MAHOGANY. 149 



Ijecame an object of curiosity and exhibition. The 

 wood was then taken into favour: Dr. (iibbous liad 

 a bureau made of it, and the Duchess of Huckinjr- 

 ham another ; and the des])ised mahoufany now be- 

 came a ])roniinent article of hixury, and at the same 

 time raised the fortunes of the cabinet-maker by whom 

 it had been at first so httle regarded. 



Ma/togam/ — Swietenia mahagoni. 



Tlie maho^any-tree is found in great quantities on 

 the low and woody lands, and even upon the rocks 

 in the countries on the western shores of the Carib- 

 bean sea, about Honduras and Campeachy. It is 

 also abundant in the Islands of Cuba and Hayti, 

 and it used to be plentiful in Jamaica, where it 

 was of excellent finality ; but most of the larger trees 

 have been cut down. It was Ibrmerly abundant 

 on the Bahamas, where it grew, on the rocks, 

 to a great height, and four feet in diameter. In the 

 earliest periods it was much used by the Spaniards 

 in ship-building. When first introduced by them it 

 was very dark and hard, and without much of that 



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