This page has already been transcribed. You can find new pages to transcribe here.

Transcription

[Page 176]

172.
Some account of New Zealand

an ornament they are very fond of & this was doubtless the reason why they preferrd the Cloth which we had brought from the South Sea Islands with us to any merchandise we could shew them & next to it white paper

Fruits they have none, except I should reckon a few kind of insipid berries which had neither sweetness nor flavour to recommend them & which none but the boys took the pains to gather  the woods however abound with excellent timber trees fit for any kind of building in size, grain, & apparent durability  one which bears a very conspicuous scarlet flower made up many threads & is a large tree as big as an oak in England  has a very heavy hard wood which seems well adapted for the Cogs of Mill wheels &c. or any purpose for which very hard wood is us'd   that which I have before mentiond to grow in the swamps  which has a leaf not unlike Yew & bears small bunches of Berries  is tall streight & thick enough to make Masts for vessels of any size & seems likewise by the streight direction of the fibres to be tough but is too heavy  this however I have been told is the case with the pitch pine in North america  the timber of which this very much resembles & that the North americans know how to lighten by tapping it properly & actualy use for Masts.

 

Current Status: 
Completed