28 



some arc but long enough for one log ; others^ on the con- 

 trary, will admit of four or five being cut from the same 

 trunk or stem, — the chief guide for dividing the trees into 

 logs being to equalize the loads which the cattle are to draw, 

 and prevent their being overburthened : consequently, as the 

 tree increases in thickness, so the logs are reduced in length: 

 this, however, does not altogether obviate the irregularity of 

 the loads, and a supply of oxen are constantly kept in readi- 

 ness to add to the usual number, according to the weight 

 of the log : this becomes unavoidable, owing to the very 

 great difference of size of the mahogany trees : the logs 

 taken from one tree being about three hundred feet, while 

 those from the next may be as many thousand; but the largest 

 log ever cut in Honduras was of the following dimensions : 

 Length 17 feet, breadth 57 inches, depth 64 inches ; measur- 

 ing 5168 superficial feet, or 15 tons weight*. 



The sawing being now completed, the logs are separated 

 one from the other, and placed in whatever position will 

 admit of the largest square being formed, according to the 

 shape which the end of each log presents, and is then re- 

 duced, by means of the axe, into a square form, although 

 some of the smaller logs are brought into the round ; yet 

 with the larger description, it is essential to render them 

 square, not only because the weight is thereby lessened, but 

 because it prevents their rolling on the truck or carriage. 



We now reach the month of March, when all the prepa- 



* The Glasgow Chronicle for Nov. 1827, contains the following particulars 

 of the largest log of mahogany ever brought from Honduras to the port of 

 that city. 



"It was taken to the wood-yard on a four-wheeled carriage, and there 

 placed between two other logs, preparatory to being cut up, as no saw-pit was 

 capable of containing it. The length was 16 feet, depth 5 feet 6 inches, and 

 the breadth 4 feet 9 inches. It contained 418 cubic feet, 5016 feet of inch 

 deal J and the cost of sawing it, at 3d. a foot, amounted to 62^. 14s. The value 

 of the whole, estimated at Is. 2d. per foot, was 2921. I2s., and its weight was 

 7| tons, or at the rate of a cubic foot of 41 5 lbs." 



