Austral English Part 215
"The razor-grinder, fitly so called from making a grinding noise as it wavers in one position a foot or two from the ground."
. See quotation.
1893. `The Age,' Nov. 25, p. 13, col. 2:
"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.
"His Honor: I do not know what `readying up' means.
"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."
.
.
See also Saloop-bush.
(q.v.).
1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' p. 345:
"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.'"
1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 82:
"Estrelda temporalis. Red-eyebrowed Finch.
Red-Bill of the Colonists."
`
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.
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 quant.i.ties 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."
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.
(2) A medicinal drug. An exudation from the bark of Eucalyptus rostrata, Schlecht, and other trees; see quotation, 1793. Sir Ra.n.a.ld Martin introduced it into European medical practice.
177 J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 178:
"At the heart they [the trees] are full of veins, through which an amazing quant.i.ty of an astringent red gum issues. This gum I have found very serviceable in an obstinate dysentery."
Ibid. p. 233:
"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."
1793. J. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,'
p. 10:
"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."
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1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'
p. 48:
"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."
.
, Gould. A species of a genus of Australian plovers.
1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi. pl. 21:
"Erythrogonys Cinctus, Gould; Banded Red-knee."
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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."
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1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'
p. 38:
"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."
, Richards.; also called the Barber.
In Australia, it is Anthias longima.n.u.s, Gunth.
, marine fishes resembling the Sea-perches.
S. cardinalis is of a beautiful scarlet colour.