a day or too of hot, oppressive weather, and a peculiar haze. Those having barometers are warned of atmospheric disturbances; at other times they come up very suddenly. The immense watercourses to be seen in the north-west country, the bed of the Yule River, near Roebourne, for instance, and many other large creeks and rivers, prove the terrible force and volume of water that falls during the continuance of one of these storms. The bed of the Yule River is fully a mile wide, and the flood marks on some of the trees are sufficient proof of the immense floods that sometimes occur. Even in sheltered creeks and harbours the wind is so violent that luggers and other small craft are blown clean over the mangrove bushes and left high and dry, sometimes a considerable distance inland. The willy willy is the name given to these periodical storms by the natives in the north-west."

"In the valley of the Murray between Swan Hill and Wentworth, in the summer time during calm weather, there are to be seen numerous whirlwinds, carrying up their columns of dust many yards into the air. These are called by the name willy willy."

<hw>Windmill J.P.</hw>, expression formerly used in New South Wales for any J.P. who was ill-educated and supposed to sign his name with a cross x.

<hw>Wine-berry</hw>, n. See Tutu. In Australia, the name is given to Polyosma cunninghamii, Benn., N.O. Saxifrageae.

<hw>Winery</hw>, n. an establishment for making wines. An American word which is being adopted in Australia.

"I would suggest that the idea of small local wineries, each running on its own lines, be abandoned, and one large company formed, having its headquarters in Melbourne with wineries in various centres. The grapes could be brought to these depots by the growers, just as the milk is now brought to the creameries."

<hw>Winter Country</hw>, in New Zealand (South Island), land so far unaffected by snow that stock is wintered on it.

"Sparsely-scattered tussocks of the primest descriptions; the wire-grass, however, largely predominating over the kangaroo-grass."

<hw>Wirrah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a fish of New South Wales, Plectropoma ocellatum, Gunth.

"Another of the Percidae . . . the wirrah of the fishermen, is more plentiful. It is when first caught a handsome fish, of a pale olive-brown or olive-green colour, with numerous bright blue dots on spots of a lighter tint."

<hw>Witchetty</hw>, n. native name for the grub-like larva of one or more species of longicorn beetles. The natives dig it out of the roots of shrubs, decaying timber and earth, in which it lives, and eat it with relish. It is sometimes even roasted and eaten by white children.

"Dr. Stirling writes . . . [The marsupial mole] was fed on the `witchetty' (a kind of grub) . . . two or three small grubs, or a single large one, being given daily."

1842. W. R. Wade, `A Journey in the Northern Island of New Zealand,' `New Zealand Reader,' p. 122:

"The roof is usually completed with a thick coating of wiwi (a small rush), and then the sides receive a second coating of raupo, and sometimes of the wiwi over all."

"If I had sold the land to the white missionaries, might they not have sold it again to the Wiwi (Frenchmen) or Americans."

"De Surville's painful mode of revenge, and the severe chastisement which the retaliatory murder of Marion brought on the natives, rendered the Wee-wees (Oui, oui), or people of the tribe of Marion, hateful to the New Zealanders for the next half-century."

"The arrival of a French man-of-war was a sensational event to the natives, who had always held the Oui-oui's in dislike."

1845. Charles Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 155:

"The wiwi is an instrument not so well known. It is composed of a long straight withy, about two feet long, to which is attached a head, made of a piece of wood four inches long, in the shape of two cones joined together at the base . . . This they strike against the ground, at a little distance to one side of them, whence it rises at right angles to its first direction, and flies with the swiftness of an arrow for about one hundred yards, and at a height of about ten feet from the ground."

<hw>Wobbegong</hw>, n. a New South Wales aboriginal name for a species of Shark, Crassorhinus barbatus, Linn., family Scyllidae; also known as the Carpet-Shark, from the beautifully mottled skin. The fish is not peculiar to Australia, but the name is.

<hw>Wobbles</hw>, n. a disease in horses caused by eating palm-trees in Western Australia.

"The palm-trees for years cost annoyance and loss to farmers and graziers. Their stock being troubled with a disease called `wobbles,' which attacked the limbs and ended in death. A commission of experts was appointed, who traced the disease to the palms, of which the cattle were very fond."

<hw>Wolf</hw>, n. called also Native Wolf, Marsupial Wolf and Zebra Wolf, Tasmanian Tiger and Hyaena; genus, Thylacinus (q.v.). It is the largest carnivorous marsupial extant, and is so much like a wolf in appearance that it well deserves its vernacular name of Wolf, though now-a-days it is generally called Tiger. See Tasmanian Tiger.

