OT«a<:M0tM!>!iTOTO™! 9imi)tTOTOm^A'^^ 



Botanists do not admit tliat true mahogany grows iu Africa, but 

 there are timbers in that country which pass in commerce as 

 mahogany, and it is not to the point in the present discussion to 

 contend over minor botanical differences. 



It has been customary in this country to regard all Africa 

 nuihogany as Khaya senegalensis, that being the technical name by 

 which some of the earliest imports were designated. The fact is, 

 at the present time probably not one log iu ten, as they are found 

 in tlio market, is of that species, or if of that species, the most 

 of them are of dilVerent varieties. The early shipments came chiefly 

 from Senegal, the first fertile country on the coast west and south- 

 west of the Sahara desert. The mahogany was named from the 

 region whence it came; but very little now comes from that 

 district. 



The other mahogany from Africa which has the honor of bearing 

 a botanical name is Gaboon or Okume {Boswellia Maineana). This 

 wood is of about the same weight as white pine, and is found in 

 a region from 1,500 to 2,500 miles from Senegal. 

 Geographical Eange 



African mahogany is found on the west coast of that continent, 

 from fifteen degrees north of the equator to twenty south. Its 

 range, measured in a line as the bird flies, is 2,500 miles in extent, 

 but following the indentations of the coast, the distance is 5,000 

 miles. The growth extends from the immediate coast inland from 

 100 to 300 miles, but usually about 100 miles. The timber occurs, 

 therefore, in a strip about 5,000 miles long but very narrow. 



The range is controlled by the rain belt which waters the coast, 

 but decreases rapidly inland. The forests are dense near the sea, 

 but they thin rapidly toward the interior and disappear in the 

 grassy plains or the deserts which lie toward the east and north- 

 east. 



There may be a dozen kinds of trees in that range, all passing 

 as mahogany when they reach market, but known by many local 

 names in the regions where they grow. Botanists have not worked 

 them out. Their exact species and genera have not been deter- 

 mined. They vary greatly in foliage and characteristics of wood, 

 but until they have been properly classified they will doubtless 

 continue to pass under the common name of mahogany. It would 

 probably be as proper to give the name "pine" to all pines, cedars, 

 firs, spruces, and hemlocks as to designate all the imports from 

 that coast of Africa as "mahogany"; but that is the custom now, 

 and in a commercial sense no particular harm seems to come from it. 

 Local Names 



In the absence of botanical names to distinguish the different 

 woods from that region, dealers employ local names. These may 

 be borrowed from geographical terms designating capes, coasts, 

 towns, or rivers, or they may be native names for trees, and 

 meaningless in English. Some of these names follow; but it is 

 said that a few of them are applied to African woods which never 

 pass as mahogany anywhere: Gaboon, Okume, Sepele, Coco Beach, 

 Cape Lopez, Lagos, Brococo, Bonamba, Bathurst, Axim, Grand Bas- 

 sam, Ndola, Assinee, Voukou, and many more. The local names 

 are valuable in trade because persons acquainted with the woods 

 know their comparative values by the names they bear. The names 

 are employed in much the same way as "northern white pine," 

 and "California white pine" are used to distinguish between dif- 

 ferent kinds and qualities of wood. 



Extent of the Trade 



As nearly as statistics can be relied on, Africa now supplies 

 about three-fourths of the mahogany used by the whole world. 

 Thirty years ago it was furnishing scarcely any. At present the 

 remainder of the supply comes from tropical America, with a little 

 from Asia and the Philippines; but the statement holds true, that 

 much which passes in trade as mahogany is not recognized as such 

 by botanists. The imports of African mahogany into Europe in 

 1913 totaled 290,848 tons. Some of that which reaches the Tinted 



States is shipped directly from Atriea, but most comes 

 country by reshipment from Europe. 



Eesourcks Overlooked 



There is some interesting history connected with the develop- 

 ment, or rather the non-development, of African mahogany in early 

 times. It was an overlooked and unknown resource during more 

 than 400 years, although the ships of numerous nations sailed along 

 the coast thousands of miles almost in the shadow of mahogany 

 trees, and traders penetrated the jungles in search of traific, yet 

 the splendid mahogany seems to have utterly escaped notice. 



The various stretches of coast were named by traders, in accord- 

 ance with the principal products procured there. The names are 

 significant— Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Stave Coast, Gold Coast. 

 There was no. ' ' mahogany coast, ' ' although mahogany grew along 

 the whole of it. European slave hunters made their first descent 

 upon the west coast of Africa in 1442 — fifty years before the dis- 

 covery of America — and the gold hunt began there the same year. 

 The ivory traders brought down tusks of elephants killed on the 

 grassy plains beyond the forests; and the agricultural negroes car- 

 ried grain to the coast and sold it to the trading ships. These 

 articles formed the country 's principal commerce until the gold 

 was exhausted, the elephants were exterminated, and until the 

 slave dealer, caught on or near the coast, was treated as a pirate 

 and hanged to the nearest yardarm. 



After all these resources had ceased to be profitable, the ma- 

 hogany began to attract attention. That was within the past forty 

 years; and not until twenty-five years ago did the trade in African 

 mahogany attract much attention. 



One of the first shipments of logs to reach New York was a 

 peculiar lot. There was not the mark of axe, saw, or other edged 

 tool on them. The trees had been burned down, the trunks had 

 been burned off to form logs, and instead of hewing, the logs had 

 been squared by fire. Negroes of the jungle had done the logging, 

 had floated the timbers down a river to the coast and had sold 

 them to a trader who sent them to New York. 



The shipments of African mahogany to England — which were 

 practically the shipments to the whole world — aggregated only 

 3,207 tons in 1891; while in 1913 the shipments to the same coun- 

 try totaled 110,414 tons, an increase of 3,400 per cent in twenty- 

 two years. 



Logging Operations 



The logging operations are conducted on a large scale, if the 

 whole country is considered, but no single 'operation will match 

 some of the pine, fir, and redwood operations in the United States. 

 In a few instances modern methods are employed in getting the 

 logs out of the jungle, but iu most cases the work is done in ways 

 far from up to date. 



In most districts the logs are transported by sheer force, without 

 the Use of levers, pulleys, or other mechanical appliances. Men 

 do the hauling in the same way that the Egyptians did it when 

 they built the pyramids, by hitching enough men to the object to 

 drag it along. A team for hauling mahogany logs usually consists 

 of from fifty to eighty negroes, pulling with ropes attached to the 

 log. An extraordinary log may require 300 natives to drag it. A 

 log which was moved in that way four miles recently sold in 

 England for $12,500. It cut 5,000 feet of lumber, after all waste 

 was thrown out. Instances are on record where logs fifty feet 

 long and four in diameter have been dragged miles to a river; and 

 one was 100 feet long, and hewed four-sided, and at the top was 

 two feet square. 



The roads are cut through the jungle from ten to twenty feet 

 wide, and all ravines are filled or bridged. Small trunks are laid 

 crosswise, like railroad ties, and the logs are dragged on these. 

 Negroes with pots of wet clay go ahead of the teams and smear 

 the skids to make the logs slip. The team pulls to a monotonous 

 chant which all utter in unison, like sailors pulling a rope. The 



