F O R E S T - T H E E S. 83 



purpofes only, but in building of fhips alfo ; and Witfen, a 

 Dutch writer on naval architecture, mentions a fliip, thirty- 

 feet in length, to have been found not long fince in the Numi- 

 dian fea, twelve fathoms under water, chiefly built of this tim- 

 ber, and Cyprefs, both reduced to that hardnefs as to refift the 

 fliarpefl; tools ; nor was any part perifhed, though it had lain 

 fourteen hundred years fubmerged. It makes the beft palats 

 for painters to feparate their colours on ; and it was on boards 

 of the Larch, that Raphael, and the moft famous artifts of that 

 time, eternized their Ikill, before the ufe of canvas v/as intro- 

 duced. 



Is it not amazing, then, that thoufands who have it in their 

 power, will not be at a moderate expence in planting a parcel 

 of fmall twigs of this plant, on barren heaths, or cold and rug- 

 ged hills, which, in a few years, would not only adorn, and, by 

 the warmth they would afford, really improve the adjacent 

 country, but, in lefs than an age, inrich their families ? 



