1886. Annie R. Butler [Title]_Austral English

"Glimpses of Maori Land."

1890. T. Bracken [Title]:

"Musings in Maori Land."

1896. `The Argus,' July 22, p. 4, col. 8:

"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.

1896. `Melbourne Punch,' April 9, p. 233, col. 2:

"Norman is a pushing young Maorilander who apparently has the

Britisher by the right ear."

<hw>Maori, White</hw>, New Zealand miners' name for a stone.

See quotation.

1883. `A Citizen,' `Illustrated Guide to Dunedin,' p. 169:

"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."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 132:

"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."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 75:

"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.

<hw>Mark, a good</hw>, Australian slang.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 233:

"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.'"

[So also "bad mark," in the opposite sense.]

<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."

<hw>Marsh</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for a meadow.

See quotation.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 163:

"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>, adj. See the Noun.

<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.

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 129:

"The marsupial type exhibits the economy of nature under novel

and very interesting arrangements. . . . Australia is the

great head-quarters of the marsupial tribe."

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 5:

"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."

[See Kangaroo, quotation 1833.]

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 106:

"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."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 29:

"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)."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 5, p. 9, col. 1:

"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."

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 1:

"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."

1896. F. G. Aflalo, `Natural History of Australia,' p. 30:

"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--

Tree,

Petrochelidon nigricans, Vieill.;

Fairy,

Lagenoplastes ariel, Gould;

called also Bottle-Swallow (q.v.).

1896. F. G. Aflalo, `Natural History of Australia,' p. 128:

". . . 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.

1859. J. T. Thomson, in `Otago Gazette,' Sept. 22, p. 264:

"Much over-run with the scrub called `tomata-guru.'"

Alex. Garvie, ibid. p. 280:

"Much of it is encumbered with matakura scrub."

1892. W. McHutcheson, `Camp Life in Fiordland,' p. 8:

"Trudging moodily along in Indian file through

the matagouri scrub and tussock."

1896. `Otago Witness,' 7th May, p. 48:

"The tea generally tastes of birch or Matagouri."

<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.

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 124:

"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.).

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand' (ed. 1886),

p. 94:

"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."

1879. `Tourist,' `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. iii.

p. 93:

"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>Meadow Rice-grass</hw>, n. See Grass.

<hw>Mealy-back</hw>, n. a local name for the

Locust (q.v.).

<hw>Medicine-tree</hw>, i.q. Horse-radish Tree (q.v.).

<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.

1894. `The Australasian,' April 28, p. 732, col. 1:

[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.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 9:

"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."

Ibid. p: 77:

"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."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' p. 220:

"The plain is full of deep melon-holes, and the ground is rotten

and undermined with rats."

<hw>Menindie Clover</hw>, n. See Clover.

<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.

1830. J. D. Lang, `Poems' (edition 1873), p. 116:

"Beneath his shaggy flaxen mat

The dreadful marree hangs concealed."

1851. Mrs. Wilson, `New Zealand,' p. 48:

"The old man has broken my head with his meri."

1859. A. S. Thomson, `Story of New Zealand,' p. 140:

"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."

188]. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 229:

"A land of musket and meri-armed warriors, unprovided with

a meat supply, even of kangaroo."

1889. Jessie Mackay, `The Spirit of the Rangatira,' p. 16:

"He brandished his greenstone mere high,

And shouted a Maori battle-cry."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. iii. p. 33:

"`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.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i.

p. 116:

"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>Mersey Jolly-tail</hw>, n. See Jolly-tail.

<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.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 429:

"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."

1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 13, col1. 4:

"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.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 103:

"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."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 366:

"They constructed a mimi, or bower of boughs on the other,

leaving portholes amongst the boughs towards the road."

1858. T. McCombie, `History of Victoria,' c. vii. p. 96:

"Their thoughts wandered to their hunting-grounds and mia-mias

on the Murray."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 15:

[Notice varied spelling in the same author.]

"Many of the diggers resided under branches of trees made into

small `miams' or `wigwams.'"

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 42:

"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."

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria'

(1841-1851), p. 148:

"Of the mia-mias, some were standing; others had, wholly

or in part, been thrown down by their late occupants."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 32:

"A few branches thrown up against the prevailing wind,

in rude imitation of the native mia-mia."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 111:

"[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.)

