200 
TIMBER 
construction work. It is also durable in situations 
alternately wet and dry, used for piles in bridge work and 
in the best class of structures, and may be seen sound and 
in good condition at a very great age in some of the 
temples, a sufficient proof of its durability when properly 
seasoned. The main beams of the wooden lighthouses 
erected along the Japanese coasts by English engineers 
many years back were of keaki up to 28 ft. long and 12 
inches square; the keels, sternposts, and stems of light- 
ships were made of the same timber, and the outside was 
keaki planking 2 inches thick. It is a handsome wood, 
takes a high polish, and is much prized by cabinet-makers 
and carvers. Chiefly felled when about 4 ft. in girth, in the 
temple groves and alongside the main high roads specimens 
are nevertheless to be seen upwards of 12 feet in girth. 
It can be had in lengths up to 30 ft., but above 20 ft. the 
price is higher. One of the difficulties experienced by 
foreigners in using Japanese timber in the past has been 
the slight attention paid to seasoning, much of the wood 
offered for sale being full of sap. 
Average weight by three observers 56^, 63, and 43^ lbs. 
per cubic foot; the variation is doubtless due to some of the 
pieces being more seasoned than others. 
Hinoki {Cuprcssus ohtusa) is a tall straight-growing tree, 
the wood of which is compact, durable, easily worked, and 
has a silky lustre when planed, of a straw colour and free 
from knots and winds ; it is valued as mast timber, and is 
very similar to yellow pine. Light, tough, and elastic, 
when fairly seasoned it does not warp, and is very durable 
in damp situations. It is tlie favourite softwood for doors, 
windows, uprights in house construction, and is also used 
for railway sleepers and boat-building, and extensively for 
pattern making and cabinet work. Temples and chapels 
