CHAPTEE XIY, 



DURABILITY. 



The durability of larch, although very great, is yet by 

 some considerably exaggerated. Evelyn recites a story 

 by Witsen, a Dutch writer, of a ship built of this timber 

 and cypress, that had been found in the Numidian 

 Sea, twelve fathoms under water, sound and entire, and 

 reduced to such a hardness as to resist the sharpest 

 tool, after it had been submerged above 1400 years. 

 The larch is said to have been known to Julius Caesar ; 

 and it is in consequence of some of the finest paintings 

 of the great masters of Italy being done in larch that 

 they have been preserved, which it is believed could 

 not have been the case if done upon any other kind 

 of wood. 



It is, however, more with modern practical subjects 

 than ancient history that we have to do, and to inquire 

 how far the durability of larch, as now known, agrees 

 with well-authenticated records, and specially as in- 

 ducements to attend to its better culture. 



The following examples have come under the writer's 

 personal observation, and are only a few out of many 

 that might be cited : — 



