Tectona.] LX. VEEBENACEiE. 1361 



Malabar Teak, weight 45 lb., value of P. 814 

 Moulmein 43 809 



Pegu 37 736 



Unseasoned wood he makes 55-60 lb., but the weight of green Teak is consi- 

 derably higher. The transverse strength of Teak is nearly the same as that of 

 British Oak, but considerably less than that of either Sal or Sissoo ; compared 

 with these, Teak may be called brittle. Its weight is moderate as compared with 

 most of the more useful Indian woods, the Conifers of course excepted. It does 

 not, however, float unless thoroughly seasoned, and for that reason a peculiar 

 mode of seasoning by girdling is practised in many Teak-producing tracts 

 from which the timber is exported by floating. 



Girdling consists in making a deep circular cut through the bark and sap into 

 the heartwood, so as completely to sever the communication between the bark and 

 sapwood above and below the cut. The girdled tree dies after a few days if the 

 operation has been effectually performed ; but if even the smallest band of sap- 

 wood is left, connecting the outer layers of wood above and below the girdle, the 

 tree is not killed, and often recovers completely, one side of the trunk being 

 clothed again with fresh bark. The girdled tree is allowed to stand one or two 

 years, and often longer if a large tree, and being exposed to the wind and to 

 the action of the sun, seasons more rapidly and more completely than a tree 

 that has been felled green. Girdling is an old custom in Burma and Travan- 

 core, and it was formerly practised further north in some of the forests below 

 Ghat on the western coast. Timber seasoned in this manner is generally drier, 

 and lighter than timber felled green. Girdling is not now practised in the 

 Anamallay, Wynaad, Mysore, and Canara forests, whence most of the Teak 

 commonly known as Malabar Teak is obtained ; and this circumstance may 

 account for the greater weight of Teak from the western coast as compared 

 with Burma Teak. It may here be mentioned that most trees with a distinctly 

 marked heartwood may be killed by girdling, but that the effect is very slow 

 upon trees which have no distinct heartwood, such as the species of Nauclea, 

 Hymenodictyum, Ficus, &c. 



One of the most valuable qualities of Teak timber is, that once seasoned 

 it does not split, crack, shrink, warp, or alter its shape. In this respect it is 

 far superior to Sal, works easily and takes a fine polish, the wood of stems 

 which have grown up isolated with strong and numerous side branches being 

 often beautifully mottled. But its principal value is its great durability, which 

 is greater than that of most Indian woods. In contact with iron, neither the 

 iron nor the Teak suffers, and in this respect it is far superior to Oak. "White 

 ants eat the sapwood, but rarely attack the heartwood of Teak. It does not, 

 however, resist the attacks of the Teredo navalis. The great durability of Teak 

 is, probably with justice, ascribed to the circumstance that the wood contains 

 an aromatic oil, which gives it a peculiarly pleasant smell and an oily surface 

 when fresh cut. In Burma this oil is manufactured on a small scale, to be used 

 medicinally, by filling an earthen pot, which is placed inverted upon another, 

 with chips of wood, and putting fire round it, upon which an oily substance 

 trickles down into the lower vessel. Shipbuilders in English dockyards are of 

 opinion that the Teak which was brought to England in former years was more 

 oily than that now imported, and that pieces of Teak taken out from old 

 ships are more oily when cut than the Teak which is imported at the pre- 

 sent time. As nearly all the Teak now comes from Eangoon and Moulmein, 

 and as a considerable proportion of the Teak imported in former years came 

 from the western coast of India, it is not improbable that the circumstance 

 mentioned above has something to do with this difference viz., that the Burma 

 Teak is killed by girdling, whereas the Teak imported formerly from Malabar 



