Timber Trade of Chinese Empire. 671 



"blackvvood furniture," is made from the Malay wood known as 

 Bangkok rosewood, which is a very dark red, growing darker as 

 it ages, and which the Chinese color black in making their furni- 

 ture. It is a very fine furniture wood. For the foreign style 

 furniture, teak is almost universally used and its fine properties 

 fit it eminently for such use. Of late years, there has been an 

 increasing amount of use of Japanese woods, especially oak and 

 ash, and their use will probably develop more and more. There 

 has been almost no use made of the common Malay woods such 

 as the grade of the red lauaan. As these woods are so well suited 

 for furniture in every way — color, figure, and ease in working — 

 their use will probably develop very considerably, especially as 

 the native woods become poorer and poorer in quality and less able 

 to supply the increasing demand for modern office furniture which 

 will of course accompany the development of modern business 

 houses and methods. 



So far, there is practically no use made of veneers. There 

 should be a good opportunity for a development of veneers of the 

 many very fancy Malay woods, using as a base either native woods 

 or some other soft woods, in order to supply attractive furniture 

 at a reasonable price. The use of veneer could also be made in 

 piano manufacturing, and even for fine coffins. 



Coffins. 



Strange to say, the manufacture of coffins is one of the principal 

 uses of wood in China. The Chinese coffins are not like ours — a 

 rather thin piece of wood — but generally the sides are curving and 

 about 2" or more in thickness, so that really a rather large-size 

 piece of wood is necessary to make each side of the coffin. Of 

 course the ordinary coffin is of native wood — in fact, practically 

 all the coffins in China are made of native wood because of more 

 or less superstition entering into the question. Very fancy prices 

 have been paid for fine coffins, as it is one of the ambitions of the 

 Chinese, apparently, to be buried in a fine coffin. Very frequently 

 a man invests in a fine coffin long before his death, and keeps it in 

 his home to feast his eyes on during the remainder of his life. 

 Could the superstition of the Chinese be overcome regarding the 

 use of foreign woods for coffins, there ought to be a considerable 

 development in the use of such woods as the western American 

 cedar, on account of its odor, and of the ordinary Malay woods; 

 and for the finest coffins for the fine Malay woods, used either 

 solid or as veneers. 



In connection with the coffin industry might be noted the fact 

 that occasionally there is a demand for extraordinarily large single 

 pieces of wood for pillars in temples, as much as $1,000 having 

 been paid for single pieces of very large size of hardwood; so 



