Austral English Part 241
"A nocuous kind of gra.s.s, namely the dreaded spear-gra.s.s (Andropogon contortus), which grows on the coast, and which rendered sheep-raising impossible."
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, in which case the Australasian use is the more correct. See `Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.'
1865. J. O. Tucker, `Australian Story,' c. i. p. 84:
"The only recompense was ... to light his pipe and have a `spell.'"
1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 84:
"Having a spell--what we should call a short holiday."
. to rest.
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.
p. 42:
"In order to spell the oars, we landed at a point on the east side."
1880. G. n. Oakley, in `Victoria in 1880,' p. 114:
"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."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xxiv. p. 328:
"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."
(q.v.).
From Grk. sphaen, "a wedge," and 'oura, "a tail."
The name was given by Sir Frederick McCoy.
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, F. v. M.
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. The name is also applied to various wild pot herbs.
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. an Australian "Honey-eater,"
but not now so cla.s.sed. There are two species--
The Slender Spine-bill-- Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Gould; inhabiting Australia and Tasmania, and called Cobbler's Awl in the latter colony.
White-eyebrowed S.-- A. superciliosus, Gould; of Western Australia.
Though related to the genus Myzomela, the pattern of their colouration differs widely.
1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:
"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris. Slender-billed Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land."
Ibid. pl. 62:
"Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, Gould. White-eyebrowed Spine-bill."
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, R.B., etc. It is a "coa.r.s.e, rambling, much-branched, rigid, spinous, silky or woolly, perennial gra.s.s, 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 Gra.s.s (q.v.), and is a species of Triodia. The quotations, 1846, 1887, 1890, and 1893, involve this error.
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.
c. vi. p. 209:
"In the valley was a little sandy soil, nourishing the Spinifex."
1877. Baron von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 125:
"The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true Spinifex occupies our sand-sh.o.r.es; ... 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."
1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 239:
"Though gra.s.ses are sadly conspicuous by their absence, saline plants, so nutritious for stock, occur amidst the real deserts of Spinifex."
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 43:
"On the broad sandy heights ... the so-called spinifex is found in great abundance. This gra.s.s (Triodia irritans) is the traveller's torment, and makes the plains, which it sometimes covers for hundreds of miles, almost impa.s.sable. Its blades, which have points as sharp as needles, often p.r.i.c.k the horses' legs till they bleed."
1893. A. F. Calvert, `English Ill.u.s.trated Magazine,' Feb., p. 325:
"They evidently preferred that kind of watercress to the leaves of the horrid, p.r.i.c.kly Spinifex, so omnipresent in the north-western district."
1896. R. Tate, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,'
Botany, p. 119:
"A species of Triodia (`porcupine gra.s.s,' or incorrectly `spinifex' of explorers and residents) dominates sandy ground and the sterile slopes and tops of the sandstone table-lands."