TIMBER WOODS. 71 



cabinet-work, &c. ; for medicinal purposes, or such as are to be 

 avoided on account of their deleterious properties. 



Balata (Mimusops globosa, Goertner). — The Balata, or Bullet- 

 wood, is one of our best and most useful timbers. Though a 

 hard wood, Balata is not, however, iron-hard, as are the Poui 

 and a few others : owing to its regularity of grain and freedom 

 from knots, it is easily sawn, and still more so split ; and work- 

 men, in general, prefer working it to many others of even less 

 solidity. It is excellent in many respects, but mainly as house- 

 posts and plates, joists or floor-beams and runners, as also for 

 fence-posts, spokes, and even shingles — the latter remarkably 

 durable. The Balata grows to very large sizes, some measuring 

 five and six feet in diameter, whilst the unbranched shaft often 

 rises from fifty to sixty feet. 



Poui {Tecoma serratifolia, Donal.). — There are three varieties 

 of the Poui, characterised by the colour chiefly, viz., the white, 

 the green, and the black Poui ; of these the green is accounted 

 the superior quality. Poui is, unquestionably, our hardest 

 timber, and the Swedish axe alone is fully equal to the task of 

 felling it ; it also contains a sort of gummo-resinous substance 

 which, particularly in the black kind, impedes the free action of 

 the saw. The usages to which Poui is applicable are not so 

 numerous as those of Balata ; it is mainly employed for ground- 

 posts and other beams in heavy buildings, and is, for such pur- 

 poses, considered by many as superior to the former : though 

 growing to large sizes, it never attains the proportions of the 

 Balata. 



Acoma, or Mastic {Sideroxylon mastichodendron, Jacquin). — 

 Between this wood and the Balata there exists the greatest 

 analogy, with the exception of colour — the former being of a light 

 straw, whilst the latter is of a dark red tinge : it possesses a very 

 fine and close, but also a very hard, grain, and may be said to 

 combine the qualities of the two foregoing timbers. It is 

 adapted to almost all purposes, even to the handling and boxing 

 of carpenters' tools, and is, in these respects, perhaps our most 

 available timber. It thrives, generally, in mountainous districts, 

 and attains large dimensions. 



Yoke (Piptademia peregrina, Bentham). — Very common, and 

 an excellent wood — not so hard and heavy as the preceding 

 ones, but equally durable. It is applicable to all building pur- 



