CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 151 



of Mr. Edward Chaloner, whose firm still occupies a leading position as 

 mahogany brokers in Liverpool. A short pamphlet was published by 

 him early in 1800, which must have been a great assistance to the trade 

 at that time. At a later date a very enterprising engineer, M. Juan 

 Bautista Nuilez, a native of the island, having studied engineering in 

 America, was employed in carrjdng a railway system throughout the 

 country. He very soon saw the advantages of collecting the large trunks 

 of trees left on the ground, and accordingly carried on for many years 

 a brisk trade in these squares, most of which were sent to Liverpool 

 and sold at good prices. Many were of a beautiful colour and con- 

 tained a very handsome figure, although often as much as 3 inches or 

 even more of the outside wood was decayed through lying on the ground 

 for so many years. San Domingo mahogany, or " City wood " as it was 

 called, had, and still has, a peculiar attraction for many, and a few have 

 been found so affected by their admiration for the wood that they may 

 be said to have become mahogany misers. One cabinet-maker especially 

 thought so much of some logs which he had purchased that he absolutely 

 refused either to sell them or have them used for about fifty years. During 

 all this time the logs with a saw-cut through were kept in his w-arehouse, 

 where I was assured he used to go and dust them with a silk handkerchief. 

 They were probably purchased by him in 1854, which dock rotation date, 

 clearly painted, was easily read after his death in 1900, when I bought 

 them. They were finely figured and of a beautiful colour and quality. 

 Most of them were sent to America, some being used to decorate the house 

 of Dr. Weld at Boston. The panelHng around the Wigmore Hall in 

 Wigmore Street is made of some of the richest old San Domingo mahogany 

 that could be obtained, which was provided from some thick planks 

 which had been lying in a cellar in Osnaburgh Street, London, for 

 fully fifty years, and were so dirty and thick with dust that it was 

 impossible to tell what wood it was until they were fully examined. 

 The somewhat uncertain import of Spanish mahogany and the advent 

 of a large trade from Cuba which supplied wood of magnificent texture 

 and quaHty, which was in some respects superior to it, has resulted in 

 Cuba wood being generally accepted as Spanish and used in its place. 

 While the quality of individual Cuba trees has equalled if not surpassed 

 that of San Domingo, yet in general the intrinsic quaUty of the latter 

 excels all others. The trees have been found, however, to be more or 

 less faulty in the heart, and generally do not jield such wide widths or 

 long lengths as can be obtained from Cuba. 



The wood is of a deep rich red colour, always darkening with exposure 

 to light and air, although blazing sunlight does not give this result. 

 It is almost, if not entirely, free from the dark gum streaks so preva- 

 lent in Cuba wood, and it nearly always shows a deposit of a white 



