Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/325

CHAP. XXXVIII.] of; and it is said that a beverage, resembling in its anti-scorbutic qualities the well-known spruce beer, maybe manufactured from the branches. These trees are generally overrun with strong elastic creepers, of from 4 to 6 inches in diameter, which intertwine with the branches, and, clustering there, render the whole a grand and densely thick mass of rich foliage.

The Kahikatea yields timber 12 to 30 inches square, and 20 to 60 feet in length. The wood is white in colour, light, straight in the grain, soft, and with little of the horny texture observable in the outer part of the concentric circles of the Fir and Pine species. It resembles the Pinus Strobus, or Yellow Pine of Canada, more closely, perhaps, than any other wood. It is easy to work, but is inferior in quality, being neither strong nor durable.

The natives of New Zealand sometimes make their canoes from this wood, as it is easily obtained. It does not, however, wear well, and, except for its buoyancy and handiness upon the streams, has little to recommend it to notice. It is not employed in buildings if other timber can be readily procured. The Kahikatea is liable to be speedily attacked by a small worm. I found this to be the case with some specimens, after being only about six months in store.

The Kahikatea has sometimes been mistaken for the Kauri, it being similar in dimensions; when hewn, however, the quality is immediately seen to be inferior, and quite unfit for mast purposes. The specific gravity of the seasoned wood varies from 428 to 490, and averages about 460.