ALERSE OF CHILI. 145 
the difficulty of procuring a spar of this wood, that when I 
wished to obtain a new mast for the Adelaide, I offered four 
times the value of an Alerse spar to the natives, besides the 
assistance of twenty men and tackles, &c. to assist in con- 
veying it to the shore. The temptation was almost too 
strong to be withstood; but the man to whom I applied, 
who had before been employed to get masts for a schooner 
in the Chilian service, and a flag-staff for the town, assured 
me that it would take his own party two months to bring 
one to the beach ; with the assistance of our people, how- 
ever, it might be done in a month. The trees were distant, 
and there were two or three ridges of hills to cross, that 
would cause much delay. The facility with which these 
people handle timber, was a sufficient proof to me that such 
_ a task, if refused by them, must be very difficult indeed, and 
I gave it up; as the Yntendente was so obliging as to give 
me the flag-staff which had taken the same party two months 
to procure. 
“The * Hoxsley,' a national schooner, built at Chilóe for 
the government, was masted with Alerse spars, which proved 
to be very strong. | 
“Alerse is used principally for the floors, partitions, and 
weather-boards of houses, and also for shingling the roof, 
for which latter purpose it is peculiarly superior and durable ; 
after exposure to weather it turns blue and looks like slate. 
It does not shrink or warp, and though brittle, is of close 
. Stain, and well adapted for furniture. From this wood the 
country-people make’ staves for casks; and the bark of the 
serves to caulk the seams of vessels, for which it answers 
. Temarkably well, being exceedingly durable when constantly 
Vet, though it quickly decays, if exposed to the sun and air. 
“Spars of Alerse, 80 or 90 feet long, may be procured, 
and from eight hundred to one thousand boards are fre- 
quently obtained from a single tree; I was told even so 
‘many as one thousand five hundred out of one trunk. Alerse 
ìs found on the Island of Childe, but not of any size; 
1t is also common in the Straits of Magelhaen, in all those 
VOL. rir, “o 
