HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



to the large markets under the name of African mahogany. Many 

 of them are very good woods, but all of these imitations now- 

 sold under the comprehensive trade name of African mahogany 

 are deficient in some of the estimable qualities which characterize 

 the original African or Gambia mahogany. 



It is practically impossible to secure accurate statistics of the 

 kinds and amounts exported from the various shipping points. 

 That the industry, as a whole, is increasing is chiefly noticeable 

 from the figures of imports of so-called African mahogany into 

 this country. Out of the total quantity of true and substitute 

 mahoganies imported during 1910, which was 44,524,000 board 

 feet, about 19,000,000 feet were African substitutes. 



QUAXTITT AXD VALUE OF TRUE AND SCBSTITITE MAHOGANIES (TjNSAWED.) 



Imported from 1901-1910. 



Year. Quantitr — M. feet. Value. 



1901 3i,;;81 $1,752,612 



1902 44.795 2.361.4S3 



1903 48,387 2.783,679 



1904 50.370 2,690,382 



1905 31,844 1,977,894 



1906 36.619 2.470.072 



1907 51,899 3,263,718 



1908 41.678 2,566,954 



1909 39.S2.S 2.479,976 



1910 44.524 3,224.152 



A number of other entirely different woods are shipped from various 

 parts of West Africa to the timber markets in Hamburg, Liver- 

 pool, and London, and sold as African mahogany. These woods 

 have attained considerable importance in Europe and are also 

 gaining in popularity in this country. There is still a good deal 

 of doubt as to the particular region in Africa the majority of 

 these woods come from or what species produce them. In the 

 northern regions of West Africa — Senegambia and Sierra Leone — • 

 it is doubtless Khaya senegalensis, but in the southern provinces 

 of Kamerun, Gaboon, as well as parts of Togo, the supply of ma- 

 hogany comes from a tree botanically called Chlorophora excelsa. 

 This tree belongs to the mulberry family (Moraceae), and the bulk 

 of this wood which comes to the European market is from Kam- 

 erun. 



It is still doubtful as to whether the African form of Carapa 

 guianensis supplies any of the so-called mahogany. The wood of 

 this species is commonly called crab-wood in British Guiana in 

 South America, where it grows also more or less abundantly, and 

 is now being exploited and sold in the American and English 

 markets as Demerara mahogany. Although related to the true 

 mahogany it is much infer?©? and does not command a very 

 good price. 



Chlorophora tenuifolia is a very important tree and the wood 

 is generally known as amoreira (mulberry tree) by the inhab- 

 itants of West Africa, where it is used extensively for lumber. 

 The trees attain a height of from 100 to 125 feet and a diameter 

 sometimes of ten feet or more at the base. This wood is regarded 

 as one of the best of the West African timbers and is used for 

 making all kinds of furniture and construction work. All the 

 logs of the tree are sold as mahogany. 



Chlorophora excelsa is another species of this genus that enters 

 into the commercial supply of mahogany in Africa. It is known 

 among the natives as odum or muambacamba. The wood is ex- 

 cellent for furniture and interior finish and its supply is almost 

 unlimited. 



Entandophragma angolensis grows very abundantly in Angola, 

 West Africa, and particularly on the slopes of the Sierra de 

 Queta mountains. This tree, which is popularly known as qui- 

 baba da queta, grows very tall, often 125 feet high, and yields the 

 most desirable wood in Africa. 



Khaya anthoiheca also grows in Angola, in the forest of Mus- 

 sengue, Golungo, Alto, and in the region of Hungo, West Africa. 

 This tree is very large and yields a very good wood, called qui- 

 baba do mussengue. 



Detarium senegalense is not a very common tree, but it yields 

 a wood which has been exported from southern Nigeria and sold 

 on the Liverpool market as dita mahogany. The natives of 

 Nigeria call it dita or dupwi. It grows to a large size, with a 

 bole of thirty feet in height to the first branches and about four 

 feet in diameter at the base. The grain is not of so close a tex- 



ture as is usual in true mahogany, but it has a very good color. 

