200 TIMBER 



construction work. It is also durable in situations 

 alternately wet and dry, used for piles in bridge work and 

 in the best class of structures, and may be seen sound and 

 in good condition at a very great age in some of the 

 temples, a sufficient proof of its durability when properly 

 seasoned. The main beams of the wooden lighthouses 

 erected along the Japanese coasts by English engineers 

 many years back were of keaki up to 28 ft. long and 12 

 inches square ; the keels, sternposts, and stems of light- 

 ships were made of the same timber, and the outside was 

 keaki planking 2 inches thick. It is a handsome wood, 

 takes a high polish, and is much prized by cabinet-makers 

 and carvers. Chiefly felled when about 4 ft. in girth, in the 

 temple groves and alongside the main high roads specimens 

 are nevertheless to be seen upwards of 12 feet in girth. 

 It can be had in lengths up to 30 ft., but above 20 ft. the 

 price is higher. One of the difficulties experienced by 

 foreigners in using Japanese timber in the past has been 

 the slight attention paid to seasoning, much of the wood 

 offered for sale being full of sap. 



Average weight by three observers 56^, 53, and 43^ Ibs. 

 per cubic foot; the variation is doubtless due to some of the 

 pieces being more seasoned than others. 



Hinoki (Cupressus obtusa) is a tall straight-growing tree, 

 the wood of which is compact, durable, easily worked, and 

 has a silky lustre when planed, of a straw colour and free 

 from knots and winds ; it is valued as mast timber, and is 

 very similar to yellow pine. Light, tough, and elastic, 

 when fairly seasoned it does not warp, and is very durable 

 in damp situations. It is the favourite softwood for doors, 

 windows, uprights in house construction, and is also used 

 for railway sleepers and boat-building, and extensively for 

 pattern making and cabinet work. Temples and chapels 



