Order—Conifers.

Genus—Dammar a, L'Héritier.

Dammar a australis, Lambert.

Kauri.—The kauri is the finest forest tree in New Zealand, and attains a height of 120ft. to 160ft. The trunk is sometimes 80ft. to 100ft. high before branching, and attains a diameter at the base of 10ft. to 20ft.

page 99

The timber is in high repute for masts and spars, deck and other planking of vessels, and is largely used for house finishings. There is abundant evidence of its durability for more than fifty years in some of the old mission-buildings at the Bay of Islands. The buried logs of an ancient kauri forest near Papakura have been excavated and found to be in perfectly sound condition, and were used for sleepers on the Auckland and Waikato Railway. On the Thames Goldfield kauri is used for mine-props, struts, and cap-pieces. It forms the bulk of the timber exported from New Zealand.

Some of the largest and soundest kauri timber has richly mottled shading, which appears to be an abnormal growth, due to the bark being entangled in the ligneous growth, causing shaded parts, broad and narrow, according as the timber is cut relative to their planes. This makes a rich and valuable furniture wood, and in the market is known as "mottled kauri."

The kauri pine occurs only in the North Island and north of Mercury Bay, and grows best near the sea on wet clay land. The kauri forests are largely composed of other trees as well as their characteristic tree.

The turpentine of this tree forms the celebrated kauri gum, which is extensively excavated from the sites of old forests as far south as Taranaki. In 1871 there were exported 5,053 tons, valued at £167,958; in 1875, 2,230 tons, valued at £138,528; in 1877, 3,632 tons, valued at £118,348; in 1882, 5,533 tons, valued at £260,369; and in 1884, 6,393 tons, valued at £342,151.