128 SWIETENIA MAHOGONI. 



SO large as that from Honduras and nr:izil. The trees are seldom found in 

 chistors or siroups, ])ut sintrlo, and often niucli dispersed. 



The niahoi^uny llourishes as well in India as in its native country. Dr. Rox- 

 burgh, in the "Transactions of the Society of Arts," at London, for 1806, states 

 that two plants were sent from Jamaica, in 1795, to tlie court of directors of the 

 botanic izarden at Calcutta, and that in 1801, about five hundred trees had been 

 grown tVom them. And according to Mr. Roylc, in his " Essay on the Produc- 

 tive Resources of India," pubUslicd in 1840, this tree thrives so luxuriantly in 

 Bengal, that many thousands of thorn are growing there, and even small pieces 

 of furniture have already been made of the wood. 



The excellency of the wood of mahogany, for all domestic purposes, has long 

 been known. It was used by the Spaniards in the XVIth century, in the con- 

 struction of ships, for which purpose it is better adapted than most other kinds 

 of timber, being very durable, resisting gun shots, and admitting the balls without 

 splintering; nor is it so liable to be attacked by marine insects as that of the oak, 

 and hence is preferable for the construction of ships intended to sail in inter- 

 tropical seas. It was used in repairing some of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, at 

 Trinidad, in 1597, but was not brought into use in Britain till 1724. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Burrowes, the first use to which it was applied in England, was to 

 make a box for holding candles. " Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician in the 

 beginning of the last century, had a brother, a West India captain, who brought 

 over some planks of this wood as ballast. As the doctor was then building a 

 house in King street, Covent Garden, his brother thought they might be useful 

 to him ; but the carpenters finding the wood too hard for their tools, they were 

 laid aside as useless. Soon after, Mrs. Gibbons wanting a candle-box, the doc- 

 tor called on Wollaston, his cabinet-maker, in Long Acre, and requested him to 

 make one of some wood that lay in his garden. Wollaston also complained that 

 it was too hard ; the doctor said that he must get stronger tools ; the candle-box 

 at last was made, and so highly approved of, that the doctor insisted on having 

 a bureau, made of the same wood, which was accordingly done ; and the fine 

 colour, polish, etc., were so pleasing, that he invited all his friends to come and 

 see it. Among them was the Duchess of Buckingham, who begged some of the 

 wood of Dr. Gibbons, and employed Wollaston to make a similar bureau." 

 From this introduction it came into general use throughout the civilized world. 



The largest log of mahogany on record was cut in Honduras, and shipped to 

 England. Its length was seventeen feet; breadth, fifty-seven inches; depth, 

 sixty-four inches ; cubic contents, four hundred and thirty feet ; and weight, 

 eight tons. The next largest log we have on record, was a few years since sold 

 by auction, at the docks, in Liverpool. It was purchased for 378, and after- 

 wards sold for 525. It is believed to have realized, to its final owners, 1000. 

 It is likewise stated that the cost of labour, in the process of sawing into veneers, 

 was 750. The weight, on the king's beam, was six tons, thirteen hundred 

 weight. According to Mr. M'Culloch. a few years ago, Messrs. Broadwood, 

 the distinguished piano-forte manufacturers, in London, gave the enormous sum 

 of 3000 for three logs of mahogany, all the product of a single tree ! They were 

 each about fifteen feet long, thirty-eight inches square, and contained, all 

 together, about four hundred and fifty cubic feet. They were cut into veneers 

 of an eighth of an inch in thickness. The wood was peculiarly beautiful, capable 

 of receiving the highest polish, which, when done, reflected the light in the most 

 varied manner, like the surface of a crystal ; and from the wavy form of the 

 fibres, offered a different figure in whatever direction it was viewed. 



Season for Felling, <^c. The cutting of mahogany at Honduras takes place 

 at two different seasons of the year, one soon after Christmas, or at the end of 

 the " wet season," and the other early in August. At the last-named period the 



