Austral English Part 148

1892. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 7:

"But no obstacle is worse for the clearer to encounter than the lawyer-vines where they are not burnt off. These are a form of palm which grows in feathery tufts along a pliant stalk, and fastens itself as a creeper upon other trees. From beneath its tufts of leaves it throws down trailing suckers of the thickness of stout cord, armed with sets of sharp red barbs.

These suckers sometimes throw themselves from tree to tree across a road which has not been lately used, and render it as impa.s.sable to horses as so many strains of barbed wire. When they merely escape from the undergrowth of wild ginger and tree-fern and stinging-bush, which fringes the scrub, and coil themselves in loose loops upon the ground, they are dangerous enough as traps for either man or horse. In the jungle, where they weave themselves in and out of the upright growths, they form a web which at times defies every engine of destruction but fire."

Lawyer-Cane, Lawyer-Palm, and Lawyer-Vine. See Lawyer.

Lead, n. (p.r.o.nounced leed), a mining term. In the Western United States and elsewhere, the term lead in mining is used as equivalent for lode. In Australia, the word lead is only used in reference to alluvial mining, and signifies the old river-bed in which gold is found.

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), June 19, p. 75, col. 2:

"There was every facility for abstracting the gold in the rich lead of a neighbour."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 272 [Note]:

"The expression `deep lead' refers to those ancient river-courses which are now only disclosed by deep-mining operations."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. v. p. 55:

"Taking the general matter of `leads' or dead rivers, it chiefly obtained that if gold were found on one portion of them, it extended to all the claims within a considerable distance."

Lead, to strike the. See above. Used figuratively for to succeed.

1874. Garnet Walch, `Head over Heels,' p. 74:

"We could shy up our caps for a feller, As soon as he struck the lead."

Leadbeater, n. applied to a c.o.c.katoo, Cacatua leadbeateri, Vig., called Leadbeaters c.o.c.katoo by Major Mitch.e.l.l (q.v.).

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. xiv. p. 127:

"The birds are very beautiful--the Blue Mountain and Lowrie parrots ... leadbeater, and snow-white c.o.c.katoos."

Leaf-insect, n. See Phasmid.

Lease, n. a piece of land leased for mining purposes. In England, the word is used for the doc.u.ment or legal right concerning the land. In Australia, it is used for the land itself. Compare Right-of-way.

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 15:

"A nice block of stone was crushed from Johnson's lease."

Lease in perpetuity, a statutory expression in the most recent land legislation of New Zealand, indicating a specific mode of alienating Crown lands,. It is a lease for 999 years at a permanent rental equal to 4% on the capital value, which is not subject to revision.

Leather-head, n. another name for the Friar-bird (q.v.), Philemon corniculatus, Lath.

See Tropidorhynchus.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 461:

"The Leatherhead with its constantly changing call and whistling."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 58:

"The leather-heads utter their settled phrase `Off we go! off we go!' in the woods, or they come to suck honey from the Melianthus major, which stands up like a huge artichoke plant, tipped with dark red plumes of flowers."

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 233:

"Among the Honey-suckers is that singular-looking bird, the Leatherhead, or Bald-headed Friar (Tropidorhynchus corniculatus); it is commonly seen upon the topmost branches of lofty trees, calling `Poor Soldier,' `Pimlico,'

`Four o'clock,' and uttering screaming sounds. It feeds upon insects, wild fruits, and any sweets it can procure from the flowers of the Banksia and Gum-trees."

Leather-Jacket, n.

(1) A name applied popularly and somewhat confusedly to various trees, on account of the toughness of their bark-- (a) Eucalyptus punctata, De C., Hickory Eucalypt (q.v.); (b) Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss., or Cooperswood; (c) Ceratopetalum, or Coachwood; (d) Cryptocarya meissnerii, F. v. M.; (e) Weinmannia benthami, F. v. M.

(2) A fish of the family Sclerodermi, Monacanthus ayraudi, Quoy. and Gaim., and numerous other species of Monocanthus. Leather-Jackets are wide-spread in Australian seas. The name is given elsewhere to other fishes.

See File-fish and Pig-fish.

1770. `Capt. Cook's Journal,' edition Wharton, 1893, p. 246:

"They had caught a great number of small fish, which the sailors call leather jackets, on account of their having a very thick skin; they are known in the West Indies."

1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 503--'Cook's First Voyage,' May 4, 1770 (at Botany Bay):

"Small fish, which are well known in the West Indies, and which our sailors call Leather jackets, because their skin is remarkably thick."

1789. W. Tench, `Expedition to Botany Bay, p. 129:

"To this may be added ba.s.s, mullets, skaits, soles, leather-jackets, and many other species."

(3) A kind of pancake.

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 151:

"A plentiful supply of `leatherjackets' (dough fried in a pan)."

1853. Mossman and Banister, `Australia Visited and Revisited,'

p. 126:

"Our party, upon this occasion, indulged themselves, in addition to the usual bush fare, with what are called `Leather jackets,' an Australian bush term for a thin cake made of dough, and put into a pan to bake with some fat... The Americans indulge in this kind of bread, giving them the name of `Puff ballooners,' the only difference being that they place the cake upon the bare coals ..."

1855. R. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 117:

"The leather-jacket is a cake of mere flour and water, raised with tartaric acid and carbonate of soda instead of yeast, and baked in the frying-pan; and is equal to any m.u.f.fin you can buy in the London shops."

Leather-wood, n. i.q. Pinkwood (q.v.).

Leawill, or Leeangle (with other spellings), n. aboriginal names for a native weapon, a wooden club bent at the striking end. The name is Victorian, especially of the West; probably derived from lea or leang, or leanyook, a tooth. The aboriginal forms are langeel, or leanguel, and lea-wil, or le-ow-el. The curve evidently helped the English termination, angle.

1845. Charles Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 155:

"The liangle is, I think, described by Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l.