282 PECULIARITIES OF ALERSE. 1829. 
which it splits, is brought in boards also, four feet long, half 
an inch thick, and six inches broad, which, as I have before 
remarked, are the principal articles of barter. 
The Alerse is found in great quantities near Calbuco; but 
at so great a distance from the beach that it cannot easily be 
conveyed thither for embarkation, except in the above form. 
The tree is cut down and squared, then hewn by the axe into 
as many logs of seven or eight feet long as it will afford; and 
these, with the assistance of iron wedges, are split into planks 
and boards, in which state, without being further trimmed, they 
are tied together in bundles, and carried on men’s backs, or 
dragged over the ground to the beach. 
The extraordinary straightness of the grain of this tree 
enables the natives to split it, so as to make it appear as if it 
had been dressed with an adze, or even with a plane; but, as 
I have said, the axe is the only instrument used. So great is 
the difficulty of obtaining a spar of this wood, that when I 
wished to procure a new mast for the Adelaide, I offered four 
times the value of an alerse spar to the natives, besides the 
assistance of twenty men, and tackles, &c. to assist in convey- 
ing it to the beach. The temptation was almost too great to be 
withstood ; but the man to whom I applied, who had before 
been employed to get masts for a schooner in the Chilian ser- 
vice, and a flag-staff for the town, said that it would take his 
own party two months to bring one to the beach: with the 
assistance of our people, however, it might be done in a month. 
The trees were distant, and there were two or three ridges of 
heights to cross, that would cause much delay. The facility 
with which these people usually handle timber was a sufficient 
proof to me that such a task, if refused by them, must be very 
difficult indeed, and I gave it up, as the Yntendente was so 
obliging as to give me the flag-staff, which had taken the same 
party two months to procure. 
The Hoxsley, a national schooner, built at Childe, for the 
government, was masted with alerse spars, which proved to be 
very strong. 
Alerse is used principally for the floors, partitions, and 
