THE YEW. 71 



when the timber is partly burned, the turpentine 

 loses its peculiar flavour, and acquires a sweetish 

 taste. It is used by the natives as a substitute for 

 sugar. 



TIMBER TREES ALLIED TO THE PINES, IN THEIR 

 APPEARANCE OR THEIR USES. 



The principal of these are the Yew, the Cypress, 

 the Juniper, and the Arbor viifB ; these, like the 

 pines, all belong to the natural order of Coniferee, or 

 cone-bearing trees ; and they have the common cha- 

 racters of being mostly evergreens, and the wood 

 being resinous or bitter: but there are some distinc- 

 tions — the pine, the cj^press, the juniper, and the 

 arbor vita*, are monceciovs or one-housed — that is, 

 have the male and female flower on the same plant ; 

 while the juniper and the yew are dioecious or two- 

 housed — have the male flowers on one tree and the 

 females on another. 



The Yew Tree (called Taxxis, probably from the 

 Greek, which signities swiftness, and may allude to 

 the velocity of an arrow shot from a yew-tree bow,) 

 is a tree of no little celebrity, both in the military 

 and the superstitious history of England. The com- 

 mon yew is a native of Europe, of North America, 

 and of the Japanese Isles. It used to be very plen- 



