242 
TIMBEE 
Silver Pine or Western Pine (Dacryclium westlandicum) 
and Yellow Silver Pine (D. intermedium) both furnish a 
dense white or yellowish white timber of great durability 
which is useful for inside or outside work. Some of the 
wood is beautifully marked. The first-mentioned is largely 
used for bridges, jetty piles, and railway sleepers. Thesa 
are trees of 40 to 50 ft. in height. 
Weight 41 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Puriri [Vitex littoralis) is known as the New Zealand teak 
and is closely related to the teak of India. It is the most 
durable timber in the colony and in great request for 
bridge piles, fencing posts, etc., whilst for railway sleepers it 
ranks the first of all New Zealand woods, and is said to 
have lasted twenty-five years on the track. It is only 
found in the Auckland and Taranaki districts of the North 
Island. The colour is dark brown ; it is excessively hard, 
dense, and heavy, indeed suitable for any work requiring 
great strength. In order to split it, it is necessary some- 
times to use blasting powder or dynamite. 
Weight 62 to 76 lbs. per cubic foot. 
There are several beeches, the Tooth Leaved and Entire 
Leaved varieties being the most important ; the latter has 
more sap and decays more rapidly than the tooth leaved 
variety, though both are used for timber in wharves and 
jetties, sleepers, fencing posts, etc. The wood is of red or 
reddish brown colour with sharply defined light coloured 
sapwood ; it is usually called by colonists the red birch or 
beech ; is even in grain, compact, and of considerable 
strength and toughness. The Tooth Leaved variety {L'agns 
fiLsca) was the only timber used for a stiffened suspension 
bridge— 200 ft. span and 20 ft. deep in centre— spanning 