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xviii.

p. 217:

"The wary and still more dangerously sudden `Micky,'

a two-year-old bull."

<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.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. ii.

pp. 11, 12:

"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-plant</hw>, n. i.q. Caustic Creeper

(q.v.).

<hw>Milk-tree</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree,

Epicarpurus microphyllus, Raoul.

1873. `Catalogue of Vienna Exhibition':

"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.

1896. `The Australasian,' March 14, p. 488, col. 5:

"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."

1793. J. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,'

p. 52:

"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:

"Timber; gum, Banksia, oak, and mimosa of sorts, but not large

except the gum."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 202:

"Gum-arabic, which exudes from the mimosa shrubs."

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 18, p. 4, col. 2:

"`Cashmere' shawls do not grow on the mimosa trees."

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 38:

"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."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 175:

"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."

"To the River Yarra."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 255:

"The other exports of Australia Felix consist chiefly of

tallow, cured beef and mutton, wheat, mimosa-bark, and

gumwood."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 34:

"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."

1870. F. S. Wilson, `Australian Songs,' p. 29:

"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--

Bell-Mina--

Manorhina melanophrys, Lath.

Bush-M.--

Myzantha garrula, Lath.

Dusky-M.--

M. obscura, Gould.

Yellow-M.--

M. lutea, Gould.

Yellow-throated M.--

M. flavigula, Gould.

1803. Lord Valentia, `Voyages,' vol. i. p. 227 [Stanford]:

"During the whole of our stay two minahs were talking most

incessantly."

1813. J. Forbes, `Oriental Memoirs,' vol. i. p. 47 [Yule]:

"The mynah is a very entertaining bird, hopping about the

house, and articulating several words in the manner of the

starling."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 40:

"While at other times, like the miners (genus,

Myzantha), it soars from tree to tree with the most

graceful and easy movement."

Ibid. vol. iv. pl. 76:

"Myzantha garrula, Vig. and Horsf, Garrulous

Honey-eater; miner, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land,

M. flavigula, Gould, Yellow-Throated miner."

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' vol. i. p. 33:

"His common name . . . is said to be given from his

resemblance to some Indian bird called mina or miner."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 72:

"The Indian minah is as much at home, and almost as

presumptuous, as the sparrow."

(p. 146): "Yellow-legged minahs, tamest of all Australian

birds."

1890. Tasma, `In her Earliest Youth,' p. 265:

"The plaintive chirp of the mina."

<hw>Miner's</hw> Right, n. the licence to dig for gold.

See quotation.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' p. 1:

"A miner's right, a wonderful document, printed and written on

parchment, precisely as follows."

[A reduced facsimile is given.]

Ibid. p. 106:

"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.

1888. R. M. Johnston, `Geology of Tasmania,' p. 337:

"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]:

"The Mirrn-yong heaps at the North-West bank of the River

Murray."

<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.

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 403:

"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."

1882. W. L. Buller, `Manual of the Birds of New Zealand,'

p. 23:

"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.

1875. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 308:

"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."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 163:

"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.

(3) In Tasmania, to Cassytha pubescens, R. Br.,

N.O. Lauraceae.

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings, p. 43:

"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.

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 660:

"Used for food by the natives. The most valuable fodder-grass

of the colony. True Mitchell-grass."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 78:

"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:

"Moe [sic], a bird so called."

1839. `Proceedings of Zoological Society,' Nov. 12:

[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."]

1844. Ibid. vol. iii. pt. iii. p. 237:

[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."]

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 137:

"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."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand' (English translation),

p. 214:

"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."

[Query, eighteenth century?]

1867. Ibid. p. 181:

"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."

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' Introduction,

p. lvi. [Footnote]:

"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.

1811. G. Paterson, `History of New South Wales,' p. 530:

"Besides herds of kangaroos, four large wolves were seen

at Western Port."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia':

[p. 110]: "Herds of kangaroos."

[p. 139]: "An immense herd of kangaroos."

[p. 196]: "Flocks of kangaroos of every size."

1835. T. B. Wilson, `Voyage round the World,' p. 243:

"We started several flocks of kangaroos."

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.]

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 6:

"Droves of kangaroos."