438 
BOTANY. 
chiefly used in England instead of size for glazing calico; 
but in the United States it forms a substitute for gum copal 
in making varnish, and has been much sought after by that 
enterprising people for this purpose. This resin being found 
in almost all the coal measures, indicates great antiquity, as 
its remains are seen as far south as Stewart’s Island; thus, the 
surviving forests of this noble pine, now confined to an insig¬ 
nificant region, the same as that growing on the Isle of Pines, 
indicate their having once had a far more widely extended 
growth at some remote period. The cone of this tree is nearly 
round, and when dry falls to pieces ; some attain a height of 
nearly two hundred feet, and a girth of forty, with a clear stem, 
rising like a tower to nearly a hundred feet without a branch. 
The kauri resin, when it first exudes from the tree, is of a 
milky color, or transparent like glass, but with age it acquires 
a yellow hue, and that which is found on the sand hills is 
scarcely to be distinguished in color, brilliancy, and hardness 
from amber. The largest masses are found in marshes; fre¬ 
quently lumps are dug up in such localities of a hundred 
pounds weight. The kauri resin, if put into strong rectified 
spirits of ether in a pulverised state, is immediately taken up. 
With the spirit of turpentine at 270°, a clear yellow-tinged 
solution is obtained ; it dissolves pretty well with linseed oil 
if boiled. The kauri resin has been sold from £80 to £100 
per ton. Some of it is found quite soft and plastic, from 
its containing a larger quantity of turpentine; the fresh resin 
is chewed by the natives. The sap of this tree is the thickest 
on the shaded side, which fronts the south; it is there 
frequently seven inches through. The timber is very close 
grained, and durable ; it is highly prized for spars. The bark 
is clear of plants, which generally abound on most trees of 
the forest; its roots form a kind of net-work on the surface of 
the ground. 
Fam. Taxacece.—Toatoa (podocarpus asplenifolius). This 
tree chiefly grows on the table ground, in the interior of the 
south part of the island, where it is found in large clumps ; it 
does not attain any great size ; the bark is used as a brown dye. 
Tanekaha, tawaiwai.—(Phyllocladus trichornanoides). This 
