1829. ROADS MADE WITH LOGS. 283 
weather-boards of houses, also for shingling the roof; for which 
purpose it is very superior and durable : after exposure to the 
weather it turns blue, and has the appearance of slate. It does 
not shrink or warp; and though brittle, is of a very close grain, 
and well adapted for furniture. Of this wood the country 
people make staves for casks; and the bark of the tree is used 
for caulking the seams of vessels, for which it answers remark- 
ably well, being extremely durable when constantly wet, 
though it soon decays when exposed to the sun and air. 
Spars of alerse, eighty or ninety feet in length, may be pro- 
cured ; and from eight hundred to a thousand boards are fre- 
quently obtained from a single tree. I was told that as many 
as one thousand five hundred have sometimes been cut out of 
one trunk. Alerse is found on the island, but not of any size. 
It is also common in the Strait of Magalhaens, in all those parts 
west of Cape Froward; but there, from the poverty of the 
soil, it is of very stunted growth. 
The cypress is thought to be a different tree, but I rather 
imagine it to be only a variety ; the wood being white, whilst 
that of the alerse is of a deep red colour. As the trade of 
the island is principally carried on by water, roads are seldom 
used for that purpose, for which, indeed, the few that exist are 
far from being convenient. Between San Carlos and Castro 
there is a road cut through the forest, forty or fifty feet in 
width, in the middle of which is a causeway, four or five feet 
wide, formed of logs of wood, laid transversely. This is the 
only way of communication, unless, which rarely occurs, the 
weather has been dry during some days ; for, off the causeway, 
there is a mere bog, in which a horse frequently sinks up to the 
girths in mud. In many parts of the causeway, indeed, where 
the logs have decayed, and have not been repaired, the passage 
is equally bad, so that in wet weather, only persons without a 
load are able to pass. For the greater part of the way, the trees 
on each side prevent an extensive view; but on approaching 
within five or six miles of Castro, the country becomes more 
open, having been cleared by cultivation, and there, of course, 
the road improves. 
