Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/326

306 THE TANAKAHA TREE (Podocarpus aspleilifolius)

is found scattered over a large portion of the northern island of New Zealand, but is nowhere met with in abundance. It arrives at its greatest perfection on a dry soil and at a moderate elevation.

It is of straight growth, and attains a height of 60 to 80 feet, with a circumference of about 5 feet, the branches being thrown out nearly horizontally at about 30 to 40 feet up the stem, and forming above this a fine pyramidical head. The leaves are 1 to 1½ inch in length, and ½ to ¾ inch in breadth. The bark is thick, smooth, and of a dark-brown colour: it is used by the natives to dye their garments either black or brown.

The wood is close and straight in the grain, and yellowish-white in colour, though not so light as that of the Kauri. It has a close resemblance to the Huon Pine of Van Diemen's Land. It works up well, is tough and very strong; so much so that the New Zealanders say it is the "strong man" among their forest trees.

The Tanakaha tree yields timber 10 to 16 inches square, and 18 to 45 feet in length, and is employed for masts, and for the decks of small vessels built for the coasting trade; it is found to answer admirably for these purposes, and is also valuable to the carpenter as a building material.

The specific gravity of the seasoned wood is about 600, but logs which have been only felled a few weeks, and therefore have their moisture only partially evaporated, will not float.

THE RIMU TREE (Dacrydiwn cupressinum).

This tree is found in many of the forests of New