Timber Trade of Chinese Empire. 66i 



used of these woods fall in the following trade names ; Redwoods 

 and Hardwoods, generally distinguished by some place-name such 

 as Singapore redwood, Borneo hardwood, Manila hardwood, etc. 

 At present, under these crude names, a very great variety of wood 

 is supplied, there being apparently no standard. Thus under the 

 name of Singapore hardwood, woods varying in quality from 

 rather soft and not durable to very hard and extremely durable 

 woods may be furnished. So that in one wood, if wanted for 

 some special purpose, the consumer is very apt to get a wood 

 entirely unfitted for that purpose unless he is personally ac- 

 quainted with the timbers and personally selects them. As a 

 result of many cases where these woods were stipulated in con- 

 tracts because of the belief in their special qualities and the fact 

 that woods of other qualities were supplied in their stead, these 

 woods do not have a very high reputation. The average price on 

 board ship at Shanghai for Singapore redwood is $17.00 gold per 

 thousand; for Singapore hardwood, $21.00 gold per thousand. 

 This comes commonly in sizes sawn 16' in length and i" to 4" by 

 4" to 8". Borneo hardwood comes commonly as rough square- 

 hewn logs 12" to 30" square, averaging 16' long, and sells for 

 $20.00 gold per thousand feet on board ship at Shanghai. Teak, 

 which is most commonly used for ship-building, for fine foreign 

 furniture, fine interior finishing, etc., comes ordinarily in logs 10" 

 to 24" square with an average length of 18', and sells at an aver- 

 age price of $60.00 to $70.00 gold per thousand feet on board 

 ship at Shanghai, This teak is also called "China quality," and 

 is much inferior to the qualities used in Europe and America. 



For the fanciest native furniture, called blackwood furniture, 

 the wood most commonly used is called Bangkok redwood. This 

 is sold by the picul (133 1/3 pounds), first quality selling for 

 about $2.10 gold per picul, and common quality for about $1.30 

 gold per picul. 



As there are vast stores of forests eminently suited for lumber- 

 ing in the Malay Archipelago, and as the woods found in those 

 forests are adapted for every kind of purpose, and as the forests 

 are so much closer to China than the United States or Canada, it 

 must be evident that it will be these places on which China will 

 have to depend for her great supply of wood. Especially will 

 this be true in the region south of the Yangtse River, where the 



