Austral English Part 167

More generally--

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 20:

"A number of cattle together is here usually termed a `mob,'

and truly their riotous and unruly demeanour renders the designation far from inapt; but I was very much amused at first, to hear people gravely talking of `a mob of sheep,'

or `a mob of lambs,' and it was some time ere I became accustomed to the novel use of the word. Now, the common announcements that `the cuckoo hen has brought out a rare mob of chickens,' or that `there's a great mob of quail in the big paddock,' are to me fraught with no alarming anticipations."

1853. H. Berkeley Jones, `Adventures in Australia,' p. 114:

"`There will be a great mob of things going down to-day,' said one to another, which meant that there would be a heavy cargo in number; we must remember that the Australians have a patois of their own."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xiii. p. 135:

"What a mob of houses, people, cabs, teams, men, women and children!"

Mocking-bird, n. The name is given in Australia to the Lyre-bird (q.v.), and in New Zealand to the Tui (q.v.).

Mock-Olive, n. a tree. Called also Axe-breaker (q.v.).

Mock-Orange, n. an Australian tree, i.q. Native Laurel. See Laurel.

Mogo, n. the stone hatchet of the aborigines of New South Wales.

1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 204:

"I heard from the summit the mogo of a native at work on some tree close by."

1868. W. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 20:

"One mute memorial by his bier, His mogo, boomerang, and spear."

Moguey, n. English corruption of Mokihi (q.v.).

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 52:

"Moguey, a Maori name for a raupo or flax-stick raft."

Moki, n. the Maori name for the Bastard Trumpeter (q.v.) of New Zealand, Latris ciliaris, Forst., family Cirrhitidae.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'

(Church Missionary Society), p. 182:

"Moki, s. A fish so called."

Mokihi, or Moki, n. Maori name for a raft; sometimes anglicised as Moguey.

1840. J. S. Polack, `Manners and Customs of New Zealanders,'

vol. ii. p. 226:

"In the absence of canoes, a quantity of dried bulrushes are fastened together, on which the native is enabled to cross a stream by sitting astride and paddling with his hands; these humble conveyances are called moki, and resemble those made use of by the Egyptians in crossing among the islands of the Nile.

They are extremely buoyant, and resist saturation for a longer period."

1858. `Appendix to Journal of House of Representatives,'

c. iii. p. 18:

"We crossed the river on mokis. By means of large mokis, carrying upwards of a ton... . Moki navigation."

1889. Vincent Pyke, `Wild Will Enderby,' p. 82:

"For the benefit of the unlearned in such matters, let me here explain that a `Mokihi' is constructed of Koradies, Anglice, the flowering stalks of the flax,--three faggots of which lashed firmly in a point at the small ends, and expanded by a piece of wood at the stern, constitute the sides and bottom of the frail craft, which, propelled by a paddle, furnishes sufficient means of transport for a single individual."

Moko, n. the system of tattooing practised by the Maoris. See Tattoo. It is not a fact--as popularly supposed--that the "moko" was distinctive in different families; serving, as is sometimes said, the purpose of a coat-of-arms. The "moko" was in fact all made on the same pattern--that of all Maori carvings. Some were more elaborate than others. The sole difference was that some were in outline only, some were half filled in, and others were finished in elaborate detail.

1769. J. Banks, `Journal,' Nov. 22 (Sir J. D. Hooker's edition, 1896), p. 203:

"They had a much larger quantity of amoca [sic] or black stains upon their bodies and faces. They had almost universally a broad spiral on each buttock, and many had their thighs almost entirely black, small lines only being left untouched, so that they looked like striped breeches. In this particular, I mean the use of amoca, almost every tribe seems to have a different custom."

1896. `The Times' (Weekly Edition), July 17, p. 498 col. 3:

"In this handsome volume, `Moko or Maori Tattooing,'

Major-General Robley treats of an interesting subject with a touch of the horrible about it which, to some readers, will make the book almost fascinating. Nowhere was the system of puncturing the flesh into patterns and devices carried out in such perfection or to such an extent as in New Zealand. Both men and women were operated upon among the Maoris."

Moko-moko, n. (1) Maori name for the Bell-bird (q.v.), Anthornis melanura, Sparrm.

1888. A. W. Bathgate, `Sladen's Australian Ballads,' p. 22:

[Title]: "To the Moko-moko, or Bell-bird."

[Footnote]: "Now rapidly dying out of our land," sc. New Zealand.

(2) Maori name for the lizard, Lygosoma ornatum, Gray, or Lygosoma moko, Durn. and Bib.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'

(Church Missionary Society), p. 182:

"Moko-moko, a small lizard."

Mole, Marsupial. See Marsupial Mole.

Moloch, n. an Australian lizard, Moloch horridus, Gray; called also Mountain Devil (q.v.).

There is no other species in the genus, and the adjective (Lat. horridus, bristling) seems to have suggested the noun, the name probably recalling Milton's line (`Paradise Lost,' i. 392)

"First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood."

Moloch was the national god of the Ammonites (1 Kings xi. 7), and was the personification of fire as a destructive element.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 41:

"Numerous lizards such as the strange Moloch horridus, the bright yellow, orange, red and black of which render it in life very different in appearance from the bleached specimens of museum cases."