 Afzelia africana of the Gold coast, yields a timber that is very 

 hard, durable, and of first-class quality; it has been frequently 

 exported to Europe from the Niger under the general trade name 

 of "African mahogany," or opapao, and is largely used on the 

 Niger for making furniture. Altogether this species appears 

 to have a great future before it, not so much, perhaps, for pur- 

 poses of export, as for local requirements in the arid regions of 

 the hinterland. 



Trichilia emetica from Portuguese East Africa, is pinkish-gray 

 and very light in weight (40 lbs. per cubic foot), rather open 

 texture, working to a fine surface. The pores are unusually large 

 and long (almost as in teak) and contain a woolly pith. It is a 

 useful light timber, obtainable throughout the province, especially 

 southward. 



Okoume (Boswellia Meinei) next to Gambia mahogany, is 

 the most important timber tree in West Africa. It has a wide 

 distribution extending from Togo to Portuguese West Africa, 

 The tree attains enormous proportions and is said to reach mer- 

 chantable sizes in forty years. Its trunk, which is provided with 

 large buttresses, produces a very regular column measuring from 

 twenty-five to fifty feet to the first branches. Its diameter 

 is often from four to six feet. The weight of the wood varies 

 from twenty-eight to thirty-two pounds per cubic foot, and from 

 an industrial point of view is a rather coarse wood, which is 

 used for all purposes of mahogany. It is often called cedar in 

 the trade and possesses some of the qualities of the Spanish cedar 

 of the West Indies. Okoume is now often used for making cigar 

 boxes and for all the purposes of fine joinery, cabinet work and 

 fancy turnery work in which a nice appearance and light weight 

 is required. Okoume has been imported into this country for 

 nearly fifteen years, and Germany is using large quantities an- 

 nually. It is said that between 60,000 and 70,000 tons are used 

 in Germany and again as much in France and England. 



The moabi, oloun, or noungou (Baillonella toxisperma), has an 

 enormous trunk often from seven to ten feet in diameter and 

 from 100 to 125 feet in height. This tree is equally as abundant 

 as okoume, attains larger proportions, and yields a wood with 

 superior working qualities. The wood is hard, moderately heavy, 

 reddish-brown in color, and is eminently suited for all grades of 

 furniture and cabinet making. This timber grows along the water 

 courses and is, therefore, readily accessible. Logs can be brought 

 with little difliculty to the coast where they may be loaded on 

 steamers. In the southern part of French Congo this timber is 

 found in great abundance. 



A slightly taller tree, from three to six feet in diameter, dis- 

 tributed in irregular groups, is the cynometra (Cynometra flori- 

 hunda). This tree is confined principally to the courses of large 

 and deep rivers or lagoons, which serve in bringing this forest 

 region in communication with the coast. The wood is hard, 

 heavy, and has a dark-red heartwood, which is occasionally sub- 

 stituted in France for the Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), 

 which it resembles very closely. 



The tree commonly called coula, ignoumon, or koumongou (Coula 

 edulis), is next in importance. It is relatively abundant in the 

 forests bordering the water courses, where this wood attains a 

 height of from eighty to one hundred feet, and an average diam- 

 eter of three feet. The wood is hard, heavy, close and even 

 grained, and is reddish-brown in color. Although the wood is 

 relatively hard, it works well and is used for furniture and 

 cabinet making. Coula has not been exploited to any great 

 extent, but it will soon find its way to the English and French 

 markets, where all little-known woods are critically investigated 

 before they become a factor in the timber trade. 



Bimo (Mimusops sp.) is tolerably good finishing wood and is 

 occasionally found in the French markets. It is sold for ma- 

 hogany, but like most other so-called mahogany woods it has 

 little resemblance and no relation to the true mahogany {Swietenia 

 mahagoni) of tropical America. Bimo is very hard, heavy, and 



