144 Vofjage of the Novara. 



One of the most valuable trees of tlie New Zealand forests 

 is tlie Kauri pine {^Dammar a Australis). This elegant tree, 

 80 to 120 feet in height, furnishes the English ship-building 

 yards with a large number annually of rounded logs, 7.1: to 8J: 

 feet in length, of better quality as well as more lasting than 

 those of the Norwegian or American pines.* The Kauri or 

 yellow pine also produces the kind of rosin so well known as 

 Dammara rosin, of which this valuable tree produces such 

 quantities, that in those districts where the Kauri tree has 

 long since yielded to the axe of civilization, it has been found 

 in immense masses on the soil, in a high-dried state. The 

 Kauri rosin of commerce is not therefore procured, as with 

 us, by making an incision in the tree, but is actually dug out 

 of the earth, into which to the despair of the farmer it has often 

 percolated for several feet, rendering the soil barren. During 

 our excursions we came repeatedly upon wliole tracts of rosin- 

 fields, which were covered several feet thick with this sub- 

 stance. The Dammara pine only grows on the northern- 

 most island, and chiefly in the northern parts. 



• In Auckland we saw several pieces of Kauri rosin weigh- 

 ing 100 lbs. In 1857, 2521 tons, worth £35,250, of this 

 substance were exported, chiefly for its valuable properties 

 as a varnish, and for '^ fixing" certain colours used in the 

 calico manufacture. It has also of late been extensively 

 used in the manufacture of candles. 



* Besides the Kauri pine, there is abundance of Rimu or red pine, the Kahi- 

 Katea or white pine, the Tanakaha or pitch pine, the Matan or black pine, as also 

 the Puriri or New Zealand oak, all trees of great utility. 



