WHITE'S JOURNAL OF A 
of them look fair and good to the eye, and appear fufficient 
to make a maft for the largeft fliip ; but, when cut down, 
they are fcarcely convertible to any ufe whatever. At the 
heart they are full of veins, through which an amazing 
quantity of an aftringent red gum ifTues. This gum I 
have found very ferviceable in an obftinate dyfentery that 
raged at our firft landing, and flill continues to do fo, 
though with lefs obflinacy and violence. When thefe 
trees are fawed, and any wslj expofed to the fun, the gum 
melts, or gets fo very brittle, that the wood falls to pieces, 
and appears as if the pieces had been joined together with 
this fubftance. How any kind of houfes, except thofe built 
of the cabbage tree, can be raifed up, the timber being fo 
exceedingly bad, it is impoflible to determine. 
I have already faid that the ftone of this country is well 
calculated for building, could any kind of cement be 
found to keep them together. As for lime-ftone, we have 
not yet difcovered any in the country; and the fhells 
colleded for that purpofe have been but inconliderable. 
From Captain Cook's account, one would be led to fuppofe 
that oyfter and cockle fhells might be procured in fuch 
quantities, as to make a fufficiency of lime, for the 
purpofe 
