482 AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS. 
which had been more than ten years afloat without copper sheathing, 
are perfectly seaworthy, not a plank perforated, nor a butt end 
rotten. A sapling pole, which had been set up to mark a shoal 
near Fremantle, sheathed with copper and guyed with iron chains, 
was found on inspection to be uninjured after twenty years’ 
exposure; a chip of it was taken from the water line with a pocket- 
knife, and it looked like cedar, but the copper-sheathing and iron 
chains had both perished. Land boundary posts, put in forty years 
since, show neither weathering nor rot, nor injury from Zermites ; 
letters cut on them are still clean and sharp. This is the case 
also with slabs in the cemetery at Perth, bearing inscriptions dating 
as far back at 1834. Flooring of cottages, wet and dry according 
to the season, laid on the ground without joists, after twenty-five 
years shows no signs of decay on either side. As Jarrah has been 
the timber used throughout the colony of Western Australia since 
its foundation in 1829, there are numerous examples to refer to, 
proving its durability. Properly cut and properly dried, the 
material would prove in practice as durable as iron, and under 
some circumstances would outlive it. The time occupied in drying 
ought to be one month for every inch of thickness, if the timber is 
sawn or hewn; but if round it requires only to be banded at the 
ends to prevent splitting. In the forests any number of trees can 
be selected to suit particular purposes for which the timber may 
be required, either for round piles or squared logs, so also for 
railway-sleepers, while for furniture special selections would be 
necessary; in the latter case splendid specimens can be obtained 
exhibiting a ray of light across the grain with a variety of mottles 
and lines when polished highly to give a very pleasing effect, 
though the wood is too heavy for any but massive designs. Some 
of the protuberances from the trunks and branches are of an 
immense size, and furnish slabs rivalling in beauty the finest 
specimens of walnut or pollard-oak ; they require, however, a good 
deal of time in seasoning before they can be made up, after being 
cut into slabs ; it is not unusual to find such protuberances from 
6 to 1oft. in diameter. I have drawn attention more particularly 
to timber intended for heavy works, such as sea-facing, dock- 
lining, foundations, and bed-blocks for machinery. It is, however, 
