There are many other trees of some value, but the foregoing represent the chief.

The total area of the principal forest regions of Western Australia covers no less than 20,400,000 acres, made up of:—­

    Jarrah 8,000,000 acres. 
    Karri 1,200,000
    Tuart 200,000
    Wandoo 7,000,000
    York Gum, Yate Sandalwood,
    and Jam 4,000,000
                                ----------
                                20,400,000

Jarrah is, without doubt, the principal forest-tree of Western Australia.  This tree is dark grey in colour, with the bark strongly marked in deeply indented furrows.  It grows on an average to a height of 90 to 120 feet, with stems 3 feet to 5 feet in diameter, running 50 to 60 feet to the first branch.  There are, of course, very many larger individual specimens.  The wood is red in colour, polishes well and works easily, and weighs when seasoned about 63 lbs. to the cubic foot.  It is extensively used for wood-paving, piles, jetties, bridges, boat-building, furniture, and railway sleepers.  It makes splendid charcoal, and when cut at the proper season exhibits remarkable durability both in the ground as fence-posts and in water.

Karri is the giant tree of West Australia.  It is extremely graceful in appearance, with a yellowish-white smooth bark, which flakes off each year like that of our planes.  The trees grow to a height of 200 feet, with a diameter of 4 feet at a height of 3 or 4 feet from the ground, and the first branch generally occurs at a height of 120 to 150 feet from the base.  This tree does not occur in such numbers as the Jarrah, its field of growth being limited.  Its timber resembles that of the Jarrah, but cannot be wrought so easily, though for purposes of street-paving it is superior.  It is this wood which is so extensively used in London.  It is also of value for bridge planking, shafts, spokes, felloes, waggon work, and beams.

Tuart is also comparatively limited in extent.  It attains to a height of 100 to 150 feet, having a diameter of 7 to 9 feet at the base and about 40 feet to the first branch.  Its timber is extraordinarily hard and tough and difficult to split.  It is of great value as bridge supports, dock gates, stern posts, engine supports, &c., and it is also extensively used in the making of railway wagons and wheelwright’s work generally.

Sandalwood, which is more of a bush than a tree, runs small as a rule.  It is fairly distributed over the Colony.  Formerly there was a greater trade in sandalwood than now; but the overstocked Chinese markets being sold out, the West Australia trade is rapidly reviving.

Raspberry Jam is a handsomely shaped rounded acacia, and gets its name from the scent of its wood, which is exactly that of the raspberry.  An oil is extracted from the wood, which is highly perfumed.  The wood is impervious to the attacks of the white ant.