Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/251

( 226 ) Wales it is chiefly used in house-building and common furniture. Turpentine is a small wood of no service but in flooring houses. Light-wood grows to twenty inches, and from its buoyancy (whence its name), is proper for building small craft and boats.

The oak is distinguished according as it grows either on the hills or swamps; the former runs to between twelve and eighteen inches, and when larger is always shaken in the heart, the grain is short and cross, and the wood is apt to fly and warp; it is used chiefly in cabinet work, particularly vineeringveneering [sic]. The swamp oak is the same size, and differs from the other in having a more uniform grain, and being consequently much tougher; in ship-building it would answer for scantling. Of both these woods the paling and shingles are made in New South Wales.

Mahogany, runs good to three feet, and by its texture can scarcely be known from the gany