Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/225

XXVI.] The Stringy-bark is liable to the peculiar defect noticed in the Jarrah, and described at p. 191. In a specimen of this wood obtained in 1842 from "Cook's tree" in a forest bordering on Adventure Bay, Van Diemen's Land, there are several imperfect annual layers, which are partially filled with a reddish resinous secretion. It is believed that this specimen was cut from the identical Stringy-bark tree which Captain Cook marked to denote his visit to that place. When I saw it, the tree was partially destroyed, and it is probable that Cook's marks had long before disappeared. It bore on the north side the letters—

LE

GEO GR

a c

GA

and on the south side— LAN 1802

LAF R = GA

AP:—L

DE · · · ·

The Tewart, Jarrah, Kari, Iron-bark, Blue-gum, and Stringy-bark trees, are among the noblest of the vegetable products of Australia and Van Diemen's Land; but there are many others of nearly equal value. During a visit to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1843, in H.M.S. "Tortoise," the Colonial Secretary of Van Diemen's Land informed me by letter that he had sent a box containing samples of forty woods the product of that country; but, unfortunately, it never reached me. The following table contains a list of these woods, with the particulars of their growth, the soils favourable to them, and the several uses for which they are most suitable; observing that the specimens were collected, and the information respecting them given, by an intelligent sawyer who had been many years employed in the colony.