INDO-MALAYAX WOODS. 439 



Singapore market in small Chinese junks; but, thus far, it has not 

 begun to he exploited by modern methods. There should be excel lent 

 opportunities for one or more large companies on the island. 



JAVA. 



The original forests of Java have been very largely cleared. Plantation 



teak is the most important timber. 



BOBNEO. 



The forests of Borneo are extensive and comparatively untouched. 



]t is true that the billian is very well worked out in some sections; but 

 the dipterocarps are found in very great quantity and of all grades. At 

 present the chief obstacle to the development of these forests is the 

 distance from market and the meager facilities for transportation. As 

 the demand for wood becomes greater, the transportation will surely be 

 furnished and then the forests will be rapidly exploited. Borneo contains 

 probably the most extensive and highly developed swamp forests in the 

 world. These are now of comparatively little value; but they are sure 

 to become of the first importance. 



DITCH INDIES. 



The numerous islands of the Dutch East indies are said, many of them, 

 to contain valuable forests; but the nature and extent of these is largely 

 a matter of guesswork. There is, however, a certain amount of export- 

 trade from the Dutch Indies in timbers which indicates that there may 

 be extensive and valuable forests on some of the islands. 



PUir.IPPINKS. 



The exploitable forests of the Philippines comprise about 30,000,000 

 acres, a very much smaller commercial forest area than that of Borneo, 

 Sumatra or several other places, but it is only in the Philippines that 

 modern methods of exploitation are employed. 



It is safe to say that there is a very great area of commercial forest 

 in tlie tropical east, but it is by no means so great as many have supposed. 

 Popular notions of dense jungle composed solely of valuable and ex- 

 ploitable trees need to be revised. It is true that the jungle is dense 

 enough and that there are many valuable trees, but there are also many 

 inferior trees mixed in and the valuable ones are bo scattered that there 

 are few places when 1 a profitable enterprise can he started, if it aims 

 at only one wood or one small group of woods. 



VII. SPECIES NOTES. 



In the following notes it is aimed to give first the accepted common 

 name in the Philippines, then the common names in the other countries, 

 the distribution, structure and special properties, uses, and references t" 

 the principal literature. The common names for Indian, Burmese and 



