a branch of a river which leavesit and enters it again. The word is not Australian, though itis generally so reckoned. It is not given in the `Century,'nor in the `Imperial,' nor in `Webster,' nor in the `Standard.'The `O.E.D.' treats Ana as an independent word, rightlyexplaining it as anastomosing, but its quotation fromthe `Athenaeum' (1871), on which it relies,is a misprint. Forthe origin and coinage of the word, see quotation 1834. Seethe aboriginal name Billabong.
1834. Col.Jackson, `Journal of Royal Geographical Society,' p. 79:
«Such branches of a river as after separation re-unite, I wouldterm anastomosing-branches; or, if a word might becoined, ana-branches, and the islands they form, branch-islands. Thus, if we would say, `the river inthis part of its course divides into several ana-branches,' we should immediately understand thesubsequent re-union of the branches to the main trunk.»
Col. Jackson was for a while Secretary and Editor of theSociety's Journal. In Feb. 1847 he resigned that position, andin the journal of that year there is the following amusingignorance of his proposed word – – 1847. `Condensed Account of Sturt's Exploration in theInterior of Australia – – Journal of the Royal GeographicalSociety,' p. 87:
«Captain Sturt proposed sending in advance to ascertain thestate of the Ana branch of the Darling, discovered by Mr. Eyreon a recent expedition to the North.»
No fewer than six times on two pages is the word anabranch printed as two separate words, and as if Ana were a proper name. In the Index volume it appears «Ana, a branch of the Darling.»
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 35:
«The river itself divided into anabranches which . . . made thewhole valley a maze of channels.»
1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 298:
«What the Major calls, after the learned nomenclature ofColonel Jackson, in the `Journal of the Geographical Society,'anabranches, but which the natives call billibongs, channelscoming out of a stream and returning into it again.»
1871. `The Athenaeum,' May 27, p. 660 (' O.E.D.'):
«The Loddon district is called the County of Gunbower,which means, it is said, an ana branch [sic].»
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' p. 48:
«A plain bordering an ana-branch sufficient for water.»