320 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprim, 1898. 
In the early days the logs were all collected on the banks of the coastal 
rivers at places called “‘ rafting-grounds.’’ At these spots, as the name 
implies, they were formed into rafts and floated down stream to large mills 
often found at the mouths of these rivers. But two elements, the result of 
more recent development, have disturbed the old system. In the first place, 
as settlement. increased, and local demand became greater, steam sawmills, 
ortable in character, were erected to meet the demand ; and, secondly, in 
ater years railways were introduced, and much timber which formerly found 
its way down the rivers now goes to large mills in the various centres 0 
population. 
Before the introduction, however, of small mills called into existence to 
meet the growing demands of settlers, the local needs were supplied by pit- 
sawyers; and even to-day, in accessible parts, apparently only a stone’s 
throw from railways, yet-— 
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife, 
saw-pits still keep “the noiseless tenor of their way.” Notwithstanding, this 
is not so common as it was, and certainly the greater number of ‘‘pits’” one 
meets with belong to a past age. 
Pit-sawing, as a feature in early settlement and an accomplishment needed 
in the pioneer, is an interesting process, which one of the accompanying 
pictures fairly illustrates. A rude staging of saplings is erected over a long 
and narrow pit. Logs are rolled by means of long “skids” on to this staging. 
The saw is worked by two men called the “top” and the “ bottom” sawyers. 
The “top sawyer” is the skilled labourer, and understands the art of saw- 
sharpening. He has the general directing of affairs—hence the saying, “ He 
(or she) is top sawyer,’ a term often applied, in a complimentary way, by 
timber-getters to their wives. 
Timber-felling has its excitements and, to the uninitiated, its dangers. 
Experience is as much needed in this as in any other branch of work. We 
have to bear in mind that “ Where a tree falleth, there shall it he,” and it may 
not be in the place in which it is wanted. Now, when certain tricks of trade 
are committed to memory, one can cause a tree to fall in almost any direction 
or position. ‘The axeman is then master of the situation. But if he is labour- 
ing in ignorance of these tricks the opposite is the case, and felling is fraught 
with danger. ‘Then, beside dangers, the axeman has to contend against diffi- 
culties which, to obviate, tax his ingenuity and resource. Perhaps the 
greatest and, at the same time, the most common difliculty arises from the 
peculiarities of certain trees when advanced in life. The giants amongst the 
‘‘oum” tribe—those hoar with age—are very gnarled just above the ground. 
The butts, in fact, are one mass of excrescences, and woody growths which form 
“pockets.” These make the tree bell-shaped at the base, and to fell it from 
the ground entails unnecessary labour. A rough staging, high enough to lift 
the axeman above the pockets, is made; or, if there are many trees to bring 
down, the axeman carries with him a “stool,” which consists of a heavy flat 
riece of wood having holes at each end. Long thin sticks are thrust into 
these holes, giving to the board the appearance of an ordinary four-legged 
stool mounted on stilts. This is placed against a tree, stayed with a forked 
stick, and the axeman, mounted on his spider-like rostrum, swings his axe 
some ten or fifteen feet above the level of the soil, and out of reach of the 
pockets at the butt. This is called “ stool felling.” . 
When the tree, like a prostrated giant, is prone upon the ground, the bark 
is stripped off, and the crosscut saw is ealledi into requisition to remove the 
splintered butt and to cut the trunk into lengths. These logs, or sections, are 
then “snigged,” or drawn with a team to a convenient spot, to be loaded on a 
timber truck. 
