1266 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of choosing the species to be cut from an endless variety 

 of entirely unknown trees and of inducing the natives to 

 contract for the cutting of the same, that having been 

 found the most satisfactory way of handling the labor 

 question in the tropics. Gatun Lake, along the shores of 

 which the logging was to be done, is approximately 

 twenty-five miles long by twelve in its greatest breadth 

 and is a lake of a thousand arms and islands. It is an 

 artificial body of water held by Gatun Dam eighty-five 

 feet above the salt water level. It is a reservoir for 

 lockage water and for hydro-electric power and is one 

 link of the canal proper, frequently giving the woodsman 

 the rather unusual spectacle of one of the world's largest 

 ships quietly slipping along through the tall uncut forest. 



AN AVENUE OF WEST INDIAN ALMOND TREES 



The standing forest in the lake bed was only cleared 

 from a few areas such as the canal channel and 

 the anchorage basins, and the rising water flooded valley, 

 hill, forest and farm to a depth of up to fifty feet, so that 

 the lake is standing full of the skeletons of the former 

 forest, or, what is worse to the logger, the snags of 

 the trees that have rotted off at the water's edge and 

 fallen, for these snags just below the water are as hard 

 or a little harder than they were when green. The loggers' 

 job was to cut these trees, often nearly as hard as iron and 

 as heavy, roll them into the lake, float them through the 

 snags and trees and load them on the cars at the railway. 

 That we are getting the timber at all speaks well of the 

 bush man, who is far from the indolent person he seems at 

 first sight and is more the victim of conditions and lack of 

 training, than a willing idler. He is doing the heaviest 

 work regardless of the tropical discomforts of fever, in- 

 sects, heat and rain. He has not the slightest knowledge 

 of the American woodsman's tool, the machete, or 

 brush knife, replacing with him all of the other imple- 

 ments of either husbandry or logging; and it is only 



possible to induce him to give it up after a long season 

 of education, hut these men know the ways of the bush 

 and will in time, learning the use of proper tools, be- 

 come valuable workmen. 



Many were to be the surprises and the mortifications 

 of the cruiser who selected the timber to be -cut. It was 

 not enough that he must witness the weird freaks often 

 indulged in by some innocent looking tree of apparently 

 decent habits and good timber form, but the result of 

 his judgment came in for most rigid inspection. Criticism 

 seemed to be free to every one and he was generally held 

 personally responsible for the behavior of his selections. 

 A typical failure in choosing a species was that scored by 

 the espavay, from which tree the natives have hued their 

 canoes since time began. It grows to a large size, is 

 common everywhere, floats and seemed likely to be just 

 what was wanted for a rough building material. Indeed, 

 it had been, so rumor said, successfully sawed in various 

 faraway places. The first difficulty was encountered 

 when the saw struck the log. One side cut all right, but 

 the other was like rope, such a bunch of fuzz I never 

 thought could come out of a tree. The sapwood on a large 

 log would be a foot through, white or yellow, with a woven 

 winding grain ; the heart was red, gritty, hard and so 



LIGNU.M Vn.E, OR GUAVACU.M. l.\ ITS NATUE bLRROUNDINGS 



brittle that a six by six would break from a three-foot 

 drop. The sapwood was stronger, but was attacked by 

 millions of boring beetles that would destroy a timber in 

 a single night. To stop these ravages the lumber was 

 put into the kiln the moment it left the saw and by this 

 means was rendered immune to further attack, but under 

 this treatment it took to winding, twisting and splitting 

 beyond expression. 



Experiment finally showed that this species, treated to 

 live steam and then dried under a shed with plenty of 

 ventilation, while it showed a tendency to decay, could 

 yet be used where strength was not required. The use of 



