Austral English Part 266
Yellow-rumped T.-- Geobasileus chrysorrhoea, Quoy and Gaim.
See also Tree-t.i.t.
. a name given in North Australia to the Sea-slug, or Trepang; because the appearance of its tentacles suggests the teat of a cow.
1880. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' vol. v. pt. ii. p. 128:
"G. F. Jaeger, in 1833, ... enumerates four [species of Trepang), viz. Trepang edulis, T. ananas, T. impatiens and T. peruviana. The first of these is certainly found on the reefs, and is called by the fishermen `redfish.' ... Next to this is the `t.i.t-fish'
... studded with somewhat distant large tentacles, which project nearly an inch or so."
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 22:
"They were engaged in smoking a large haul of `t.i.t' fish, which they had made on a neighbouring reef."
, Gmel., the Diving-petrel.
Spelt also tee-tee.
1891. `The Australasian,' Nov. 14, p. 963, col. 1 (`A Lady in the Kermadecs'):
"The petrels--there are nine kinds, and we have names of our own for them, the black burrower, the mutton-bird, the white burrower, the short-billed ti-ti, the long-billed ti-ti, the little storm petrel, and three others that we had no names for--abound on the island."
(q.v.). It has many other Maori names.
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Also called New Zealand Oak and New Zealand Ash. See Alectryon.
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. ii.
p. 317:
"The berry of the t.i.toki tree might be turned to account. The natives extract a very fine oil from it."
1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 253:
The youth, with hands beneath his head, Against a great t.i.toki's base."
1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences or Incidents of Thirty-four Years in New Zealand,' p: 16:
"For this purpose, t.i.toki was deemed the most suitable timber, from its hardness and crooked growth resembling English oak."
1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 131:
"t.i.toki, a beautiful tree with large panicles of reddish flowers ... Wood has similar properties to ash. Its toughness makes it valuable for wheels, coachbuilding, etc."
1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 183:
"It is sometimes termed `the New Zealand ash,' doubtless on account of its resembling that tree in the shape of its foliage and in the toughness of its wood, but it is most generally known as the `t.i.toki.'"
1896. `Otago Witness,' June 23, p. 42, col. 2:
"The saddling-paddock and the scales are surrounded by a fence made of stout t.i.toki saplings, on which are perched the knowing."
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evidently the surveyor's joke.
1895. `Otago Witness,' Dec. 19, p. 23, col. 3:
"Our way lay across two or three cultivations into a grove of handsome t.i.tri. Traversing this we came to a broad, but shallow and stony creek, and then more t.i.tri, merging into light bush."
, poisonous fishes.
Toad-fishes are very closely allied to Porcupine-fishes.
"Toads" have the upper jaw divided by a median suture, while the latter have undivided dental plates. See Porcupine-fish and Globe-fish,
1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 89:
"The Poisonous or Toad Fish of Van Diemen's Land.
(Communicated by James Scott, Esq. R.N. Colonial Surgeon)... . The melancholy and dreadful effect produced by eating it was lately instanced in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town, on the lady of one of the most respectable merchants, and two children, who died in the course of three hours ... The poison is of a powerful sedative nature, producing stupor, loss of speech, deglut.i.tion, vision and the power of the voluntary muscles, and ultimately an entire deprivation of nervous power and death."
1844. J. A. Moore, `Tasmanian Rhymings,' p. 24:
"The toad-fish eaten, soon the body dies."
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The Mountain Toatoa is P. alpinus, Hook.
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.
p. 120:
"The toa toa, a small tree which is much prized by the natives for walking-sticks, and only grows, they say, in the neighbourhood of Tonga Riro. The stick underneath the bark is of a bright red colour, which takes a fine polish."
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Various American tobaccos are also naturalised, and their growing and manufacture is an industry. Tobacco manufactured in the colonies, whether from imported American leaf or from leaf grown in the colonies, is called Colonial Tobacco.
1848. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Tropical Australia,' p. 64:
"In the rich soil near the river-bed, we saw the yellowish flowers of the native tobacco, Nicotiana suaveolens."
. In the bush a term of abuse; though curiously in one or two parts of New South Wales the word "toey," which is derived from it, is a term of praise, a "swell." The word has been explained as of convict origin, that the rags were used to soothe the galling of fetters; but the explanation is not satisfactory, for the part galled by the irons would not be the toe, but the ankle. A writer in `Truth'
has cleared up the word (see quotation). It is of Maori origin. Away from Maoriland "toe-rigger" had no meaning, and a false meaning and origin were given by the change of vowel.
1896. `Truth' (Sydney), Jan. 12:
"The bushie's favorite term of opprobrium `a toe-ragger' is also probably from the Maori. Amongst whom the nastiest term of contempt was that of tau rika rika, or slave. The old whalers on the Maoriland coast in their anger called each other toe-riggers, and to-day the word in the form of toe-ragger has spread throughout the whole of the South Seas."
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