PECULIARITIES OF ALE USE 



1829. 



which it spHts, is brought in boards also, four feet long, half 

 an inch thick, and six inches broad, which, as I have before 

 remarked, are the principal articles of barter. 



The Alerse is found in great quantities near Calbuco ; but 

 at so great a distance from the beach that it cannot easily be 

 conveyed thither for embarkation, except in the above form. 

 The tree is cut down and squared, then hewn by the axe into 

 as many logs of seven or eight feet long as it will afford ; and 

 these, with the assistance of iron wedges, are split into planks 

 and boards, in which state, without being further trimmed, they 

 are tied together in bundles, and carried on men's backs, or 

 dragged over the ground to the beach. 



The extraordinary straightness of the grain of this tree 

 enables the natives to split it, so as to make it appear as if it 

 had been dressed with an adze, or. even with a plane ; but, as 

 I have said, the axe is the only instrument used. So great is 

 the difficulty of obtaining a spar of this wood, that when I 

 wished to procure a new mast for the Adelaide, I offered four 

 times the value of an alerse spar to the natives, besides the 

 assistance of twenty men, and tackles, &c. to assist in convey- 

 ing it to the beach. The temptation was almost too great to be 

 withstood ; but the man to whom I applied, who had before 

 been employed to get masts for a schooner in the Chilian ser- 

 vice, and a flag- staff for the town, said that it would take his 

 own party two months to bring one to the beach : with the 

 assistance of our people, however, it might be done in a month. 

 The trees were distant, and there were two or three ridges of 

 heights to cross, that would cause much delay. The facility 

 with which these people usually handle timber was a sufficient 

 proof to me that such a task, if refused by them, must be very 

 difficult indeed, and I gave it up, as the Yntendente was so 

 obliging as to give me the flag- staff, which had taken the same 

 party two months to procure. 



The Hoxsley, a national schooner, built at Childe, for the 

 government, was masted with alerse spars, which proved to be 

 very strong. 



Alerse is used principally for the floors, partitions, and 



