"The bait used is `yabby,' a small crayfish found in the sand on the beach at low tide. The getting of the bait itself is very diverting. The yabbies are most prized by fish and fishermen, and the most difficult to obtain. The game is very shy, and the hunter, when he has found the burrow, has to dig rapidly to overtake it, for the yabby retires with marvellous rapidity, and often half a dozen lifts of wet sand have to be made before he is captured. There is no time to be lost. In quite twenty-five per cent. of the chases the yabbies get away through flooding and collapse of the hole."
<hw>Yakka</hw>, v. frequently used in Queensland bush-towns. "You yacka wood? Mine, give 'im tixpence;"—a sentence often uttered by housewives. It is given by the Rev. W. Ridley, in his `Kamilaroi, and other Australian Languages,' p. 86, as the Turrubul (Brisbane) term for <i>work</i>, probably cognate with <i>yugari, make</i>, same dialect, and <i>yengga, make</i>, Kabi dialect, Queensland. It is used primarily for <i>doing work of any kind</i>, and only by English modification (due to "hack") for <i>cut</i>. The spelling <i>yacker</i> is to be avoided, as the final <i>r</i> is not heard in the native pronunciation.
<hw>Yam</hw>, <i>n</i>. a West Australian tuber, <i>Dioscorea hastifolia</i>, Ness., <i>N.O. Dioscorideae</i>. "One of the hardiest of the Yams. The tubers are largely consumed by the local aborigines for food; it is the only plant on which they bestow any kind of cultivation." (Mueller, <i>apud</i> Maiden, p. 22.)
<hw>Yam, Long</hw>, <i>n</i>. a tuber, <i>Discorea transversa</i>, R. Br., <i>N.O. Dioscorideae</i>. "The small tubers are eaten by the aborigines without any preparation." (Thozet, apud Maiden, p. 23.)
<hw>Yam, Native</hw>, <i>n</i>. a tuber, <i>Ipomaea</i> spp., <i>N.O. Convolvulaceae</i>. The tubers are sometimes eaten by the aboriginals.
<hw>Yam, Round</hw>, <i>n</i>. i.q. <i>Burdekin Vine</i>, under <i>Vine</i>.
<hw>Yam-stick</hw>, <i>n</i>. See quotation 1882, Tolmer.
1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings,' p. 27.
"One leg's thin as Lierah's yamstick."
1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 195: