31 



mence. The torrents of water discharged from the clouds 



to 



4 



are so great as to render the roads impracticable in the course 

 of a few hours, when all trucking ceases, the cattle arc 

 turned into the pasture, and the trucks, gear, and tools, &c. 

 are housed. 



The rain now pours down incessantly till ahout the mid- 

 dle of June, when the rivers swell to an immense height ; 

 the logs then float down a distance of 200 niiles^ benig fol- 

 lowed by the gang in pitpans (a kind of flat-bottomed canoe). 



disengage them from the branches of the overhan 

 L?s, until they are stopped by a boom placed in some S] 



to 



tion convenient to the mouth of the river. Each gang then 

 separates its own cutting by the marks on the ends of the 

 logs, and forms them into large rafts ; in which state they 

 are brought down to the wharfs of the proprietors^ when 

 they are taken out of the water and undergo a second pro- 

 cess of the axe to make the surface smooth; the ends^ 

 which are frequently split and rent, by being dashed against 

 rocks in the river by the force of the current^ are also sawed 

 ofl^ when they are ready for shipping. 



r 



The average expense of mahogany cutting is usually esti- 

 mated at 100/. Honduras currency, or about 70/. sterling 

 each labourer per annum, independent of the capital sunk in 

 purchase of the works, cattle, trucks, gear, crafts, tools, &c. 



It will be borne in mind that the above account relates to 

 the Honduras Mahogany ; and Mr. Robert Brown has sug- 

 gested to me that it may be a species different from the tla- 

 maica, and perhaps the " Cedrela Coroli folio amphori , fmctu 

 pentagono " of Browne's Jamaica, where is the following ob- 

 servation : " This plant does not grow in Jamaica, and is only 

 inserted here to show that there is another species of the 

 kind known. It was discovered by Mr. Houston near the 

 Gulf of Honduras^ and is said to grow to a very large tree." If 

 this be what we call the Honduras Mahogany , and different 



