e to be held responsible for some of their statements. For
instance--

"<i>Aabec</i>. An Australian medicinal bark said to promote
perspiration."

I have never heard of it, and my ignorance is shared by the
greatest Australian botanist, the Baron von Mueller.

"<i>Beauregarde</i>. The Zebra grass-parrakeet of Australia.
From F. beau, regarde. See BEAU n. and REGARD."

As a matter of fact, the name is altered out of recognition,
but really comes from the aboriginal <i>budgery</i>, good, and
<i>gar</i>, parrot.

"<i>Imou-pine</i>. A large New Zealand tree. . . . called
<i>red pine</i> by the colonists and <i>rimu</i> by the
natives."

I can find no trace of the spelling "Imou." In a circular to
New Zealand newspapers I asked whether it was a known variant.
The <i>New Zealand Herald</i> made answer--"He may be sure that
the good American dictionary has made a misprint. It was
scarcely worth the Professor's while to take notice of mere
examples of pakeha ignorance of Maori."

"Swagman. [Slang, Austral.] 1. A dealer in cheap trinkets, etc.
2. A swagger."

In twenty-two years of residence in Australia, I have never heard
the former sense.

"<i>Taihoa</i>. [Anglo-Tasmanian.] No hurry; wait."

The word is Maori, and Maori is the language of New Zealand, not
of Tasmania.

These examples, I know, are not fair specimens of the accuracy
of the Standard Dictionary, but they serve as indications of
the necessity for a special book on Australasian English.

II. TITLE AND SCOPE OF THE BOOK.

In the present day, when words are more and more abbreviated,
a "short title" may be counted necessary to the welfare of a
book. For this reason "Austral English" has been selected.
In its right place in the dictionary the word <i>Austral</i>
will be found with illustrations to show that its primary meaning,
"southern," is being more and more limited, so that the word
may now be used as equivalent to <i>Australasian</i>.

"Austral" or "Australasian English" means all the new words and
the new uses of old words that have been added to the English
language by reason of the fact that those who speak English
have taken up their abode in Australia, Tasmania, and New
Zealand. Hasty inference might lead to the remark that such
addition is only slang, but the remark is far from being
accurate; probably not one-tenth of the new vocabulary could
fairly be so classified. A great deal of slang is used in
Australasia, b