40 
tendency to shrink and contract in length as well as in breadth, and 
this it does, however old or seasoned, when freshly planed. It is largely 
used by the Shipwright, the House-builder, and the Cabinet Maker ; 
two-thirds of the houses in the North Island, and all the many vessels 
and boats, are mainly, if not entirely, built of this timber; and from a 
time long before the date of the Colony, many cargoes of Kauri spars 
were taken to England for the purposes of the Koyal Navy. Tho de¬ 
mand for this timber is very great, and has ever been increasing. The 
quantity exported from Auckland and the Northern ports of the Auck¬ 
land Province, in 18G3, was, — of spars and rickers, 270 tons, value 
£1,953; of sawn timber, 1,552,636 feet, and of squared wood, 1,641 
loads, the value of the two last items being £16,000. Although con¬ 
fined to the northern parts of the North Island,—see, par. 13, (ii.),—it 
grows in all soils, and at several altitudes from the sea-side to 1,500 feet, 
preferring, however, the dry and sterile clays of the hilly districts. It 
is still very plentiful, and is likely to meet all demands for 50 future 
years; although, as a matter of course, it is yearly getting less acces¬ 
sible. Many miles of valuable Kauri forests have been from time to 
time thoughtlessly consumed by fire; which fires, it is sincerely hoped, 
will not hereafter be so frequent as they have been. Thci*e ai*e few 
sights more impressive of grandeur, than an untouched forest of this 
stately tree; few more impressive of misery and devastation, than a 
worked-out and abandoned one ! 
(ii.) The next valuable tree of this class, and scarcely less so than the 
Kauri pine, is the Totara (Podocarpm TotaraJ ; which, while generally 
found throughout the North Island, abounds in the Provinces of 
Hawkes’ Bay, and Wellington, where it forms fine forests. It often 
attains the height of 120 feet, and upwards, with a clean trunk of from 
fifty to sixty, or even to seventy, feet, without a knot; having a diameter 
of five, or even six feet, tapering gradually to twenty inches. It is not 
generally found near the sea, (although it has been met with over¬ 
hanging the tidal rocks,) and flourishes most on rich alluvial levels. 
Tho wood of this tree is hard, and generally of a dark dull pink colour, 
resembling pencil cedar; it works freely, and when polished is hand¬ 
some, and very suitable for massy ornamental interior work. In the 
southern parts of tho North Island, (particularly Wellington,) the 
better and more durable houses, chui’ches, &c., are generally built of it. 
It is the best New Zealand wood for bridges, wharfs, piles, &c.; as it 
possesses the valuable property of resisting rot, more especially in wet 
G 
