telaea
longifolia</i>, Vent., <i>N.O. Jasmineae</i>.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 579:

"Axe-breaker. Wood hard, close-grained and firm. Its
vernacular name emphasizes its hardness."

B

<hw>Baal</hw>, or <hw>Bail</hw>, <i>interj</i>. and <i>adv</i>.
"An aboriginal expression of disapproval." (Gilbert Parker,
Glossary to `Round the Compass in Australia,' 1888.) It was
the negative in the Sydney dialect.

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 271, quoting from `The
Atlas' (circa 1845):

"Traces, however, of the Egyptian language are discoverable
among the present inhabitants, with whom, for instance, the
word `Bale' or `Baal' is in continual use . . . ." [Evidently
a joke.]

<hw>Babbler</hw>, <i>n</i>. a bird-name. In Europe, "name
given, on account of their harsh chattering note, to the
long-legged thrushes." (`O.E.D.') The group "contains a great
number of birds not satisfactorily located elsewhere, and has
been called the ornithological waste-basket." (`Century.') The
species are--

The Babbler--
<i>Pomatostomus temporalis</i>, V. and H.

Chestnut-crowned B.--
<i>P. ruficeps</i>, Hart.

Red-breasted B.--
<i>P. rubeculus</i>, Gould.

White-browed B.--
<i>P. superciliosus</i>, V. and H.

<hw>Back-blocks</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) The far interior of
Australia, and away from settled country. Land in Australia is
divided on the survey maps into blocks, a word confined, in
England and the United States, to town lands.

(2) The parts of a station distant from the <i>frontage</i>
(q.v.).

1872. Anon. `Glimpses of Life in Victoria,' p. 31:

". . . we were doomed to see the whole of our river-frontage
purchased. . . . The back blocks which were left to us were
insufficient for the support of our flocks, and deficient in
permanent water-supply. . . ."

1880. J. Mathew, Song--`The Bushman':

"Far, far on the plains of the arid back-blocks
A warm-hearted bushman is tending his flocks.
There's little to cheer in that vast grassy sea:
But oh! he finds pleasure in thinking of me.
How weary, how dreary the stillness must be!
But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

1890. E. W. Horning, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 298:

"`Down in Vic' you can carry as many sheep to the acre as acres
to the sheep up here in the `backblocks.'"

1893. M. Gaunt, `English Illustrated, `Feb., p. 294:

"The back-blocks are very effectual levellers."

1893. Haddon Chambers,