Austral English Part 260

"Over Van Diemen's Land (or Tasmania, as we love to call it here), New South Wales enjoys also many advantages."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 491:

"Tasmania is a more musical alias adopted by the island.

It has been given in titular distinction to the first bishop, my excellent and accomplished friend Dr. Nixon, and will doubtless be its exclusive designation when it shall have become a free nation."

1892. A. and G. Sutherland, `History of Australia,' p. 41:

"The wild country around the central lakes of Tasmania."

Tasmanian, adj. belonging or native to Tasmania.

1825. A. Bent, `The Tasmanian Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1825'

[Title.]

Tasmanian, n. an inhabitant of Tasmania, a colonist. The word is also used of the aborigines, the race of whom is now extinct.

Tasmanian Devil, n. the only species of the genus Sarcophilus (q.v.), S. ursinus.

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 156:

"Like many of its kindred, the Tasmanian Devil is a burrowing and nocturnal animal. In size it may be compared to a Badger, and owing to its short limbs, plantigrade feet, and short muzzle, its gait and general appearance are very Badger or Bear-like."

Tasmanian Tiger, n. called also Native Wolf, Marsupial Wolf, Zebra Wolf, and Hyaena; genus, Thylacinus (q.v.). It is the largest carnivorous marsupial extant, and is so much like a wolf in appearance that it well deserves its vernacular name of Wolf, though now-a-days it is generally called Tiger. There is only one species, Thylacinus cynocephalus, and the settlers have nearly exterminated it, on account of its fierce predatory habits and the damage it inflicts on their flocks. The Tasmanian Government pays L1 for every one destroyed. The Van Diemen's Land Company in the North-West of the Island employs a man on one of its runs who is called the "tiger-catcher."

1813. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 430:

"About Port Dalrymple an animal was discovered which bore some resemblance to the hyena both in shape and fierceness; with a wide mouth, strong limbs, sharp claws and a striped skin.

Agreeably to the general nature of New South Wales quadrupeds, this animal has a false belly. It may be considered as the most formidable of any which New South Wales has been yet found to produce, and is very destructive; though there is no instance of its attacking the human species."

1832. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 85:

"During our stay a native tiger or hyena bounded from its lair beneath the rocks."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Friends and Foes,' p. 65:

"There is another charming fellow, which all the people here call the Tiger, but as a tiger is like a great cat, and this beast is much more like a dog, you will see how foolish this name is. I believe naturalists call it the dog-faced opossum, and that is not much better ... the body is not a bit like that of an opossum."

1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 273:

"The `Tasmanian tiger' is of the size of a shepherd's dog, a gaunt yellow creature, with black stripes round the upper part of its body, and with an ugly snout. Found nowhere but in Tasmania, and never numerous even there, it is now slowly disappearing."

Tasmanian Whiptail, n. a Tasmanian fish, Coryphaenoides tasmaniae, family Macruridae, or deep-sea Gadoids, an altogether different fish from Myliobatis aquila, the Eagle or Whiptail Ray, which also occurs in Tasmania, but is found all over the world.

Tasmanite, n. a mineral. "A resinous, reddish-brown, translucent, hydrocarbon derivative (C40H6202S), found in certain laminated shales of Tasmania, Resiniferous shale." (`Standard.')

Tassel-fish, n. a thread-fish of Queensland, of the genus Polynemus, family Polynemidae.

Polynemoid fish have free filaments at the humeral arch below the pectoral fins, which Guenther says are organs of touch, and to be regarded as detached portions of the fin; in some the filaments or threads are twice as long as the fish.

Tassy, n. a pet name for Tasmania.

1894. `The Argus,' Jan. 26, p. 3, col. 5:

"To-day Tassy--as most Victorian cricketers and footballers familiarly term our neighbour over the straits--will send a team into the field."

Tattoo, v. and n. to mark the human body with indelible pigments. The word is Polynesian; its first occurrence in English is in Cook's account of Tahiti.

The Tahitian word is Tatau, which means tattoo marks on the human skin, from Ta, which means a mark or design. (Littre.) The Maori verb, ta, means to cut, to tattoo, to strike. See Moko.

1773. `Hawkesworth's Voyages' (Cook's First Voyage; at Tahiti, 1769), vol. ii. p. 191:

"They have a custom of staining their bodies ... which they call Tattowing. They prick the skin, so as just not to fetch blood, with a small instrument, something in the form of a hoe. ... The edge is cut into sharp teeth or points ... they dip the teeth into a mixture of a kind of lamp-black ... The teeth, thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, and the handle to which they are fastened being struck by quick smart blows, they pierce it, and at the same time carry into the puncture the black composition, which leaves an indelible stain."

1777. Horace Walpole, `Letters,' vol. vi. p. 448:

"Since we will give ourselves such torrid airs, I wonder we don't go stark and tattoo ourselves."

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. ii.

p. 109:

"A very famous artist in tatu came with the party, and was kept in constant and profitable employment. Everybody, from the renowned warrior to the girl of twelve years old, crowded to be ornamented by the skilful chisel... . The instruments used were not of bone, as they used formerly to be; but a graduated set of iron tools, fitted with handles like adzes, supplied their place... . The staining liquid is made of charcoal."

1847. A. Tennyson, `Princess,' canto ii. l. 105:

"... Then the monster, then the man; Tattoo'd or woaded, winter-clad in skins, Raw from the prime, and crushing down his mate."

1859. A. S. Thomson, `Story of New Zealand,' vol. i. c. iv.

p. 74:

"First among the New Zealand list of disfigurations is tattooing, a Polynesian word signifying a repetition of taps, but which term is unknown in the language of the New Zealanders; moko being the general term for the tattooing on the face, and whakairo for that on the body." [But see Moko.]

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 17:

"Lips no stain of tattoo had turned azure."

Ibid. p. 104:

"A stick knobbed with a carved and tattoo'd wooden head."

1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 3:

"Thy rugged skin is hideous with tattooing."

Tawa, n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Nesodaphne tawa, Hook., N.O. Laurineae. The newer name is Beilschmiedia tawa, Benth. and Hook. f.

Allied to Taraire (q.v.). A handsome forest tree with damson-like fruit.

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 129: