48 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



Eucalyptus woods which are finer in growth here 

 than in any other part of Australia, and are sent 

 all over the world for making bridges, wharves, 

 and other engineering works where great dura- 

 bility and hardness is required. The commonest 

 Eucalypts used for timber are the Blue Gum 

 (E, glohuUis) and the Swamp Gum {E, regnans)^ 

 which may grow to a hundred feet in height in 

 about sixty years,, but those of slower growth^ 

 after reaching an age of two to three hundred 

 years, are in the best condition. The Stringy- 

 bark {E, ohliqua) is of quicker growth, but inferior 

 as timber ; the Peppermint Gums {E, amygdalina) 

 (Fig. 7, p. 36) being of slow-growing and very 

 durable timber. The felling of these gigantic spars 

 and their transport to the saw-mills employ a 

 large number of labourers, whose splendid physique 

 and skill in the use of the axe distinguish them 

 rather as the devotees of an art, than the servants 

 of a laborious trade. 



In felling one of the larger spars the timber- 

 men insert palings or ' shoes ' into the trunk 

 above the level of the undergrowth where the 

 bole of the tree begins its straight and equal 

 growth upward for perhaps two hundred feet, 

 and from these swaying platforms they ply their 

 axes, cutting out huge wedges at each blow, 

 until the V-shaped notches from either side meet 

 in the middle, the last few blows determining to 

 which side the tree shall fall. And this laborious 

 art requires so much skill, that the ' chopping 



