OPENING MAHOGANY WORKS. 47 



a yearly rent of 10 cents an acre, with right to purchase at any 

 time during the tenancy. 



When it is intended to open a mahogany works on any 

 part of an estate, the first step is to employ a "hunter," or ex- 

 perienced woodman, who spends several days alone prospecting 

 in the forest. After an absence, longer or shorter according 

 to circumstances, during which he often suffers many priva- 

 tions, the hunter returns and reports the number and character 

 of suitable mahogany-trees to be -found within easy reach of the 

 works, the latter being always placed at a convenient spot on 

 the bank of the river, where the mahogany logs can be manufac- 

 tured and easily tumbled into the river. 



The " hunter " is paid so much for every tree which, on 

 examination, is found suitable for cutting, i.e., squaring 18 inches 

 and upwards. The next step is to open a track to it and proceed 

 to cut it down. Owing to the huge buttresses which many 

 mahogany-trees possess, a platform is sometimes erected so as 

 to enable the men to cut the tree above them. When lopped, 

 cleaned, and sawn to the available length, the log is ready to 

 be hauled to the works. 



During the dry months of the year the logs are carried on 

 trucks drawn by bullocks. The truck is a ponderous frame- 

 work, mounted on four broad wheels about 3 feet in diameter, 

 with 9 inches tread, the latter being made in a most primitive 

 fashion by sawing pieces across from a log of Santa Maria. 

 During wet weather, when the ground is too soft for the trucks 

 to travel, mahogany is drawn on slides, or a kind of sleigh, 

 which passes over "skids." The latter consist of long, hard 

 wood posts, about 3 inches in diameter, placed across the track 

 about a yard apart. 



Being imbedded in mud, the fresh slippery bark affords a 

 suitable and handy surface for the passage of the slide with its 



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