BY CHARLES MOORE, ESQ. 205 



Exhibitions would have been the means of ascertaining their 

 commercial interest ; but beyond testing the strength of some of 

 the woods, and pronouncing the White Ironbavk of Illawarra to 

 be th strongest in the world, the authorities connected with 

 these exhibitions have not furnished us with any further informa- 

 tion, although various vegetable substances, supposed to have 

 medicinal, dyeing, and textile properties, were forwarded from this 

 colony on both occasions. We have been in fact thrown on our 

 own resources, and every effort should be made by all persons in- 

 terested in this matter, to ascertain by investigation whatever 

 commercial value our plants may possess before it is too late. 

 Already extensive tracts of country have been cleared, which 

 formerly bore the richest and most varied vegetation. The brush 

 forests to which I allude, so general along our coast, are fast 

 disappearing before the axe of the settler. To judge of the 

 future by the past and present, a few years more and these will 

 have ceased to exist. I have been induced, therefore, to draw 

 attention to a few plants which yield a strong and durable fibre 

 suitable for a variety of purposes, as it is in such forests as 

 those referred to that the fibre producing plants which I shall 

 now proceed to bring under notice are principally found : 



The first in importance is the Gigantic Nettle Urtica gigzs 

 a remarkable tree abounding on rich alluvial soils, from 

 Illawarra to the extreme north; in the Clarence and Richmond 

 districts it almost exclusively covers vast spaces of ground, and 

 many of the trees attain a height over 100 feet, and are 40 feet in 

 circumference. The bark, which i? very thick in both the young 

 and old state, furnishes a strong and durable fibre much used by 

 the Aborigines for making their dilly bags, nets, &c. It is easily 

 prepared by crushing or beating the bark until nearly dry ; by 

 this means all extraneous substances are sufficiently removed to 

 make it fit for exportation or for other uses. It must on no 

 account be steeped in water, as this has the effect of rotting it. 

 The Aborigines prepare it by chewing the bark. The prepared 

 fibre, as Mr. Lardner of Grafton states, may be obtained at from 

 3d to 4d per pound. 



In the Northern districts another species of arborescent 

 Nettle Urtica plwtimiophyUa, called the small-leaved nettle, fur- 



o 