"The first occupants we notice in this cage are two marsupial wolves, Thylacinus cynocephalus, or Tasmanian tigers as they are commonly called. These animals are becoming scarce, as, owing to their destructiveness among sheep, they are relentlessly persecuted by run-holders."

<hw>Wollomai</hw>, n. the aboriginal name of the fish called Schnapper (q.v.). In 1875 a horse named Wollomai won the Melbourne Cup. Since then numerous houses and estates have been named Wollomai.

<hw>Wombat</hw>, n. a marsupial animal of the genus Phascolomys (q.v.). It is a corruption of the aboriginal name. There are various spellings; that nearest to the aboriginal is womback, but the form wombat is now generally adopted. The species are—the Common Wombat, Phascolomys mitchelli, Owen; Tasmanian W., P. ursinus, Shaw; Hairy-nosed W., P. latifrons, Owen.

1798. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis (1814),' Intro. p. cxxviii, `Journal,' Feb. 16:

"Point Womat, a rocky projection of Cape Barren Island, where a number of the new animals called womit were seen, and killed."

"This little bear-like quadruped is known in New South Wales, and called by the natives, womat, wombat, or womback, according to the different dialects, or perhaps to the different renderings of the wood rangers who brought the information . . . It burrows like the badger."

1799. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales (1802),' vol. ii. p. 153 [`Bass's Journal,' Jan.]:

"The Wom-bat (or, as it is called by the natives of Port Jackson, the Womback,) is a squat, thick, short-legged, and rather inactive quadruped, with great appearance of stumpy strength, and somewhat bigger than a large turnspit dog."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 156:

"An animal named a wombat, about the size of a small turnspit-dog, has been found in abundance in Van Diemen's Land, and also, though less frequently, in other parts of New South Wales. Its flesh has in taste a resemblance to pork."

"The wombat, a large animal of the size of a mastiff, burrowing in the ground, feeding on grass and roots and attaining considerable fatness."

"The Wombat is a large kind of badger, which burrows in the ground to a considerable depth, and is taken by the blacks for food; it makes a noise, when attacked in its hole, something similar to the grunting of a pig."

"The Wombat, commonly called in the colony Badger (Phascolomys wombat, Peron.), is an animal weighing forty to eighty pounds, having a large body with short legs. Notwithstanding its burrowing habits, and the excessive thickness and toughness of its skin, it is usually so easily killed that it is becoming less and less common."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 67:

"Wombat. This clumsy, but well-known animal (Phascolomys wombat), during the day conceals himself in his gloomy lair in the loneliest recesses of the mountains, and usually on the banks of a creek, and at night roams about in search of food, which it finds by grubbing about the roots of gigantic eucalypti."

"The wombat resembles a large badger in the shortness of its legs, but has a little of the pig and the bear in its shape, hair, and movements."

"Then I saw the grey wolf, with mutton in his maw;
Then I saw the wambat waddle in the straw."

"The wombat is very powerful, and can turn a boulder almost as large as itself out of the way when it bars the road."

"There are large numbers of wombats in the district, and these animals, burrowing after the fashion of rabbits, at times reach great depths, and throw up large mounds."

"He took them but a little way from where they had camped, and disclosed in the hillside what looked like a good-sized wombat or rabbit-hole."

<hw>Wonga</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the bulrush, Typha angustifolia, Linn. It is the same as the Raupo (q.v.) of New Zealand, and is also known as Bulrush, Cat's Tail and Reed Mace, and in Europe as the `Asparagus of the Cossacks.' For etymology, see next word.

<hw>Wonga-wonga</hw>, n. an Australian pigeon, Leucosarcia picata, Lath.; it has very white flesh. The aboriginal word wonga is explained as coming from root signifying the idea of `quiver motion,' `sudden springing up' and the word is thus applied as a name for the bulrush, the vine, and the pigeon. Some, however, think that the name of the pigeon is from the bird's note. In Gippsland, it was called by the natives Wauk-wauk-au, sc. `that which makes wauk-wauk.'

"We have a large pigeon named the Wanga-wanga, of the size and appearance of the ringdove, which is exquisite eating also."

"Leucosarcia Picata, Wonga-wonga, Aborigines of New South Wales; White-fleshed and Wonga-wonga Pigeon, Colonists of New South Wales."

"Nothing can surpass in delicacy the white flesh of the
Wonga-wonga (Leucosarcia picata)."

"Hark! there goes a Wonga-wonga, high up in the topmost branches of the great cedar."

"The Wonga-Wonga (Leucosarcia Picata) is also represented. This Pigeon, though less bright in plumage than the last-named, exceeds it in size; both are excellent eating."

<hw>Wonga-wonga Vine</hw>, n. a name for the hardy, evergreen climber, Tecoma australis, R. Br., N.O. Bignoniaceae. There are several varieties, all distinguished by handsome flowers in terminal panicles. They are much cultivated in gardens and for ornamental bower-trees.

<hw>Woodhen</hw>, n. a name given to several birds of New Zealand of the Rail family, and of the genus Ocydromus; some of them are called by the Maori name of Weka (q.v.). The species are—

Black Woodhen— Ocydromus fuscus, Du Bus.; Maori name, Weka-pango.

"Two young weka, or wood-hens, about as large as sparrows . . . were esteemed a valuable addition to our scanty supper."

"We-ka! we-ka! we-ka! Three times the plaintive cry of the `wood hen `was heard. It was a preconcerted signal."

<hw>Wood-duck</hw>, n. a name given by the colonists of New South Wales and "Swan River" to the Maned Goose, Branta jubata, Latham.

"Bernicla jubata, Maned Goose; Wood-Duck, Colonists of New South Wales and Swan River."

<hw>Wood Natives</hw>, or <hw>Wood Savages</hw>, obsolete names for the Australian aborigines.

"The combats of the natives near Sydney were sometimes attended by parties of the inland or wood savages."

<hw>Wooden Pear</hw>, n. a tree peculiar to New South Wales and Queensland, Xylomelum pyriforme, Smith, N.O. Proteaceae; called also Native Pear.

"The Wooden Pear-tree of the colonists (Xylomelum pyriforme) is peculiar to Australia; its general appearance is very ornamental, especially when the tree is young; the flowers grow in clusters in long spikes, but are not conspicuous. This tree attains the height of from fifteen to twenty feet, and a circumference of six to eight feet. It is branchy; the wood is of dark colour, and being prettily marked, would form an ornamental veneering for the cabinet-maker. When young, in the Australian bush, this tree bears a close resemblance to the young Warratah, or Tulip-tree (Telopea speciosissima)."

"Native Pear-Wooden Pear. This moderate-sized tree produces a dark-coloured, prettily-marked wood. It is occasionally used for making picture-frames, for ornamental cabinet-work, for veneers, and walking-sticks. When cut at right-angles to the medullary rays it has a beautiful, rich, sober marking."

<hw>Woollybutt</hw>, a name given to one of the Gum trees, Eucalyptus longifolia, Link. See Gum.

1843. James Backhouse, `Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies,' p. 445 (October 1836.):

"One called here the Woolly Butted Gum seems identical with the black butted gum of Tasmania."

"The Woollybutt grown at Illawarra is in very high repute for wheelwright's work "

<hw>Woolly-headed Grass</hw>, n. an indigenous Australian grass, Andropogon bombycinus, R. Br.

"Woolly-headed Grass, a valuable pasture-grass, highly spoken of by stock-owners, and said to be very fattening."

<hw>Wool-man</hw>, n. aboriginal mispronunciation of old man (q.v.).

"The male kangaroos were called by my natives old men, `wool-man,' and the females, young ladies, `young liddy.'"

<hw>Wool-shed</hw>, n. the principal building of a station, at which the shearing and wool-packing is done. Often called the Shed.

". . . we next visit the `wool-shed,' and find the original slab-built shed has been swept away, to make room for an imposing erection of broad-paling . . ."

"The wool-shed is a large building open on every side, with a high-pitched roof,—all made of wood and very rough. The sheep are driven in either at one end or both, or at three sides, according to the size of the station and the number of sheep to be shorn. They are then assorted into pens, from which the shearers take them on to the board;—two, three or four shearers selecting their sheep from each pen. The floor, on which the shearers absolutely work, is called `the board.'"

<hw>Woomera</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for a throwing-stick (q.v.); spelt in various ways (seven in the quotations), according as different writers have tried to express the sound of the aboriginal word.

1814. L. E. Threlkeld, `Australian Grammar' [as spoken on Hunter's River, etc.], p. 10:

"Pieces of hard iron-bark to represent their war weapon, the womerah . . . the whirling womerahs."

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. ii. p. 342:

"The spear is thrown by means of a wammera, which is a slight rod, about three feet long, having at one end a niche to receive the end of a spear."

"But showed the greatest reluctance in parting with their throwing-sticks (wommalas)."

"They employ also, as a warlike weapon, a smaller kind of spear or javelin, which is discharged by means of a notched stick called a Woomera; and with this simple artillery I have seen them strike objects at 150 yards' distance. They also employ this minor spear in capturing the Bustard."

"Then the Wamba Wamba warriors,
Sprang unto their feet with Tchgrels
Ready fitted to their Womrahs."

"Taking with him, therefore, on board the Port Phillip, presents of spears, wommeras, boomerangs, and stone tomahawks, he tried to get from the Williamstown waters."

"Spears all ready shipped, that is, having the hook of the Womerar (throwing-stick) placed in the small cavity made for that purpose in the end of the spear, with both raised in readiness for launching at the object."

"The `womara' is an instrument of wood, from twenty-four to thirty inches long, and a little thicker than a spear. Unlike the spear, it is not thrown at the enemy in battle, but remains always in the black man's hand . . . he ornaments it profusely, back and front. . . . The point is turned up, exactly like the point of a lady's crochet needle. . . . The spears have a dimpled hole worked in their butt end, which hole receives the point of the hook end of the `throw-stick.'"

<hw>Wrasse</hw>, n. This English name for many fishes is given, in New Zealand, to Labrichthys bothryocosmus, Richards. Called also Poddly, Spotty, and Kelp-fish.

<hw>Wreck-fish</hw>, n. The Australian species is Polyprion ceruleum, family Percoidae. Guenther says that the European species has the habit of accompanying floating wood. Hence the name.

<hw>Wren</hw>, n. This common English bird-name is assigned in Australia to birds of several genera, viz.—

Grass W.— A. textilis, Quoy and Gaim.; called by Gould the Textile Wren.

Striated Grass W.— Amytis striatus, Gould; called also the Porcupine bird (q.v.).

In New Zealand, the name is applied to the Bush-Wren, Xenicus longipes, Gmel., and the Rock (or Mountain) Wren, X. gilviventris, von Pelz.

<hw>Wry-billed Plover</hw>, n. a very rare bird of New Zealand, Anarhynchus frontalis, Quoy and Gaim.

"The curious wry-billed plover . . . the only bird known in which the bill is turned not up or down, but to one side—the right."

<hw>Wurley</hw>, n. aboriginal name for an aboriginal's hut. For other words expressing the same thing, see list under Humpy. In the dialect of the South-East of South Australia oorla means a house, or a camp, or a bird's nest.

"Immediately went across to the blacks' wurleys, where I found
King sitting in a but which the natives had made for him."

"In case of a man having two wives, the elder is always regarded as the mistress of the hut or wurley. The word wurley is from the language of the Adelaide tribe. The Narrinyeri word is mante. I have used `wurley' because it is more generally understood by the colonists."

Must weather-fend the wurley'. This he did.
He bound the thick boughs close with bushman's skill,
Till not a gap was left where raging showers
Or gusts might riot. Over all he stretched
Strong bands of cane-grass, plaited cunningly."

"He took
His axe, and shaped with boughs and wattle-forks
A wurley, fashioned like a bushman's roof."

<hw>Xanthorrhoea</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian plants, N.O. Liliaceae, having thick palm-like trunks. They exude a yellow resin. (Grk. Xanthos, yellow, and rhoia, a flow, sc. of the resin.) They are called Black Boys and Grass-trees (q.v.).

<hw>Yabber</hw>, n. Used for the talk of the aborigines. Some think it is the English word jabber, with the first letter pronounced as in German; but it is pronounced by the aborigines yabba, without a final r. Ya is an aboriginal stem, meaning to speak. In the Kabi dialect, yaman is to speak: in the Wiradhuri, yarra.

"The volleys of abuse and `yabber yabber' they would then utter would have raised the envy of the greatest `Mrs. Moriarty' in the Billingsgate fishmarket."

"Is it French or Queensland blacks' yabber? Blest if I understand a word of it."

<hw>Yabby</hw>, n. properly Yappee, aboriginal name for a small crayfish found in water-holes in many parts of Australia, Astacopsis bicarinatus. The Rev. F. A. Hagenauer gives Yappy, in `Curr's Australian Race,' vol. iii. p. 554, as a Gippsland word. Such variants as the following occur—Yappitch, kapich, yabbechi, yaabity. The distinction between the thin and thick consonants is usually uncertain.

"In the case of small crayfish, called `yabbies,' . . . these may be found all over Australia, both in large and small lagoons. These creatures, whilst nearing a drought, and as the supply of water is about to fail, burrow deeply in the beds of the lagoons, water-holes, or swamps, piling up the excavations on the surface over their holes, which I take, amongst other reasons, to be a provision against excessive heat."

"The bait used is `yabby,' a small crayfish found in the sand on the beach at low tide. The getting of the bait itself is very diverting. The yabbies are most prized by fish and fishermen, and the most difficult to obtain. The game is very shy, and the hunter, when he has found the burrow, has to dig rapidly to overtake it, for the yabby retires with marvellous rapidity, and often half a dozen lifts of wet sand have to be made before he is captured. There is no time to be lost. In quite twenty-five per cent. of the chases the yabbies get away through flooding and collapse of the hole."

<hw>Yakka</hw>, v. frequently used in Queensland bush-towns. "You yacka wood? Mine, give 'im tixpence;"—a sentence often uttered by housewives. It is given by the Rev. W. Ridley, in his `Kamilaroi, and other Australian Languages,' p. 86, as the Turrubul (Brisbane) term for work, probably cognate with yugari, make, same dialect, and yengga, make, Kabi dialect, Queensland. It is used primarily for doing work of any kind, and only by English modification (due to "hack") for cut. The spelling yacker is to be avoided, as the final r is not heard in the native pronunciation.

<hw>Yam</hw>, n. a West Australian tuber, Dioscorea hastifolia, Ness., N.O. Dioscorideae. "One of the hardiest of the Yams. The tubers are largely consumed by the local aborigines for food; it is the only plant on which they bestow any kind of cultivation." (Mueller, apud Maiden, p. 22.)

<hw>Yam, Long</hw>, n. a tuber, Discorea transversa, R. Br., N.O. Dioscorideae. "The small tubers are eaten by the aborigines without any preparation." (Thozet, apud Maiden, p. 23.)

<hw>Yam, Native</hw>, n. a tuber, Ipomaea spp., N.O. Convolvulaceae. The tubers are sometimes eaten by the aboriginals.

"Behind the pair stands the boy's mother holding her `yam-stick' erect, resting on the ground."

"The natives dig these roots with the yam-stick, an indispensable implement with them made of hard wood, about three feet in length, thick at one end and edged; it is likewise used amongst the aboriginal tribes of South Australia, like the waddy, as a weapon of offence."

<hw>Yama</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a tree; probably a variant of Yarrah (q.v.).

"The `Yama,' a species of the eucalyptus inhabiting the immediate banks, grew here, as on the Darling, to a gigantic size. . . . The `yama' is certainly a pleasing object, in various respects; its shining bark and lofty height inform the traveller at a distance of the presence of water; or at least the bed of a river or lake."

<hw>Yan Yean</hw>, n. the reservoir from which Melbourne obtains its water supply: hence commonly used for water from the tap.

<hw>Yarra-Bend</hw>, n. equivalent to the English word Bedlam. The first lunatic asylum of the colony of Victoria stood near Melbourne on a bend of the river Yarra.

<hw>Yarrah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a species of Eucalyptus, E. rostrata, Schlecht; often called the River Gum, from its habit of growing along the banks of watercourses, especially in the dry interior of the continent. According to Dr. Woolls (apud Maiden, p. 511), Yarrah is "a name applied by the aboriginals to almost any tree." The word is not to be confused with Jarrah (q.v.). As to etymology, see Yarraman.

<hw>Yarra-Herring</hw>, n. name given in Melbourne to a fresh-water fish, Prototroctes maraena, Gunth.; called also Grayling (q.v.).

<hw>Yarraman</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a horse. Various etymologies are suggested; see quotation, 1875. The river "Yarra Yarra" means ever flowing, sc. fast.

[A possible derivation is from Yaran, a common word in New South Wales and South Queensland, and with slight variation one of the most common words in Australia, for beard and sometimes hair. The mane would suggest the name. —J. Mathew.]

"It was remarkable that on seeing the horses, they exclaimed `Yarraman,' the colonial natives' name for a horse, and that of these animals they were not at all afraid, whereas they seemed in much dread of the bullocks."

"Horse-yaraman. All the Australians use this name, probably from the neighing of the horse, or as some think from `yira' or `yera,' teeth (teeth), and `man' (with)."

<hw>Yarran</hw>, n. aboriginal name adopted by the colonists for several Acacias (q.v.)—Acacia homalophylla, A. Cunn., called also Spearwood; A. linifolia, Willd., called also Sally; A. pendula, A. Cunn., called also Boree, and Weeping or True Myall (see Myall).

"That infernal horse . . . pretty near broke my leg and chucked me out over a yarran stump."

<hw>Yate</hw>, or <hw>Yate-tree</hw>, n. a large West Australian tree, Eucalyptus cornuta, Labill., yielding a hard tough elastic wood considered equal to the best ash.

<hw>Yellow-belly</hw>, n. In New South Wales, the name is given to a fresh-water fish, Ctenolates auratus; called also Golden-Perch. See Perch. In Dunedin especially, and New Zealand generally, it is a large flounder, also called Lemon-Sole, or Turbot (q.v.).

"Evident symptoms of the return of the `yellow' fever, and a journey to the new goldfields seemed to be the only cure."

<hw>Yellow-head</hw>, n. name given to a bird of New Zealand, Clitonyx ochrocephala, or Native Canary (q.v.), common in South Island. See Clitonyx.

<hw>Yellow Jacket</hw>, n. a name given to various gum-trees, and especially to Eucalyptus melliodora, Cunn., E. ochrophlora, F. v. M., and E. rostrata, Schlecht, all of the N.O. Myrtaceae. They all have a smooth yellowish bark, and many other names are applied to the same trees.

<hw>Yellow Lily</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Native Leek. See Leek.

<hw>Yellow-tail</hw>, n. The name is given in Victoria to the fish Caranx trachurus, Cuv. and Val.; the Horse-Mackerel (q.v.) of England. In New South Wales, it is Trachurus declivis, a slightly different species, also called Scad; but the two fish are perhaps the same. Seriola grandis, Castln., also of the Carangidae family, is likewise called Yellow-tail in Melbourne. In New Zealand, the word is used for the fish Latris lineata, of the family of Sciaenidae, and is also a name for the King-fish, Seriola lalandii, and for the Trevally.

<hw>Yellow Thyme</hw>, n. a herb, Hibbertia serpyllifolia, R. Br., N.O. Dilleneaceae.

<hw>Yellow-wood</hw>, a name applied to several Australian trees with the epithets of Dark, Light, Deep, etc., in allusion to the colour of their timber, which is allied to Mahogany. They are—Acronychia laevis, Forst., N.O. Rutaceae; Rhus rhodanthema, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiaciae; Flindersia oxleyana, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae. See also Satin-wood.

<hw>Zebra</hw>-fish, n. name given to the fish Neotephraeops zebra, Richards.

<hw>Zebra-Wolf</hw>, n. i.q. Tasmanian Wolf, or Tasmanian Tiger (q.v.).

<hw>Zelanian</hw>, a scientific term, meaning `pertaining to New Zealand,' from Zelania, a Latinised form of Zealand.

<hw>Zosterops</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of Australian birds, often called also popularly by that name, and by the names of Wax-eye, White-eye, Silver-eye (q.v.), Ring-eye, Blight-bird (q.v.), etc. From the Greek zowstaer, a girdle, `anything that goes round like a girdle' (`L. & S.'), and 'owps, the eye; the birds of the genus have a white circle round their eyes. The bird was not generally known in New Zealand until after Black Thursday (q.v.), in 1851, when it flew to the Chatham Islands. Some observers, however, noted small numbers of one species in Milford Sound in 1832. New Zealand birds are rarely gregarious, but the Zosterops made a great migration, in large flocks, from the South Island to the North Island in 1856, and the Maori name for the bird is `The Stranger' (Tau-hou). Nevertheless, Buller thinks that the species Z. caerulescens is indigenous in New Zealand.

Green-backed Z.— Z. gouldi, Bp.; called also Grape-eater, and Fig-eater (q.v.).

"I have a serious charge to prefer against this bird [the Tawny Honeyeater] as well as against some of its near relatives, particularly those that inhabit Western Australia, namely, the long-billed, the spine-billed, and the little white-eye or zosterops. During certain seasons they regale themselves too freely with the seductive nectar of the flaming bottle-brush (Callistemon). They become tipsy, and are easily caught by hand under the bushes.In the annals of ornithology I know of no other instance of birds getting intoxicated."

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