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."
1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 128:
"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:
"On the flat and rounded top the tallest plants are stunted neinei."
1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury Settlement,' p. 58:
"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."
1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 34:
"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."
1857. F. de Brebant Cooper, `Wild Adventures in Australia,' p. 68:
"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."
1884. A. W. Stirling, `The Never Never Land: a Ride in North Queensland,' p. 5:
"The `Never Never Land,' as the colonists call all that portion of it [Queensland] which lies north or west of Cape Capricorn."
1887. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. i. p. 279:
"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."
1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 85:
"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."
1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 99:
"He was also what they termed a `new chum,' or one newly arrived."
1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 366:
"`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."
1855. `How to Settle in Victoria,' p. 15:
"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.'"
1865. `Once a Week,' `The Bulla Bulla Bunyip':
"I was, however, comparatively speaking, a `new chum,' and therefore my explanation of the mystery met with scant respect."
1874. W. M. B., `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 17:
"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."
1885. R. M. Praed, `Head Station,' p. 32:
"A new chum is no longer a new chum when he can plait a stock-whip."
1886. P. Clarke [Title]:
"The New Chum in Australia."
1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt [Title]:
"The New Chum in the Queensland Bush."
1890. Tasma, `In her Earliest Youth,' p. 152:
"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 thenthere's nothing for them to do but to go and jackaroo up inQueensland."
1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 4:
"The buggy horse made a bolt of it when a new-chum Englishman was driving her."
1892. Mrs. H. E. Russell, `Too Easily jealous,' p. 155:
"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."
1883. W. Jardine Smith, in `Nineteenth Century,' November, p. 849:
"The `bumptiousness' observable in the early days of `new chumhood.'"
1703. Capt. William Dampier,' Voyages,' vol. iii. [Title]:
"A Voyage to New Holland, &c., in the Year 1699."
1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Intro. p. ii:
"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."
1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 2:
"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 delEspiritu Santo to one of the New Hebrides (still known asEspiritu Santo), thinking it to be part of the `Great SouthLand.' See Captain Cook's remarks on this subject in`Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 602.]
1850. J. Bonwick, `Geography for Australian Youth,' p. 6:
"Australasia, or Australia, consists of the continent of NewHolland, or Australia, the island of Tasmania, or Van Diemen'sLand, and the islands of New Zealand."
[In the map accompanying the above work `Australia' isprinted across the whole continent, and in smaller type `NewHolland' stretches along the Western half, and `NewSouth Wales' along the whole of the Eastern.]
1873. `Catalogue of Vienna Exhibition':
"Ngaio: wood light, white and tough, used for gun-stocks."
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."
1892. `Otago Witness,' Nov. 3, `Native Trees':
"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."
1874. M. C., `Explorers,' p. 25:
"I quite thought the niggers had made an attack."
1891. `The Argus,' Nov. 7, p. 13, col. 5:
"The natives of Queensland are nearly always spoken of as `niggers' by those who are brought most directly in contact with them."
(2) Name used in Queensland for blocks of coral above water.
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 . . ."
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 111:
"Abundantly on the Queensland coast, especially on the coral reefs, where all the outstanding blocks of coral (nigger-heads) are covered with them."
Large-tailed Nightjar—Caprimulgus macrurus, Hors.
Little N.—AEgotheles novae-hollandiae, Gould.
Spotted N.—Eurostopodus guttatus, Vig. and Hors.
White-throated N.—E. albogularis, Vig. and Hors.
1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses, Session II. No. xvii. of the former legislative Council of New Zealand':
[From A. Domett's collection of Ordinances, 1850.]
"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]."
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i. p. 270:
[The house was] "covered with thick coating of the leaves of the nikau (a kind of palm) and tufts of grass."
1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' [Note] p. 75:
"The necho or neko is a large tree-like plant known elsewhere as the mountain cabbage."
1862. `All the Year Round,' `From the Black Rocks on Friday,' May 17, No. 160:
"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."
