kamin

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


aboriginal word, explained inquotation. It is probably local.

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 89:

«If he [the Australian black] has to climb a high tree, hefirst goes into the scrub to fetch a piece of the Australiancalamus ( Calamus australis), which he partly bites,partly breaks off; he first bites on one side and breaks itdown, then on the other side and breaks it upwards – – one, two,three, and this tough whip is severed. At one end of it hemakes a knot, the other he leaves it as it is. This implement,which is usually from sixteen to eighteen feet long, is calleda kamin.»