Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

"With the black people a husband is now called a `benjamin,' probably because they have no word to their own language to express this relationship."

<hw>Benjamin-Tree</hw>, <i>n</i>. also called <i>Weeping Fig</i> in Queensland, Ficus benjaminea, Linn., <i>N.O. Urticaceae</i>.

<hw>Bent-grass</hw>. <i>n</i>. See <i>Grass</i>.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 65:

<i>"Agrostis virginica</i>. Virginian Agrostis, or Bent-grass. . . . Many species of this genus go under the general name of Bent-grass. Their roots spread along among light and sandy soil in which they generally grow with joints like the Squitch or Couch grass of England."

<hw>Berigora</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal name for a bird of genus <i>Falco</i>, from <i>beri</i>, claw, and <i>gora</i>, long. See <i>Hawk</i>

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 185:

"The native name of this bird which we have adopted as its specific name, is <i>Berigora</i>. It is called by the settlers <i>Orange-speckled Hawk</i>."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' I. i. pl. 11:

"<i>Hieracidea berigora</i>. Brown Hawk. Berigora, Aborigines of New South Wales. Orange-speckled Hawk of the Colonists."