GUMS, BARKS, ETC. 223 



these forests. There are many varieties of gum ; the 

 leaves of one of which— the peppermint — have a strong 

 peppermint flavour, to -which the opossums are very 

 partiaL 



The stringy and iron bark trees also — I believe, species 

 of gum — are commoner than the gum in certain places. 

 In fact, each tree seems to fancy a peculiar locality, and 

 rarely grow together. I remarked that the gum-trees 

 grow in much moister situations than the others. These 

 trees grow much straighter, cut out into greater lengths, 

 and the timber of these and the "messmet," as we called 

 it — a species of bastard gum — were much more used in 

 our forest than the gum, especially for posts and rails. 



The bark, when properly stripped ofl", is very useful 

 for thatching bush-huts, flooring tents, &c. ; and the 

 coat of inner fibres inside the bark might be put to 

 many useful purposes. The Blacks also make canoes of 

 it ; but the only native canoes that I have seen have 

 been " dug-outs," similar to those used by the North 

 American Indians; but the Blacks in our district re- 

 quired no canoes. 



Splitting posts and rails is a good bush trade, when 

 men understand which trees split well, and pick a 

 country where good trees stand thick. About 25*. is 

 the general price per 100 on the ground : and two men 

 will knock out more than that in a day. All the capital 

 required to start this trade is a crown license, tent, 

 tools, and rations, and a strong arm. And very different 

 is the life of the Australian wood-splitter to that of the 



