1885.] THE JARRAH OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 277 



(Santalum cygnorum), the other valuable export of the colony, 

 Western Australia has more than 30,000 square miles covered 

 with eucalyptus, 24,000 miles of which consist of the white gum 

 {E. viminalis) and jarrah {E. marginata). Mr. Simpson, who had 

 thirty-two years' practical experience of the colony, stated that 

 almost everything in Western Australia was made of this timber, 

 work-boxes, pianofortes, buildings, wharves and jetties ; it seemed 

 to defy all known forms of decay, and was untouched by white ants 

 and all other insects, so that ships built of it did not require to be 

 ■coppered. A specimen on the table, cut nearly thirty-two j^ears 

 ago, which had been exposed to bush fires, to the summer sun of 

 Australia, and to wind and rain in the wet season, was as sound 

 now as the day it was felled. Another as sound piece was ex- 

 hibited cut from a bridge certified by tlie Government resident to 

 have been thirty-six years in use. There were about fifteen varieties 

 of the timber, and it could be obtained of any reasonable length 

 up to 60 or SO feet, tiie trunk of the tree having no branches 

 whatever. It did not burn freely, but only cliarred. If a sheet of 

 glass and a piece of this timber were put into a white ant's nest, the 

 ants would bore through the glass rather than touch the jarrah. 



Its fresh sawdust put at the roots of a fruit-tree would Idll it, 

 and it was stated by Baron von Mliller to contain not only tamiic 

 acid but also sulphate of copper. Some of the wood was put into 

 the Suez Canal seven years ago, and when examined lately, was 

 found as perfect as the day it was laid. Mr. Cornish could cor- 

 roborate all Mr. Simpson had said as to the value of the jarrah 

 timber. He had seen it in use in many places, partly in the 

 wharves at Melbourne, where it was put in to replace the white 

 and red gums which had been eaten through in the course of five 

 to seven years ; and the reports of the harbourmaster, and others, 

 stated that it remained absolutely untouched. Some of Her Majesty's 

 ships which had been repaired with it when in Australia, were 

 found, on -examination in England afterwards, to have remained 

 practically uninjured. For large works, such as the Suez Canal, 

 piers, harbours, etc., it would be very valualjle. The matter had 

 been laid before the Directors of the Suez Canal, with the view that 

 if the canal were widened, and piled with tlais wood, it would be 

 practically everlasting. Jarrah would he. equally valuable for use 

 in the Manchester or Panama Canals. Mr. Leggins understood that 

 the jarrah was capable of resisting the action not only of insects 

 and marine animals, but of preventing the formation of that vegetable 

 slime which so retarded a ship's progress, and made copper sheath- 

 ing necessary. 



Mr. Simpson alluded to Baron von MuUer's report on the timber 



