1829. 



IIOADS MADE WITH LOGS. 



283 



weather-boards of houses, also for shingling the roof ; for which 

 purpose it is very superior and durable : after exposure to the 

 weather it turns blue, and has the appearance of slate. It does 

 not shrink or warp ; and though brittle, is of a very close grain, 

 and well adapted for furniture. Of this wood the country 

 people make staves for casks ; and the bark of the tree is used 

 for caulking the seams of vessels, for which it answers remark- 

 ably well, being extremely durable when constantly wet, 

 though it soon decays when exposed to the sun and air. 



Spars of alerse, eighty or ninety feet in length, may be pro- 

 cured ; and from eight hundred to a thousand boards are fre- 

 quently obtained from a single tree. I was told that as many 

 as one thousand five hundred have sometimes been cut out of 

 one trunk. Alerse is found on the island, but not of any size. 

 It is also common in the Strait of Magalhaens, in all those parts 

 west of Cape Froward ; but there, from the poverty of the 

 soil, it is of very stunted growth. 



The cypress is thought to be a different tree, but I rather 

 imagine it to be only a variety ; the wood being white, whilst 

 that of the alerse is of a deep red colour. As the trade of 

 the island is principally carried on by water, roads are seldom 

 used for that purpose, for which, indeed, the few that exist are 

 far from being convenient. Between San Carlos and Castro 

 there is a road cut through the forest, forty or fifty feet in 

 width, in the middle of which is a causeway, four or five feet 

 wide, formed of logs of wood, laid transversely. This is the 

 only way of communication, unless, which rarely occurs, the 

 weather has been dry during some days ; for, off the causeway, 

 there is a mere bog, in which a horse frequently sinks up to the 

 girths in mud. In many parts of the causeway, indeed, where 

 the logs have decayed, and have not been repaired, the passage 

 is equally bad, so that in wet weather, only persons without a 

 load are able to pass. For the greater part of the way, the trees 

 on each side prevent an extensive view ; but on approaching 

 within five or six miles of Castro, the country becomes more 

 open, having been cleared by cultivation, and there, of course, 

 the road improves. 



