22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



'Belize and the Mahogany Industry 

 of 'British Honduras 



Belize, the queen of the ('aribbeau sea, 

 sits amid the jiahn trees that fringe the 

 Honduras eoast, bathing in the healthful 

 spray from the ocean and the sea breeze, 

 basking in the sunshine of a climate most 

 salubrious and looking out o 'er the myriads 

 of coral isles that stand like sentinels to 

 protect her from the anger of the surging 

 billows. She gazes longingly to the eastward 

 and to the northward, beckoning the world to 

 her peaceful dominion. Nature has filled her 

 realm to overflowing with a goodly wealth 

 of all material things that await only the 

 magic touch of the hand of modern man to 

 develop a land of fabulous beauty and riches. 

 Nestled at the foot of the mighty chain of 

 Cordilleras which lift their lofty peaks to 

 the ethereal blue of the distance to tlie west- 

 ward, she waits in patient security. 



Belize, British Honduras, is proba))ly the 

 greatest mahogany port in the world. The 

 mahogany logs coming from British Hon- 

 duras and the surrounding country are tlic 

 best quality of timber known and, strictly 

 speaking, the only true mahogany is that 



are mostly engaged in buying, selling or get- 

 ting mahogany down from the forests. 



To better handle this great branch of busi- 

 ness sworn or licensed measurers or inspect- 

 ors, appointed by the British colonial govern- 

 ment, are located at this place. It is their 

 duty to number, brand and measure, in a lair 

 and im])artial manner to both buyer and sell- 

 er, all logs handled at the port. Their de- 

 cisions and estimates are supposed to be 

 final and dictations are little heeded, although 

 either of the other parties concerned may 

 have a representative to accompany him if 

 he wishes, and they may settle by arbitration 

 any slight difference that arises between 

 them. One of the measurers with whom I 

 became well acquainted while working in 

 the mahogany timber business in Central 

 America was Paulstro Thiens, a creole and 

 native of that counti'y — a very interesting 

 and intelligent person. 



A measurer's salary depends on the 

 amount of timber he measures, as he 

 receives so much per thousand feet, ac- 

 cording to Doyle Scribner rule, pay- 

 ing his own expenses and the hire of one or 



work of measuring and marking up the raft. 

 The tools required are the scribe, the adz, 

 the log rule and the branding hammer, and 

 these, accompanied by the pencil and Serib- 

 ner 's log book, constitute the entire equip- 

 ment for measuring timber. A sail boat is 

 generally used to carry the party and pro- 

 visions on long trips up and down the coast 

 to measure up lots of timber that are got- 

 ten out pnd ready for inspection. The raft 

 is first gone over by the adz man and each 

 log is dubbed with an adz, which means cm- 

 ting or adzing off a smooth, flat surface on 

 the upper or most convenient place on the 

 log, size about 12 by 18 inches, this being 

 the most laborious part of the work. He is 

 followed bj' the scribe man, who scribes the 

 number of each log and the initial and mark 

 of the owner on this smooth spot. The scribe 

 he uses is a tool invented expressly for this 

 purpose. It somev^hat resembles and is used 

 in much the same way as a compass. It con- 

 sists of a handle and two points, one of 

 which is a sharp prong and the other a fliat 

 blade, bent in such a way as to stand out 

 at a peculiar angle, about an inch from the 

 point. At the lower end of this blade is a 

 very sharp corner, or angle, which acts as 

 a gouge, and by placing the point against 

 the log and giving it a quick twist or turn 



(uniT imrsK at iii;i.i/,i,. i;i:iiisii ii(i.\,ii ka.s. 



now .MAIIUCA.W I.dliS ARE IlItAM IKII. 



coming from this region. There are vast 

 quantities of this wood brought from the 

 west eoast of Africa and other countries, but 

 it is not mahogany, such as comes from 

 Central America, southern Mexico (including 

 Yucatan) and the West Indies. In fact the 

 wood from all semi-tropical countries is bet- 

 ter than that from countries more directly 

 under the Equator. All the region of coun- 

 try tributary to the Belize river, and many 

 smaller streams, are channels of commerce 

 through which vast quantities of tindier flow 

 down to the city of Belize. 



For many miles up and down the coast 

 '..he logs are brought from the mountains in 

 the interior to the bar or the lagoon, where 

 they are picked up by the small steam tugs 

 or tow boats calculated for shallow water 

 and towed to Belize. As this is the only city 

 touched by the large ocean steamers in a 

 stretch of hundreds of miles of tortuous 

 and deeply indented coast line, naturally 

 much trade centers at this point. There are 

 many energetic, hustling and competi- 

 tive timber dealers located at Belize. They 



sometimes two helpers, viz., an adz man and 

 a scribe man ; still I have known his net 

 ])rofits for a day 's work to be as much as 

 $2.5 or $30. There is a lot of hard work and 

 some rather unpleasant features connected 

 with measuring mahogany, which is most all 

 done on the raft, where it lies in the water. 

 If the logs are large enough or firmly bound 

 together so as to hold up a man 's weight, the 

 task is not so difficult, but if they are small, 

 and many of them entirely loose, kept in 

 place only by those on the outer edge being 

 fast, the labor is more tiring and disagree- 

 able. In such cases the measurers are com- 

 pelled to go on a hop and jump from log to 

 log, and much of the time are in the water 

 to the knees, on account of the logs settling 

 down under their weight. The man who 

 does not average two or three duckings a 

 day is a sure-footed and lucky fellow. The 

 best way is to use two boards or poles long 

 enough to reach across several logs, and thus 

 take advantage of their combined buoyancy. 

 A person can stand on the one while sliifting 

 the other and thus more easily perform the 



an exact circle or half or quarter circle about 

 two inches in diameter is cut in the wood. 

 By turning it slightly sideways a straight 

 groove or mark can be cut, by a sort of a 

 free hand stroke, and by combining these 

 straight marks and circles and parts of cir- 

 cles the operator who is in practice with this 

 instrument can- neatly make any figure, let- 

 ter iir mark required, as shown in the cut of 

 the log number 635, and experts in the use 

 of this scribe are envious of each other's 

 skill in handling this instrument. While 

 the dubbing and branding is going on the 

 inspector, or measurer, is placing his rule 

 across the top end of each log and declaring 

 its diameter and length, which he calls out, 

 and at the same time puts down in his book. 

 It is also written on a tally sheet by another 

 interested party. When all this is done the 

 buyer's initial is placed on the ends of the 

 logs with the branding hammer an<l the work 

 is complete, except taking the amounts from 

 the scale card, adding up the long columns of 

 figures and making out a report showing the 

 total results. ,T. V. H.^milton. 



