23 



and will take the most exquisite polish. It is said, too, to 

 be almost indestructible by worms or in water, and to be 

 bullet proof; — hence the Spaniards used to make their vessels 

 of mahogany : and Captain Franklin took with him to the 

 shores of the Arctic Sea, boats constructed in England of that 

 wood, as being the lightest (in consequence of the thinness 

 of the planks), and the most portable, combined with great 

 Strength. Although the Spaniards were, in all probability, 

 the first to bring this wood into use, and although the 

 French must be allowed to produce the most highly finished 

 and ornamental work from it, it is into England that by far 

 the largest importations of it are made^ and where it is 

 most extensively employed. Jamaica formerly yielded the 

 greatest quantity of this wood, and the old Jamaica maho- 



r 

 J 



gany is still reckoned, I believe, more valuable than that 



^^ r 



afforded by other countries. The quality depends much on 

 the situation where the tree grows. In an elevated stony 

 spot^ where one would imagine there was scarcely soil to 

 give nourishment to the roots^ the wood is found to he of a 

 superior grain and texture ; whereas in low and alluvial situa- 

 tionSj however vigorous and luxuriant the plant may he, the 

 quality of the timber is always inferior^ more light and porous, 



■ B 



and of a paler colour. I have no means of determining the 

 quantity of mahogany which has recently been exported 

 from Jamaica ; but in 17^3, according to Dr. Patrick Browne, 

 there were sent out of the island, in planks, 521,300 feet. It 

 . is a little remarkable, that in Sloane's History of Jamaica no 

 mention is made of the Mahogany Tree. Browne, in 1 789, 

 says that it is a wood universally esteemed, and which sells at 

 a great price ; but he " regrets that it is not cultivated in the 

 more convenient waste lands of Jamaica, as it answers for 



w 



all beams, joists, planks, boards and shingles, and has fre- 



cjuently been put to those uses in that island in former times." 

 Now, I believe, a very large portion of the mahogany 



