MAHOGANY TREE. 237 



and pomegranates, oranges, and lemons, cool and 

 refreshing fruits; figs and citrons are also common, 

 with cocoa-nuts yielding milk, and a variety of 

 pleasant fruits of which' the names alone have 

 reached us. Sugar plantations may be further 

 noticed as being numerous, especially towards the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and throughout Guaxaco and 

 Guatemala, and noble groups of logwood and maho- 

 gany shade the Bay of Campeachy and Honduras. 



The logwood, Hcematoxylon campechianum^ though 

 not exclusively American, is nowhere so abundant. 

 It is a majestic tree, of which the timber is compact 

 and firm, and susceptible of a fine polish; it yields 

 a red colouring matter, freely and copiously, to 

 alcohol. 



The second, Swietenia mahogany is even loftier 

 and more umbrageous than the English oak. A 

 single log weighs not unfrequently from six to seven 

 tons: and when two centuries have passed, the living 

 trunk expands to such a gigantic size, and throws out 

 such massive branches, and casts the shadow of its 

 shining green leaves over so w r ide an area, that 

 beside it the noblest forest-trees would sink into 

 insignificance. The difficulty of conveying the tree 

 when felled, from its place of growth, often nearly 

 inaccessible, is very great, and requires no small 

 labour and contrivance. Parties go forth equipped 

 for the work, with as much order and precision as 

 if for hunting. These parties generally consist of 

 about fifty men, headed by a chief, whose office it 

 is to search the woods, and to find employment for 

 his band. Hence it is necessary that he should be 

 equally fearless and intelligent, swift of foot, and 



