228 On Timber Ttees of New Zealand. 



3. Kahikatca, or White Pine (Dacrydium excelsum). — 

 A pine of a clean white colour, and long close grain ; dries 

 light, and shrinks laterally. It does not last more than 

 three years in the ground. 



From its quantity, and easy working, it is much used for 

 inside cai"pentry and common work ; and, from its clean 

 white appearance, is very good for interior work. 



It grows, I helieve, all over New Zealand, like the red 

 pine, but chiefly in the southern parts. It is found both on 

 flat and hilly districts, but most luxuriant on flat wet 

 ground. It grows in thick groves of long thin clean trees, 

 averaging about 2 feet diameter and 70 feet high, growing 

 to a peak at top ; the leaves are like spiked leaflets on soft 

 stems, growing thick and pointing upwards ; bark round 

 and in smooth flakes, and dark coloured ; fruit a red berry 

 with a black seed on top, ripe in June. The specimen was 

 taken from a large tree in the Hutt, and was cut in October, 

 1849. There is about half the quantity of white pine that 

 there is of black birch in the south part of New Zealand. 



{Note hy W. 8. — I have never seen the true Dacrydium 

 e.vcelsicm on the hills rising from the Hutt valley, although 

 on the flat alluvial soil of that valley itself it grows to a 

 great size. In this locality it takes the place of the Rimu, 

 which is strictly confined to the hills, so that the two species 

 are only found together where the stony poor soil blends 

 with the rich alluvial mould of the valley itself. It was with 

 Totara, the commonest tree in the Hutt valley ; but both 

 are rapidly disappearing.) 



4. Tawai, or black birch, is the most plentiful of any 

 wood in the south part of New Zealand. It is of a light 

 brown colour, with light veins, and a tough, close, and 

 knotty grain. It is used frequently for ship-building, both 

 for timbers and planks, and is said to last well ; but it has 



