LIMA. 



125 



ceased to work. There was a ship in his time 

 built of this wood^ which was called El Viejo 

 C/iristo^ to denote its antiquity. The name of the 

 builder^ and the period when it was built^ had 

 entirely passed away^ although there were seve- 

 ral shipbuilders on the spot then, whose memory 

 reached back to eighty years. This vessel was 

 at length shipwrecked ; but at its last voyage the 

 timbers were as good as on the day it was first 

 built. There is a great variety of other woods, 

 of more or less value for building both ships and 

 houses on the Pacific coast, differing from each 

 other in texture and durability ; but they all 

 possess one quality in common, which is that 

 they can be used with as much efficiency in 

 those climates when green and just cut down, as 

 if they had undergone a long seasoning. They 

 answer just as well when applied to those pur- 

 poses without any preparation. 



