FOREST-TREES OF NEW ZEALAND. 169 
Tasmanian and Australian woods, viz. Tasmanian Blue Gum and 
Ironwood : and Australian Ironbark, Native Mahogany, and Black 
Butt. The fourth group (over 200 lbs.) includes several Otago tim- 
bers, viz. Black Mapau, Manuka, Kowai, and Black Birch, in common. 
with a few Tasmanian (e. g. Prickly Box, Black Wood, and Stringy 
Bark) and Australian woods (e. g. Forest Oak, Blue and Spotted Gum). 
The best of the British timbers fall into the next group (over 150 Ibs.), 
viz. Ash and Oak, as well as some of the most esteemed North 
Island timbers of New Zealand (Kauri, Maire, and Rewa-rewa), and 
several Otago woods (Miro, Rata, Red Mapau, Matai, White Mapau, 
and Red Birch), in common with some Australian (Stringy Bark and 
Mountain Pine) and Tasmanian woods (Pink Wood, Native Box, and 
Native Myrtle). The sixth group (over 100 lbs.) includes the re- 
mainder of the Otago woods, and some of those which are most highly 
esteemed and most extensively used, viz. Rimu, Totara, Hinau, Moko, 
and White Pine; along with several North Island timbers (Mangi, 
Kawaka, Kohe-kohe, and Taraire) ; a few Australian and Tasmanian 
woods (Native Laurel, Huon Pine, and Cedar) ; with British Beech 
and Memel Deal. None of the New Zealand or Australian and Tas- 
manian timbers belong to the lower groups (under 100 Ibs.), a category, 
however, which includes British Elm and Riga Fir, as well as Jamaica 
Cedar and Yacca. | It thus appears, that while the Otago timbers rank 
as to ultimate strength below certain of those of Jamaica, Australia, 
Tasmania, and the North Island (New Zealand), they take a superior 
place to those of Northern Europe (including Britain and Russia), 
and rank equally with some of the most useful woods of the neigh- 
bouring colonies. It is obvious, however, from such a table and its 
deductions, that any single character, such as ultimate strength, is not 
a sufficient criterion of the utility of a timber or wood; for we find 
ranking in inferior groups the important and much-used Baltic Deal 
among British timbers; the Rimu, Totara, and Red Birch of Otago; 
the Kauri and Maire of the North Island, New Zealand ; the Stringy 
Bark of Australia; and the Huon Pine of Tasmania. 
From such a table, however, we might properly infer that the Otago 
timbers ought to take a high place among woods adapted for all the 
ordinary arts of construction; and the exhibits at Dunedin in 1862 
and 1865 prove unmistakably that they may be applied with advan- 
tage to all the uses which, in Britain, are subserved by the Pines or 
