Macquarie Harbour . 
Ill 
many respects superior to that wood. For ships’ decks 
and interior, for boat-building, and innumerable other 
purposes, its qualities are unequalled. 
Huon pine formed the principal article of export from 
Macquarie Harbour : two thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-nine logs were collected in one year (1827), 
besides seven hundred and forty-three of gum, myrtle, 
&c. These logs were procured from different spots in the 
vicinity of the Settlement, principally from the Gordon. 
Sometimes the timber is found at some distance inland ; 
in that case a road was made to the water-side by felling 
the intermediate trees, and placing the trunks trans¬ 
versely across the road so as to form ways, over which 
the pine logs, cut to proper sizes, were rolled into 
the river with handspikes or levers. The next process 
was to fix a hundred or more of these logs together in 
the form of a raft, the outside logs being attached to 
the centre ones by iron chains. The raft was towed 
to the Settlement by a launch or two. Sometimes 
in bad weather the chains gave way, and the logs 
drifted about in every quarter. Such accidents always 
gave much trouble, and indeed it seldom happened 
that the whole number of logs were recovered. When 
the raft arrived at the Settlement, the unfortunate 
prisoners’ severest task began ; for they had to wade to 
their middles for hours at a time with hand-spikes, to 
roll the timber up. The logs were piled in stacks, some¬ 
times thirty feet high. Whenever the men were so em¬ 
ployed, the Commandant used to allow them to receive 
a small quantity of spirits. W e recollect seeing one of 
these logs which measured twelve and a half tons. The 
best of the logs were shipped to Hobart Town, some 
were cut up by the sawyers, of whom there were con¬ 
stantly nine or ten pairs at work, into boards, also for 
Hobart Town; the remainder were either reserved for use 
