^32 



THE ACACIA. 



ingenious shipwright, that had been sent over by 

 some merchants of Liverpool, to build two large 

 ships, I had frequent conversations with him 

 respecting the qualities of the several principal 

 timber-trees of that country. Being a person of 

 observation, he had made many useful remarks on 

 that subject, which the nature of his employment 

 afforded him many opportunities of doing with 

 advantage. He frequently spoke of the Locust- 

 tree as of extraordinary qualities both of strength 

 and duration ; and used often to say, if a suffi- 

 cient quantity could be had, it would be the best 

 timber he had ever met with for building ships. 

 After he had completed his engagements with his 

 employers at Liverpool, he set a small vessel 

 on the stocks for himself; but unluckily not 

 having a sufficient quantity of iron for the pur- 

 pose, and none being to be had, at that time, in 

 the country, he was obliged to put a stop to the 

 work, till he bethought himself of the following 

 succedaneum. He had formerly (as hinted above) 

 observed the extraordinary strength and firmness 

 of the Locust-tree, and, on this emergency, took it 

 into his head that trenails of that timber might 

 be substituted for iron bolts,* in many places 

 where least liable to wrench, or twist, as in fast- 

 ening the floor timbers to the keel, and the 

 knees, f to the end of the beams, which two arti- 

 cles take up a large proportion of the iron used 



* Bolts are round iron or copper pins, used to fasten the floor- 

 timbers to the keel, and the beams that support the decks, to the 

 sides of the ship, and on all other occasions where trenails are not 

 strong enough to bear the strain. 



f Knees are the crooked pieces of timber which are fastened to 

 the sides of vessels, and are intended to support the cross-beams. 



