establish a convenient port there, be carried out, as there seems good reason to hope may be the case, (since this plan is earnestly recommended by Mr. Doyne, consulting engineer to the Governor,) every facility both for bringing the timber to the shore and for putting it on board ship would be afforded, and large orders could then be executed with rapidity and ease.
The trees which I have mentioned by name are but a few out of a variety vast enough to render West Australia, in respect of woods, a perfect paradise to an enthusiastic lover of the turning-lathe. The two woods most in favour for turning are the sandalwood and raspberry jam, on account of their perfume, but the casuarina, or shea-oak, deserves equal popularity, as it is a beautifully-marked wood, and capable of being worked down to a very thin edge. In this last respect, however, there is again no wood that can surpass the jarrah. Its grain is closer and firmer in texture than the Spanish mahogany, and it is a better wood for turning, that is, if a really fine log be chosen, such as was one out of which my husband turned a vase, the cup part of which was almost as thin as silver paper, without a symptom of the wood splintering or shaking.
The principal use to which the casuarina is applied is in the roofing of houses, for which purpose the wood is cut into long narrow pieces, called shingles, of the shape of slates or tiles; and as this kind of roofing is common throughout Australia, and an unlimited supply of casuarina can be obtained in Swan River, the new timber companies will probably do a fair share of business in the department of shingling alone. To be "a shingle short" is a
