62 BRITISH HONDURAS. 



and young branches, at first grey, become afterwards of a dark 

 colour; the trunks are perpendicularly ribbed, or columnar, 

 and when cut down the outer white, or sapwood, is removed, 

 leaving only the reddish ,or dark heart-wood, which is split 

 into convenient logs suitable for shipment. It is claimed for 

 Honduras logwood that it is superior to that grown in Jamaica 

 and St. Domingo, and that its market value is fully 40 per cent, 

 higher. Amongst other forest trees of British Honduras are the 

 sapodilla (Sapota achras), a very handsome wood, but so heavy 

 that it cannot be floated down the rivers; the Santa Maria 

 (Calopliyllum calaba), very suitable for shingles and heavy 

 machine work and buildings, its seeds also yield an abundant 

 oil suitable for lamps; fiddle-wood (Citharexylum sp.) ; rose- 

 wood (Dalberyia sp.), a. dark, rich, reddish wood with fine grain, 

 greatly in request for cabinet purposes, but, like the sapodilla, 

 so heavy that it cannot be floated down the rivers, and hence 

 very difficult to get out in fine large logs; salmwood (Jacar- 

 anda sp.) ; dogwood (Piscidia erythrina) ; braziletto ( Ccesal- 

 pinia brasiliensis) ; ironwood (Laplacea hcematoxylo.n) ; and the 

 pix, or bastard Lignum vitse. 



The mahoe (Paritium elatum) yields a darkish-green wood of 

 great value ; as also the celebrated Cuba bast, an article of com- 

 merce prepared from the inner layers of the bark. I obtained 

 numerous other specimens of very fine-grained and beautifully- 

 marked woods, unknown to commerce, but very abundant in the 

 backwoods of the colony. The following are some of the local 

 names of woods, which remain to be determined when good 

 botanical specimens can be obtained. They are: axemaster, 

 ironwood, cabbage-bark, pigeon-wood, turtle-bone, augusta, 

 candle-wood, redwood, palmalata, poison- wood, pole wood, 

 wynaka, bull-hoof, billy- web, grape, mountain-plum, nasex, 

 and half-crown. The ziricote is a beautiful wood, somewhat 