1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 86:
"The pale green pinnate-leaved nikau."
1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iii. p. 210:
"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."
1852. G. F. P., `Gold Pen and Pencil Sketches,' canto xiv.:
"The summit gained, he pulls up at the Valley,To drain a farewell `nobbler' to his Sally."
1859. Frank Fowler, `Southern Lights and Shadows,' p. 52:
"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.'"
1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 201:
"A nobbler is the proper colonial phrase for a drink at a public-house."
1876. J. Brenchley, `May Bloom,' p. 80:
"And faster yet the torrents flowOf nobblers bolted rapidly."
1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 249:
"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."
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 36:
"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."
1864. J. Rogers, `The New Rush,' p. 51:
"And oft a duffer-dealing digger thereWill nobblerize in jerks of small despair . ."
1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 268:
"The institution of `nobblerising' is carried out in far different places."
The Noddy—Anous stolidus, Linn.
Black-cheeked N.—A. melanogenys, Gray.
Grey N.—A. cinereus, Gould.
Lesser N.—A. tenuirostris, Temm.
White-capped N.—A. leucocapillus, Gould.
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 315:
"We called this tree the `Nonda,' from its resemblance to a tree so called by the natives in the Moreton Bay district."
1891. `The Argus,' Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 2:
"The thick-leaved noon-flower that swings from chalk cliffs and creek banks in the auriferous country is a delectable salad."
1864. J. Rogers, `New Rush,' pt. ii. p. 28:
"A note's so very trifling, it's no sooner chang'd than gone;For it is but twenty shillings."
1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for Mail,' p. 39:
"And even at half fifty notes a weekYou ought to have made a pile."
1884. Marcus Clarke, `Memorial Volume,' p. 92:
"I lent poor Dick Snaffle a trotting pony I had, and he sold him for forty notes."
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."
1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (reprint), p. 51:
"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."
1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. iii. p. 25:
"To nugget: in Australian slang, to appropriate your neighbours' unbranded calves."
Ibid. c. xviii. p. 182:
"If he does steal a calf now and then, I know several squatters who are given to nuggeting."
1896. Private Letter, March 2:
"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."
1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. i. p. 71:
"He then threw a club, or nulla-nulla, to the foot of the tree."
1853. C. Harpur, `Creek of the Four Graves':
"Under the crushing strokeOf huge clubbed nulla-nullas."
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 61:
"Lay aside thy nullah-nullahsIs there war betwixt us two?"
1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 9:
"The blacks . . . battered in his skull with a nulla-nulla."
1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 11:
"They would find fit weapons for ghastly warriors in the long white shank-bones gleaming through the grass—appropriate gnulla-gnullas and boomerangs."
1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina,' p. 67:
"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."
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 72:
"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."
1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 73:
"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."
1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 60:
"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.
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 21:
"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 ofOak is compiled from J. H. Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'—
Bull-Oak—Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.;C. glauca, Sieb.
Forest-O.—Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.;C. suberosa; Otto and Diet.;C. torulosa, Ait.
Mountain-O.—Queensland name for Casuarina torulosa, Ait.
River Black-O.—Casuarina suberosa, Otto and Diet.
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.
She-Oak:—
Coast S.-O.—Casuarina stricta,
Desert S.-0.—C. glauca, Sieb.
Erect S.-O.—C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.
River S.-O.— C. glauca, Sieb.
Scrub S.-O.—C. cunninghamii, Miq.
Stunted S.-O.—C. distyla, Vent.
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.
White-O.—Lagunaria patersoni, G. Don., N.O. Malvaceae.
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—
Desert She-Oak—Casuarina glauca, Sieb.
Drooping S.-O.—C. quadrivalvis, Labill.
Shrubby S.-O.—C. distyla, Vent.
Straight S.-O.—C. suberosa, Otto.
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.]
1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 38:
"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."
1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 38:
"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."
