112 FORESTS ON THE NORTH SIDE. URZE. [chap. vi. 



FORESTS ON THE NORTH SIDE. 



These forests are composed chiefly of the family of 

 Laurus, such as the Til [Lauras fattens), theVinhatico (Laurus 

 indica) ; and of other families, the Folhado, the Teixo, 

 Azevinho, Pao Branco, &c. The Til, which grows to a 

 very large size, is of a dark colour, and the inner wood is 

 quite black. In the hands of cabinet-makers it produces very 

 handsome furniture, and in the course of time loses its dis- 

 agreeable smell. The Vinhatico is the Madeiran mahogany, 

 not differing much from that wood in colour, and being appli- 

 cable to similar uses ; its bark is used in making a brown dye. 

 The most remarkable tree, though there are not at present 

 any growing here of great size, is the Dragon tree [Dra- 

 caena draco). It has been found, as Humboldt observes, 

 in the Canaries, and in Madeira and Porto Santo, from the 

 earliest times : varieties of it occur in South Africa, the 

 Isle of Bourbon, and New Zealaud. At Oratava, in Tene- 

 riffe, I saw a Dragon tree, celebrated both for its extra- 

 ordinary magnitude and age. At the time of the Spanish 

 and Norman invasions, in 1402, it was said to have been as 

 large in the stem as now, that is to say, forty-eight feet in 

 circumference. 



URZE. 



The Urze, or arborescent heath, is what is principally used 

 for firewood iu the town. The carrying large bundles of this 

 and other woods on their heads to Funchal is computed to give 



prohibited from being felled. If the government would take upon itself the 

 regulation of wood cutting for fuel, and establish a regular cycle of years 

 for felling trees in different districts, the total loss of the future means 

 of supply might be prevented. 



