426 
Pliny's NATUiiA.L history. 
[Book XYI. 
there are trees, of which ships are built, the wood of which 
has been found uninjured at the end of two hundred years,^^ 
even if it has been under water all that time. They say, also, 
that in the same island there is a certain shrub,^^ about the 
thickness of a walking-stick only, and spotted like a tiger's 
skin : it is very heavy, and will break like glass if it happens 
to fail upon a hard substance. 
CnAP. 81. (42.) — THE WOODS USED IN BUILDING. 
We have in Italy some woods that are apt to split of 
themselves ; to prevent this, architects recommend that they 
should be first seasoned in manure** and then dried, in order 
to render them proof against the action of the atmosphere. 
The woods of the fir and larch are well adapted, even when 
used transversely, for the support of heavy burdens ; while the 
robur and the olive are apt to bend and give way under a 
weight. The wood of the poplar and the palm are also strong, 
but this last will bend, though in a manner different from 
the others ; for, while in all other instances the wood bends 
downwards, in the palm it bends in the contrary direction,*^ 
and forms an arch. The woods of the pine and the cypress 
are proof against decay and all attacks of wood- worm. The 
walnut is easily warped, but we sometimes see beams even 
made of it. It gives warning, however, before it breaks, by a 
loud cracking noise ; such was the case at Antandros, at the 
public baths there — the bathers took the alarm upon hearing 
the beams crack, and made their escape. The pine, the pitch- 
tree, and the alder are employed for making hollow pipes for 
the conveyance of water, and when buried in the earth will 
last for many years. If, however, they are not well covered 
over, they will very soon rot ; and the resistance they ofi'er to 
decay will increase in a most surprising degree if the outer 
surface as well is left in contact with the water. 
*2 There is nothing very surprising in this, as most woods are preserved 
better when completely immersed in water, than when exposed to the va- 
riations of the atmosphere. 
*3 He borrows this fable from Theophrastus, B. v. c. 5. 
This process, Fee says, would be attended with no success. 
^5 It is not quite clear whether he intends this observation to apply to the 
poplar and the palm, or to the last only. It is true, however, in neither 
case, and is contrary, as Fee observes, to all physical laws. 
