89 



fallen . 



which ha^eTr?'/"" °", ''' ""'"^""^ P°'^' °' *^^^ ^^^^^'^^ "^-^' ^h'^ i-'i - '«-' -« those 

 winch have hitherto been made use of." 



Andatp.389 of the same work, is another very interesting account from the journal of Lieutenant 

 (now Governor) Kmg: he there says, " The pine-trees are of a great size, many of them being from 

 one hundred and eighty ^o two hundred and twenty feet high, and from four to eight feet diameter 

 some distance from the ground. Those trees, which measure from one hundred to one hundred and 

 eighty teet high, are in general sound, and are without branches for eighty or ninety feet, but the 

 upper part is top knotty and hard to be useful ; indeed, it frequently happens, that after twenty feet 

 have been cut off from the butt, the trees become rotten and shaky, and are also very brittle; for 

 which reason, no dependance can be put on them for masts or yards. The turpentine which exudes 

 freely from the bark, is of a milk-white glutinous substance; but it is rather remarkable, that there 

 IS none in the timber. We tried to render this turpentine useful in paying boats, and other pur- 

 poses, but without success; as it would neither melt nor bum: we also tried to make pitch or tar 

 by burning the old pines; but there being no turpentine in the wood, our efforts were useless. The 

 pme IS very useful in buildings, and being dispersed in various parts of the island, is well calculated 

 for such buildings as hereafter may be necessary: from what I have been able to observe, it Is very 

 durable, as that which we had used for erecting houses, stood the weather very well." 



That excellent botanist Mr. Brown, who was on board the Investigator with Captain Flinders, in his 

 late voyage of discovery round New Holland, informs me, that they found this tree growing in great 

 abundance on several paits of the east coast; and that he climbed several of them, but could not^'find 

 any fractification : those he saw were not above sixty or seventy feet in height. A bay on the above- 

 mentioned coast, from the great abundance of these trees found there, they named the Bay of Pines. 

 A beautiful drawing of this spot, by Mr. William W^estall, landscape painter on board the above- 

 mentioned ship, was in the Exhibition of 1805. A few of these trees are now in the gardens of the 

 curious about London; they thrive exceedingly well in our green-houses, grow very fast, and are 

 one of the greatest ornaments of our collections. They can be increased by cuttings, but with great 

 difficulty; and never by this method make handsome plants. A most beautiful specimen, and the 

 largest in this kingdom, is now in the Royal Gardens at Kew, to which it was first introduced by 

 Governor Phillip. Fig. a. some Botanists have suggested might belong to another species, because 

 the branches are somewhat smaller than others that have been brought from Norfolk Island; but this, 



^ * 



can now no longer remain a doubt, since that place has been so well explored by that accurate 

 botanical draughtsman, Mr. Ferdinand Bauer. 



I must here observe a remarkable peculiarity belonging to the Conifer^e of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, which is, that while the trees are young their leaves are long and divaricating, but when they 

 become old enough to bear fruit, those leaves fall off, and are succeeded by short scales closely im- 

 bricated on the branches, so that seeing them in their different states, one could hardly suppose it 

 possible that they could belong to the same species. This is very remarkable in one of the species 

 of Dacrydium from New Zealand, where the leaves, whilst the tree is young, have the appearance 

 of the common jqw, {Taxus haccata^ but become imbricated scales, and somewhat resembling /w72?- 

 perus Virginiana, when the tree grows older. 



