Austral English Part 156

North of Port Jackson it bears the name of Turpentine Tree (q.v.), and Forest Mahogany.

Tom Russell's Mahogany, Lysicarpus ternifolius, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Swamp Mahogany, or White Mahogany, Eucalyptus robusta, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae, B. Fl. This tree is known as White, or Swamp Mahogany, from the fact that it generally grows in swampy ground. It is also called Brown Gum. This timber is much valued for shingles, wheelwrights'work, ship-building, and building purposes generally. As a timber for fuel, and where no great strength is required, it is excellent, especially when we consider its adaptability to stagnant, swampy, or marshy places.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

c. iv. p. 132:

"Mahogany, Jarrail, Eucalyptus, grows on white sandy land."

Ibid. vol. ii. c. iv. p. 231:

"Part of our road lay through a thick mahogany scrub."

Mai, or Matai, n. a New Zealand tree, now called Podocarpus spicata.

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 440:

"Matai, mai (Dacrydium mai), a tree with a fine thick top, and leaf much resembling that of the yew. The wood is of a slightly reddish colour, close-grained, but brittle, and peculiarly fragrant when burnt... . Highly prized for fuel, and also much used for furniture, as it works up easily and comes next to the totara for durability."

1876. W. n. Blair, `Transactions of New Zealand Inst.i.tute,'

vol. ix. art. x. p. 157:

"I have in this paper adhered to the popular name of black-pine for this timber, but the native name matai is always used in the north."

Maiden's Blush, n. name given to the Australian tree Echinocarpus australis, Benth., N.O. Tiliaceae; and sometimes applied to Euroschinus falcatus, Hook., N.O. Anacardiaceae. The timber is of a delicate rosy colour when cut. The fruit is called Hedgehog-fruit (q.v.). In Tasmania, the name is applied to Convolvulus erubescens, Sims., order Convolvulaceae.

Maire, n. a Maori name applied to three kinds of trees; viz.--

(1) Santalum cunninghamii, Hook., a sandal-wood;

2) Olea of various species (formerly Fusa.n.u.s);

(3) Eugenia maire, A. Cunn., native box-wood, but now usually confined to N.O. Santalaceae.

1835. W. Yate, `Some Account of New Zealand,' p. 41:

"Mairi--a tree of the Podocarpus species."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, pp. 132-33:

"Maire--a small tree ten to fifteen feet high, six to eight inches in diameter; wood hard, close-grained, heavy, used by Maoris in the manufacture of war implements. Has been used as a subst.i.tute for box by wood-engravers. Black maire, N.O. Jasmineae;also Maire-rau-nui, Olea Cunninghamii. Hook., fil., Black M., forty to fifty feet high, three to four feet in diameter, timber close-grained, heavy, and very durable."

Major Buller, n. name given to one of the fruits of the Geebong tribe. See Geebong.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'

p. 82:

"The Sergeant Baker in all probability got its local appellation to the early history of the colony (New South Wales), as it was called after a sergeant of that name in one of the first detachments of a regiment; so were also two fruits of the Geebong tribe (Persoonia); one was called Major Buller, and the other Major Groce, and this latter again further corrupted into Major Grocer."

Major Groce, or Major Grocer, name given to one of the fruits of the Geebung tribe. See Geebung, /or Geebong/ and quotation under Major Buller.

Major Mitch.e.l.l, n. vernacular name of a species of c.o.c.katoo, Cacatua leadbeateri, Vig. It was called after the explorer, Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitch.e.l.l, who was Surveyor- General of New South Wales. The cry of the bird was fancifully supposed to resemble his name.

See Leadbeater.

Make a light, expressive pigeon-English. An aboriginal's phrase for to look for, to find. "You been make a light yarraman this morning?" i.e. Have you found or seen the horses this morning?

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' vol. ii. p. 185 [Footnote]:

"`Make a light,' in blackfellow's gibberish, means simply `See.'"

Mako, n. originally Makomako. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Aristotelia racemosa, Hook., N.O. Tiliaceae, often but incorrectly called Mokomoko.

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 130:

"Mako, a small handsome tree, six to twenty feet high, quick-growing, with large racemes of reddish nodding flowers.

Wood very light and white in colour."

Mako/2/, n. Maori name for the Tiger- Shark. See Shark. The teeth of the Mako are used for ornaments by the Maoris.

Mallee, n. and adj. an aboriginal word.

Any one of several scrubby species of Eucalyptus in the desert parts of South Australia and Victoria, especially Eucalyptus dumosa, Cunn., and E. oleosa, F. v. M., N.O.

Myrtaceae. They are also called Mallee Gums.

Accent on the first syllable. The word is much used as an adjective to denote the district in which the shrub grows, the "Mallee District," and this in late times is generally shortened into The Mallee. Compare "The Lakes" for the Lake-district of c.u.mberland. It then becomes used as an epithet of Railways, Boards, Farmers, or any matters connected with that district.

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"

1854. E. Stone Parker, `Aborigines of Australia,' p. 25:

"The immense thickets of Eucalyptus dumosa, commonly designated the `Malle' scrub."

1857. W. Howitt,' Tallangetta,' vol. ii. p. 2:

"This mallee scrub, as it is called, consists of a dense wood of a dwarf species of gum-tree, Eucalyptus dumosa.

This tree, not more than a dozen feet in height, stretches its horizontal and rigid branches around it so as to form with its congeners a close, compact ma.s.s."

186. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia, vol. i. p. 214 (Oxley's Expedition in 1817):

"The country, in dead flats, was overspread with what is now called mallee scrub, that is, the dwarf spreading eucalyptus, to which Mr. Cunningham gave the specific name of dumosa, a most pestilent scrub to travel through, the openings betwixt the trees being equally infested with the detestable malle-gra.s.s."

1883. `The Mallee Pastoral Leases Act, 1883,' 47 Vict.

No. 766, p. 3:

"The lands not alienated from the Crown and situated in the North-Western district of Victoria within the boundaries set forth in the First Schedule hereto, comprising in all some ten millions of acres wholly or partially covered with the mallee plant, and known as the Mallee Country, shall be divided into blocks as hereinafter provided."

1890. `The Argus,' June 13, p. 6, col. 2: