Har. Yes—I know my box is made of deal, and the lid is split all to pieces with driving nails into it.
Geo. Are ships ever built with fir?
Tut. It was one of the first woods made use of for naval purposes; and in the poets you will find the words pine and fir frequently employed to signify ship. But as navigation has improved, the stronger and more durable woods have generally taken its place. However, in the countries where fir is very plentiful, large ships are still built with it; for though they last but a short time, they cost so little in proportion, that the profit of a few voyages is sufficient to repay the expense. Then, from the great lightness of the wood, they swim higher in the water, and consequently will bear more loading. Most of the large ships that bring timber from Archangel, in Russia, are built of fir. As for the masts of ships, those I have already told you are all made of fir or pine, on account of their straightness and lightness.
Geo. Are there not some lines in Milton’s Paradise Lost about that?
Tut. Yes: the spear of Satan is magnified by a comparison with a lofty pine.
His spear, to equal which the tallest pine,
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great admiral, were but a wand.
Har. I remember, too, that the walking-staff of the giant Polypheme was a pine.
Tut. Ay—so Homer and Ovid tell us, and he must have been a giant indeed, to use such a stick. Well, so much for the wood of these trees. But I have more to say about their uses.