112 A CONTKIBUTTON TO, ETC. 



attaining the height of sixty or eighty feet. It seems almost a 

 pity that in the process of clearing, so many valuable trees of 

 beech, and light wood, should be sacrificed to the flames, for in 

 the course of a few years, as railroads extend into the interior, 

 and means are thus afforded to convey timber to Sydney, such 

 trees will be much sought after. The same remak, indeed, is 

 applicable to other trees in the same locality, such as the " beef 

 wood," or Stenocarpus saliynus, which on the mountains attains 

 the height of eighty feet, and produces wood of great beauty 

 likely to be useful for veneers in cabinets ; Eugenia SmitJiii or 

 "Lilly Pilly," which is also a forest tree with wood which, when 

 properly seasoned, may become valuable to carpenters ; the Poly- 

 osma Cunninglmmi, or Yerella, " a very beautiful small tree with 

 bright glossy foliage and very fragrant flowers, and soft close- 

 grained wood" (Sir W. Macarthur) ; the black plum or Cargillia 

 Australis, a tree of the ebony family, yielding a fruit eaten by the 

 aborigines, and having very tough wood ; Alpliitonia exeelsa, or 

 " red ash," a tree sometimes nearly 100 feet high, with close- 

 grained wood; Tricliilia or Synoum ylandiilosum, or a "native 

 rosewood," a tree which appears very variable in size, for whilst 

 those which I saw on the range were small slender trees, Mr. 

 Moore reports that he found some on the Clarence and Richmond 

 nearly 100 feet in height, " the timber of which when fresh is of 

 a deep red colour, emitting a scent similar to the common rose, 

 and useful for inside lining of houses and ship building ;" Cupania 

 scmiglauca, of the Sapindacece a small tree with hard wood ; and 

 Dry mis dipetala or the "Pepper tree," a shrub with pretty flowers 

 and pungent seeds. The Musk tree or Eurylj'ia aryopliylla is 

 common in some parts of the range. The leaves of this tree are 

 pervaded by a strong musk-like scent, but it appears after care- 

 ful experiments that the scent cannot be obtained by distillation 

 as an essential oil. Iledycarya or the "spurious mulberry" also 

 occurs in the same locality, and, although of small size, it is said 

 to have a soft beautiful wood quite available for cabinet work. 

 In referring to the woods of the colony, I have been indebted in 

 some instances to the valuable information furnished for the Ex- 

 hibition of 1862 by Sir "William Macarthur. The important ser- 

 vices rendered to the colony by that gentleman, in collecting 

 specimens, have been so highly appreciated in Europe, that they 



