Austral English Part 149
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."
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. II.
c. xiii. p. 479:
"A weapon used by the natives called a Liangle, resembling a miner's pick."
1863. M. K. Beveridge,' Gatherings among the Gum-trees,'
p. 56:
"Let us hand to hand attack him With our Leeawells of Buloite."
Ibid. (In Glossary) p. 83:
"Leeawell, a kind of war club."
1867. G. Gordon McCrae, `Mimba,' p. 9:
"The long liangle's nascent form Fore-spoke the distant battle-storm."
1886. R. Henty, `Australiana,' p. 21:
"His war-club or leeangle."
1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina, p. 67:
"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."
(q.v.).
.
. Its racemes of bright yellow flowers make the paddocks gay in spring.
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 121:
"`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.'"
. mining term. a peculiar form of quartz-reef, forming a nearly vertical prolongation of the saddle.
1890. `The Argus,' June x6th, p. 6, col. 1:
"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."
. See quotation.
[Old and now unused slang.]
1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i.
p. 16:
"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."
[So also at p. 116, "Legitimates"]
.
See Ironbark.
.
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.
1874. M. K. Beveridge, `Lost Life,' p. 40:
"Groaning beneath the friendly shade That by a Leichhardt-tree was made."
1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia, p. 258:
"The Leichhardt is a very symmetrical tree, that grows to a height of about sixty feet, and has leaves rather like a big laurel."
.
.
.
.
. The foliage of this tree yields a large quant.i.ty of oil, equal in fragrance to that of lemons.
(q.v.).
.
.
.
is derived from it; see Watts' `Dictionary of Chemistry,' Second Supplement, 1875, s.v.
1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 73:
"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."
1850. Ibid. p. 292::