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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 

 wet lands. Choice parts of the wood of this tree, from its light yellow colour 

 and rich changeable sparkHng 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 cujjressim^n^ , 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 seen standing out to 

 advantage in bold relief on the slo]De of some secluded sunny dell in the 

 virgin forests ! forcibly reminding him of Xerxes and the beautiful plane- 

 tree on the Mseander.* In the northern parts of the island this tree affects 



* Herodotus, Polymnia, § 31. 



