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large warty excrescence, often seen on its trunk), is peculiarly veined, 
owing to its grain there being very tortuous, and when polished highly 
beautiful. Those knots are eagerly sought after for veneering purposes 
in England, but the supply hitherto has been very scanty. (Vide sec. 4.) 
(3.) The kahikatea, or white or swamp pine (Podocarpus dacrydioides), is 
the next commonly used timber tree. It is the most generally diffused 
throughout the North Island of all the timber trees, often forming large 
forests, and is almost invariably found in wet spots and swampy situations, 
and often on the low banks of rivers, at a much lower elevation than its 
congeners. It often grows to the height of 100 feet, and as its trunk is 
generally clear from living branches it presents a tolerably clean barrel of 
from 50 to 70 feet. Its trunk, however, is frequently not so regularly 
formed as those of the other Podocarpi and the kauri, being sometimes 
largely ribbed or buttressed for some distance upwards from its base. This 
tree is anything but handsome when growing in the close forest; often, 
however, a single tree is met with standing alone and forming a very 
beautiful object. The timber of this tree has been and is pretty extensively 
used for all common purposes, apart from exposure or wet. It is the most 
easily obtained of all the New Zealand timbers; but, owing to its tendency 
to rot when exposed, and to its scarcely ever seasoning, continually con- 
tracting and expanding with the state of the weather, it is only used 
when others are not to be had. For in-door work, however, it is often 
advantageously used. It is strait-grained, and where free from knots works 
easily. It has been used for spars for small vessels, and is sometimes 
split for fence-rails and for roof-shingles. It is often found having fissures in 
the wood filled with a hard, dry, adhesive gum-resin, which is difficult to cut 
or remove. It is said that trees which have grown on a slope, or on gravelly 
land, possess closer-grained and more durable timber than those of the low 
wetlands. Choice parts of the wood of this tree, from its light yellow colour 
and rich changeable sparkling grain, are sometimes advantageously used as 
a contrast wood by the cabinetmaker to set off the darker coloured woods. 
(4.) The rimu or red pine (Dacrydium cupressinum), another large size 
timber tree, is also common throughout the North Island, but is never met 
with forming forests, almost always scattered and single. In its young 
state, owing to its light green colour, graceful shape, fine foliage, and long 
drooping pendent branches, it is a truly elegant object, often rivetting for a 
few moments the entranced beholder, especially when scen standing out to 
advantage in bold relief on the slope of some secluded sunny dell in the 
virgin forests! forcibly reminding him of Xerxes and the beautiful plane- 
tree on.the Msander.* In the northern parts of the island this tree affects 
o * Herodotus, Polymnia, § 81. — - 
