<i>Kauri gum</i>
(q.v.).

1867. F. von Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 79:

"Although originating probably from a coniferous tree related
to the Kauri pine, it nevertheless has been erroneously taken
for Kauri gum."--[Footnote]: "It is sufficiently characterised
to deserve a special name ; but it comes so near to real
<i>amber</i> that it deserves the name of <i>Ambrite</i>."

[This is the earliest use of the word.]

<hw>Anabranch</hw>, <i>n</i>. a branch of a river which leaves
it and enters it again. The word is not Australian, though it
is 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 <i>Ana</i> as an independent word, rightly
explaining it as <i>anastomosing</i>, but its quotation from
the `Athenaeum' (1871), on which it relies,is a misprint. For
the origin and coinage of the word, see quotation 1834. See
the aboriginal name <i>Billabong</i>.

1834. Col.Jackson, `Journal of Royal Geographical Society,' p. 79:

"Such branches of a river as after separation re-unite, I would
term <i>anastomosing-branches</i>; or, if a word might be
coined, <i>ana-branches</i>, and the islands they form,
<i>branch-islands</i>. Thus, if we would say, `the river in
this part of its course divides into several
<i>ana-branches</i>,' we should immediately understand the
subsequent re-union of the branches to the main trunk."

Col. Jackson was for a while Secretary and Editor of the
Society's Journal. In Feb. 1847 he resigned that position, and
in the journal of that year there is the following amusing
ignorance of his proposed word--

1847. `Condensed Account of Sturt's Exploration in the
Interior of Australia--Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society,' p. 87:

"Captain Sturt proposed sending in advance to ascertain the
state of the Ana branch of the Darling, discovered by Mr. Eyre
on a recent expedition to the North."

No fewer than six times on two pages is the word
<i>anabranch</i> printed as two separate words, and as if
<i>Ana</i> 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 the
whole valley a maze of channels."

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 298:

"What the Major calls, after the learned nomenclature of
Colonel Jackson, in the `Journal