Austral English Part 207

Common Narrow-footed Pouched-Mouse-- Sminthopsis murina, Water.

Finke N.-f. P.-M.-- S. larapinta, Spencer.

Sandhill N.-f. P.-M.-- S. psammophilus, Spencer.

Stripe-faced N.-f. P.-M.-- S. virginiae, De Tarrag.

Thick-tailed N.-f. P.-M.-- S. cra.s.sicaudata, Gould.

White-footed N.-f. P.-M.

S. leucopus, Grey.

The third genus, Dasyuroides, has only one species-- Byrne's Pouched-Mouse, D. byrnei, Spencer.

The fourth genus, Antechinomys, has only one known species--the Long-legged Jumping Pouched-Mouse, A. laniger, Gould.

Pounamu, or Poenamu, n.

the Maori name for Nephrite, Jade, or Greenstone (q.v.). In the second spelling the e is hardly sounded.

1773. Hawkesworth, `Cook's Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 400:

"Two Whennuas or islands [afterwards called New Zealand] which might be circ.u.mnavigated in a few days, and which he called Tovy Poenammoo; the literal translation of this word is `the water of green talc,' and probably if we had understood him better we should have found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of some particular place where they got the green talc or stone of which they make their ornaments and tools, and not a general name for the whole southern district."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 362:

"A magnificent Mere punamu, a battle-axe, fifteen inches long, and cut out of the most beautiful, transparent nephrite, an heirloom of his ill.u.s.trious ancestors, which he kept as a sacred relic."

1881. J. L. Campbell [t.i.tle of book describing early days of New Zealand]:

"Poenamo."

Pratincole, n. The bird called a Pratincole (inhabitant of meadows: Lat. pratum and incola) exists elsewhere, and more often under the familiar name of Chat. The Australian species are--Glareola grallaria, Temm.; Oriental, G. orientalis, Leach.

Pre-empt, n. a slang abbreviation for pre-emptive right.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xxiv.

p. 322:

"My friend has the run and the stock and the pre-empts all in his own hands."

Pretty-Faces, n. a fancy name for a small kangaroo. Not very common.

1887. W. S. S.Tyrwhitt, `The New Chum in the Queensland Bush,' p. 145:

"Kangaroos are of several different kinds. First, the large brown variety, known as kangaroo proper; next the smaller kind, known as pretty faces or whip tails, which are rather smaller and of a grey colour, with black and white on the face."

p.r.i.c.kfoot, n. a Tasmanian plant, Eryngium vesiculosum, Lab., N.O. Umbelliferae.

p.r.i.c.kly Fern, n. Alsophila australis, R. Br., N.O. Filices.

1862. W. Archer, `Products of Tasmania,' p. 41:

"p.r.i.c.kly fern-tree (Alsophila Australis, Br.). This very handsome ferntree occasionally attains a height of thirty feet. It is not, by any means, so common a fern-tree as d.i.c.ksonia antarctica (Lab.)."

p.r.i.c.kly Mimosa, n. See Mimosa and p.r.i.c.kly Moses, under Moses.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 6:

Acacia verticillata. Whorl leaved Acacia, or p.r.i.c.kly Mimosa, so called from its sharp pointed leaves standing out in whorls round the stem like the spokes of a wheel."

p.r.i.c.kly Pine, n. See Pine.

p.r.i.c.kly Wattle, n. See Wattle.

Primage, n. The word is of old commercial use, for a small sum of money formerly paid to the captain or master of the ship, as his personal perquisite, over and above the freight charges paid to the owners or agents, by persons sending goods in a ship. It was called by the French pot-de-vin du maitre,--a sort of pourboire, in fact. Now-a-days the captain has no concern with the freight arrangements, and the word in this sense has disappeared.

It has re-appeared in Australia under a new form. In 1893 the Victorian Parliament imposed a duty of one per cent.

on the Prime, as the Customs laws call the first entry of goods. This tax was called Primage, and raised such an outcry among commercial men that in 1895 it was repealed.

Primrose, Native, n. The name is given in Tasmania to Goodenia geniculata, R. Br., N.O. Goodeniaceae. There are many species of Goodenia in Australia, and they contain a tonic bitter which has not been examined.

Prion, n. a sea-bird. See Dove-Petrel.

(Grk. priown, a saw.) The sides of its bill are like the teeth of a saw.

1885. W. O. Legge, `Australasian a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 448:

"The name Prion, as almost universally applied elsewhere to the Blue Petrels, has been kept [in Australia] as an English name."

Prop, v. of a horse: to stop suddenly.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 194:

"Another man used to teach his horse (which was free from vice) to gallop full speed up to the verandah of a house, and when almost against it, the animal would stop in his stride (or prop), when the rider vaulted lightly over his head on to the verandah."

1880. W. Senior, `Travel and Trout,' p.52:

"How on a sudden emergency the sensible animal will instantaneously check his impetuosity, `prop,' and swing round at a tangent."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood,' Melbourne Memories,' c. xxi. p. 152:

"Traveller's dam had an ineradicable taste for propping."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 153:

"His horse propped short, and sent him flying over its head."

Prop, n. a sudden stop.

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xvi. p. 115: