"A Londoner reading of the crossing of a creek would naturally imagine the scene to be in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, instead of being perhaps some hundreds of miles in the interior, and would dream of salt water, perriwinkles and sea-weed, when he should be thinking of slimy mud-holes, black snakes and gigantic gum-trees."
1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 134:
"The little rivulet, called, with that singular pertinacity for error which I have so often noticed here, `the creek.'"
1865. Lady Barker, `Station Life in, New Zealand,' p. 29:
"The creek, just like a Scotch burn, hurrying and tumbling down the hillside to join the broader stream in the valley."
1870. P. Wentworth, `Amos Thorne,' i. p. 11:
"A thirsty creek-bed marked a line of green."
1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 39:
"In the rivers, whether large watercourses, and dignified by the name of `river,' or small tributaries called by the less sounding appellation `creeks."
1887. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. i. p. 41: