EUCALYPTUS MARGINATA. 



twisted, also shorter in the grain and much less durable. The forests are of considerable extent, 

 covering an area of approximately 14,000 square miles, full of noble trees, springing from among 

 rocky boulders to a height, clear of branches, of from 50 to 60 feet, straight as a mast, and 

 attaining a maximum girth of 20 feet. The committee of Lloyds, on Governor Sir F. Weld's 

 representation, informed Earl Kimberley, that this timber ranks with those named in line No. 3, 

 table A, attached to the rules for the classification of ships. According to this estimate it was for 

 shipbuilding second only to English Oak and to American Live Oak, standing before Sal (Shorea 

 robusta) and Teak (Tectona grandis), the two highest class timbers of India, and also before the 

 celebrated Greenheart (Nectandra Rodiasi) of Guiana." 



The Imperial Government Clerk of Public Works of West Australia, speaking from more 

 that twenty years' experience and use of considerable quantities of this timber, states : " It is 

 remarkably free from the action of nearly all the ordinary forms of decay incidental to woods in 

 contact with or buried underground, under water, at mortices and joints, in piles, in sea-jetties 

 and in planking of sea-going vessels. Without sheathing or other protection, it has proved 

 sound and enduring to an extent which appears to denote exemption from decay, so far as evidence 

 can be derived from observation of timber exposed for upwards of thirty years. I have recently 

 taken up piles, which were driven for a whaling jetty in the year 1834 or 1835 ; the timber is 

 small but perfectly free from boring marine mollusca, although the place is swarming with 

 Teredo. In the old jetty-work at the port of Fremantle, piles which had been driven for thirty 

 years and others only about one year could scarcely be distinguished, both being equally sound ; 

 large iron-bolts through them have entirely corroded away, leaving the holes clean and sound. 

 Round piles, with only their bark peeled off, driven before seasoning, appear to stand as well as 

 those which were squared and seasoned. Young as well as matured wood had effectually resisted 

 the attack of boring sea-worms and Crustacea. A cargo-boat, upwards of twenty years old, 

 exposed all the time and as often high and dry as afloat, is as sound as when it was launched. 

 Coasting craft, which had been more than ten years afloat without copper-sheathing, are perfectly 

 seaworthy, not a plank perforated nor a butt-end rotten. A sapling pole, which had been set up 

 to mark a shoal near Fremantle, sheathed with copper and guyed with iron-chains, was found on 

 inspection to be uninjured after twenty years' exposure ; a chip of it was taken from the waterline 

 with a pocket-knife and looked like Cedar, but the copper-sheathing and iron-chains had both 

 perished. Land-boundary posts, put in forty years since, show neither weathering, nor rot, nor 

 injury from Termites ; letters cut on them are still clean and sharp. This is the case also with 

 slabs in the cemetery at Perth, bearing inscriptions dating as far back as 1834. Flooring of 

 cottages, wet and dry according to the season, laid on the ground without joists, after twenty-five 

 years show no signs of decay on either side. As Jarrah has been the timber, used throughout the 

 colony of Western Australia since its foundation in 1829, there are numerous examples to refer 

 to, proving its durability. Properly cut and properly dried, the material would prove in practice 

 as durable as iron, and under some circumstances would outlive it. The time occupied in drying 

 ought to be one month for every inch in thickness, if timber is sawn or hewn ; but if round it 

 requires only to be banded at the ends to prevent splitting. In the forests any number of trees 

 can be selected, to suit particular purposes, for which the timber may be required, either for round 

 piles, or for squared logs, so also for railway-sleepers, while for furniture special selections would 

 be necessary ; in the latter case splendid specimens may be obtained, exhibiting a play of light 

 across the grain with a variety of mottles and lines when polished highly to give a very pleasing 