1846. C. Holtzapffel, `Turning,' p. 75:
"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."
1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 323:
"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."
1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 56:
"The wail in the native oak."
1878. W. R. Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p. 54:
"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."
1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 252:
"They chose a tall He-oak, lopped it to a point."
1885. J. Hood, `Land of the Fern,' p. 53:
"The sighing of the native oak,Which the light wind whispered through."
1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 27:
"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."
1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 32:
"The small apple of this tree (she-oak) is also dark green . . . both apple and leaf are as acid as the purest vinegar.
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 15:
"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.'"
1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand', p. 64:
"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."
1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 366:
"`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."
1895. `The Argus,' May 11, p. 8, col. 3:
"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."
1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 160:
"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."
1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 141:
"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."
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 33:
"Mr. Gilbert started a large kangaroo known by the familiar name of `old man.'"
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 172:
"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."
1864. W. Westgarth, `Colony of Victoria,' p. 451:
"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."
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 39:
"Where the kangaroo gave hops,The old man fleetest of the fleet."
1893. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 66:
"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."
Old-Man, adj. large, or bigger than usual. Compare the next two words.
1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 233:
"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."
1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 7:
"Who that has ridden across the Old-Man Plain . . ."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 118:
"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)."
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 32:
"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.
1869. J. F. Blanche, `The Prince's Visit,' p. 21:
"When came Victoria's son on Ballarat."
1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils, etc.' p. 3:
"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."
The commoner forms are as follows:—
Common Dormouse O.—Dromicia nana, Desm.
Common Opossum—Trichosurus vulpecula, Kerr.
Common Ring-tailed-O.—Pseudochirus peregrinus, Bodd.
Greater Flying-O.—Petauroides volans, Kerr.
Lesser Dormouse O.—Dromicia lepida, Thomas.
Lesser Flying-O.—Petaurus breviceps, Water.
Pigmy Flying-O.-Acrobates pygmaeus.
Short-eared-O.—Trichosurus caninus, W. Ogilby.
Squirrel Flying-O., or Flying Squirrel—Petaurus sciureus, Shaw.
Striped O.—Dactylopsila trivirgata, Gray.
Tasmanian, or Sooty O.—Trichosurus vulpecula, var. fuliginosus.
Tasmanian Ring-tailed-O.—Pseudochirus cooki, Desm.
Yellow-bellied Flying-O.—Petaurus australis, Shaw.
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]:
"Here are Wolves, Possums, an animal like a ratt, and snakes."
1770. J. Banks, `Journal,' July 26, (edition Hooker, 1896, p. 291):
"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."
1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage to Botany Bay,' p. 104:
"The pouch of the female, in which the young are nursed, is thought to connect it rather with the opossum tribe."
[p. 147]: "A small animal of the opossum kind."
[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."
1793. J. Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 68:
"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."
1798. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' fol. i. p. 562:
"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."
1809. G. Shaw, `Zoological Lectures,' vol. i. p. 93:
"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."
1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 67:
"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."
1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 143:
"The sharp guttural noises of opossums."
Ibid. p. 174 [`The Native Woman's Lament']:
"The white man wanders in the dark,We hear his thunder smite the bough;The opossum's mark upon the barkWe traced, but cannot find it, now."
1853. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 324:
"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."
1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 200:
"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.)"
Ibid. p. 380 [On the American animal]:
"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."
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 11:
"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."
1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':
"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."
1893. `Melbourne Stock and Station Journal,' May 10 (advertisement):
"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."
Common Dormouse-Phalanger—Dromicia nana, Desm.
Lesser D.-Ph.—D. lepida, Thomas.
Long-tailed D.-Ph.—D. caudata, M. Edw.
Western D.-Ph.—D. concinna, Gould.
One genus, with only one species, the Pentailed-Phalanger, Distaechurus pennatus, Peters, is confined to New Guinea.
1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' p. 28:
"The opossum-mouse is about the size of our largest barn-mouse."