MAHOGANY. 147 



Mahogany. 



Tliouo'h the Mahogany be a native of too warm 

 a climate to allow of its cultivation as a timber-tree 

 in this country, yet it is applied to so many uses, 

 and is so well ada])ted for most of them, that some 

 notice of it is retiviired. 



There are three species of mahop^any : — Common 

 mahog^any (Swietenia mahagoni), Swietenia febri- 

 fuga, and Swietenia chloroxylon : the first being a 

 native of the West India Islands and the central 

 parts of America, and the second and third natives 

 of the East Indies. They all grow to be trees of 

 considerable magnitude — the first and second being 

 among the largest trees known. They are all ex- 

 cellent timber. 



Swietenia mahagoni is, perhaps, the most majestic 

 of trees ; for though some rise to a greater height, this 

 tree, like the oak and the cedar, impresses the spectator 

 with the strongest feelings of its firmness and duration. 

 In the rich valleys among the mountains of Cuba, 

 and those that open upon the bay of Honduras, the 

 mahogany expands to so giant a trunk, divides into so 

 many massy arms, and throws the shade of its shin- 

 ing green leaves, spotted with tufts of pearly flowers, 

 over so vast an extent of surface, that it is difficult to 

 imagine a vegetable production combining in such 

 a degree the qualities of elegance and strength, of 

 beauty and sublimity. The precise period of its 

 growth is not accurately known ; but as, when large, 

 it changes but little during the life of a man, the time 

 of its arriving at maturity is probably not less than 

 two hundred years. Some idea of its size, and also of 

 its commercial value, may be formed from the fact 

 that a single log, imported at Liverpool, weighed 

 nearly seven tons ; was, in the first instance, sold tor 

 378/. ; resold for 525/. ; and would, had the dealers 



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