MoNEO. — Geo(jrapliical Botany of Nelson and Marlhorougli. 169 



of great wealth to it. They furnish food for multitudes of cattle and 

 several milHons of sheep, and they are probably not yet stocked to more 

 than one-third of their capability. 



In an economic point of view, the chief trees of the South Island are 

 the red and white pine, respectively called by the Maoris, the former 

 the mai or matai {Fodocarpus sjncata),* the latter the kahikatea {Podocar- 

 pus dacrydioides). These trees furnish the timber which is chiefly 

 used in the framework of houses. The mai furnishes the more valuable 

 wood of the two, harder, more durable, and more ornamental ; and it is 

 accordingly used in those parts of the structure where durability and 

 strength are chiefly required, as in wall-plates and joists. The white pine 

 yields a softer wood, easily worked, and of great utility for inner work 

 and situations in which it is not exposed to damp. It is asserted, and I 

 believe correctly, that this timber is much more durable and in every 

 respect more valuable in the South Island than in the Worth, owing in all 

 probability to the difference of climate. For doors and window sashes the 

 wood that is commonly used is that of the totara {Fodocarpus totara). 

 This is an exceedingly valuable timber. In appearance it is somewhat like 

 cedar. It works with equal freedom, and, according to the testimony of the 

 Maoris and the experience of the settlers, it resists the evil effects of damp 

 better than any other timber with which we are acquainted. Where 

 abundant and easily obtained, it is preferred for every part of a wooden 

 house with the exception of those portions in which strength and toughness 

 are the qualities chiefly sought for, for the totara is rather a brittle wood. 

 In the older trees, large warty excrescences are frequently met with, which, 

 when cut into, have a highly variegated and mottled appearance. These are 

 in great request among furniture makers, the wood being very much 

 admired. Not only is the totara sought for by the sawyer to be cut into 

 boards and scantling, but the men who split fencing for agricultural pur- 

 poses prefer it to every other wood. There is no other timber in New 

 Zealand which rends before the wedge with such facility and truth ; 

 and no description of timber stands so well in the ground as the heart 

 of totara. In consequence of its splitting properties, it is the timber 

 out of which all the best and most durable roofing shingles are made. By 

 the Maoris the totara has always been recognized as one of the most useful 

 of the forest trees. It is of this tree that their largest canoes are made, the 

 tree being felled in the forest, it may be at a very considerable distance from 

 the beach, and, when hollowed out, dragged down into what the penny-a- 



* Black rue of Otago, Hook. f. ; matai, black rue or black pine in Otago, Sector ; 

 miro, often confounded with black pine, Balfour ; mataii, Colenso ; mai or matai, Taylor. 

 —Ed. 



22 



