Austral English Part 252

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 133:

"I've been surfacing this good while; but quartz-reefin's the payinest game, now."

1866. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches' [Second Series], p. 133:

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xv. p. 153:

"They have been mopping up some rich surfacing."

1894. `The Argus,' March 28, p. 5. col. 5:

"`Surfacing' or `loaming.' Small canvas bags are carried by the prospector, and top soil from various likely-looking spots gathered and put into them, the spots being marked to correspond with the bags. The contents are then panned off separately, and if gold is found in any one of the bags the spot is again visited, and the place thoroughly overhauled, even to trenching for the reef."

Swag, n. (1) Used in the early days, and still by the criminal cla.s.s, in the ordinary sense of Thieves'

English, as booty, plunder.

1837. J. Mudie, `Felonry of New South Wales,' p. 181:

"In short, having brought with her a supply of the `swag,' as the convicts call their ill-gotten cash, a wife seldom fails of having her husband a.s.signed to her, in which case the transported felon finds himself his own master."

1879. R. H. Barham, `Ingoldsby Legends' (Misadventures at Margate):

"A landsman said, `I twig the drop,--he's been upon the mill, And `cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him Veepin' Bill.'

He said `he'd done me very brown, and neatly stowed the swag,'

-That's French, I fancy, for a hat,--or else a carpet-bag."

(2) A special Australian use: a tramp's bundle, wrapt up in a blanket, called a Bluey (q.v.). Used also for a pa.s.senger's luggage.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii.

p. 59:

"A number of the slang phrases current in St. Giles's Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in the dictionary of this colony: plant, swag, pulling up, and other epithets of the Tom and Jerry school, are established--the dross pa.s.sing here as genuine, even among all ranks."

1853. S. Sidney, `Three Colonies of Australia,' p. 361:

"His leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and his `swag' done up in mackintosh."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 384:

"There were others with huge swags suspended from a pole, with which they went on, like the Children of Israel carrying the gigantic bunches of the grapes of Canaan."

1865. J. O. Tucker, `Australian Story,' c. i. p. 86:

"The c.u.mbrous weight of blankets that comprised my swag."

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 127:

"A pair of large double blankets to make the tent of,--that was one swag, and a very unwieldy one it was, strapped knapsack fashion, with straps of flax leaves."

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 51:

"Three white men, the Sydney natives, and Batman, who carried his swag the same as the rest, all armed."

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 9:

"With my rug and blankets on my back (such a bundle being called a `swag')."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i.

p. 285:

"Swag, which consists of his personal properties rolled up in a blanket."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 33:

"His c.u.mbrous attire and the huge swag which lay across the seat."

1888. A. Reischek, in Buller's `Birds of New Zealand,' vol.

ii. p. 93:

"With the hope that there would now be a few fine days, I at once packed up my swag with provisions, ammunition, blanket, &c."

1892. `The Australasian,' May 7, p. 903, col. 1:

"Kenneth, in front, reminded me comically of Alice's White Knight, what with the billies dancing and jingling on his back, and the tomahawk in his belt, and his large swag in front."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 95:

"I suppose he's tramping somewhere, Where the bushmen carry swags, Cadging round the wretched stations With his empty tucker-bags."

Swag, v. to tramp the bush, carrying a swag.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 5:

"There was the solitary pedestrian, with the whole of his supplies, consisting of a blanket and other necessary articles, strapped across his shoulders--this load is called the `swag,'

and the mode of travelling `swagging it.'"

Swag-like, adv. in the fashion of a swag.

1890. `The Argus,' Aug. 2, p. 4, col. 2:

"He strapped the whole lot together, swag-like."

Swagger, n. Same as Swagman (q.v.).

Specially used in New Zealand. The word has also the modern English slang sense.