Rods and Rod Material. 133 



measure. It has been sparingly used for fly-rod making, 

 but chiefly for bows, and sometimes for violin bows. 



It is extremely hard and close-grained, indeed were it 

 not for the ease with which it splits, it might be supposed 

 to have no grain at all. It has abundant elasticity and 

 strength, its excessive weight and high first cost being 

 the only objections to its use. No other material ap- 

 proximates to it in beauty, but it should be employed 

 only in butts in combination with a handle of lighter 

 wood, and in middle joints. Its great weight renders it 

 unfit for tips. 



BEEFWOOD. 

 Specific gravity, 1.3090. 



This wood seems generally to be identified with the 

 beet wood or she -oak of Australia. But I believe this 

 to be a mistake, and for the following reasons : first, 

 the she -oak is described as a tree about eighteen feet 

 high and twelve inches in diameter, a size utterly inade- 

 quate to furnish planks of the width common in this 

 market ; second, I have seen an affidavit in the posses- 

 sion of a dealer, accompanying an invoice of this wood, 

 which declared that it was a native of the Guianas and 

 from the bullet-tree called by travellers by that name, 

 as well as " Bullit-tree " and " Bully-tree," supposed to 

 be a corruption of the native name, " Ballata." The 

 botanical name is Achras ballata. 



This tree grows to a height of sixty feet and more, 

 and is often six feet in diameter. The bark is gray 

 and smooth. 



Beefwood is well known in this market. I have seen 

 it only in planks, of various lengths and up to twenty 

 inches in width. It is as hard as snakewood, very 

 heavy, strong, and elastic. The wood is red in color, 



