TIMBERS OP BEITISH GUIANA 123 



in Lloyd's List for shipbuilding timbers. When freshly cut 

 and for some time after, the wood has a peculiar sour smell, 

 somewhat like the smell of a brewery, or as some would say 

 like cheese. The colour is a yellowish green, the older 

 timber being of a darker colour ; the sapwood is lighter and 

 is excessive compared to many other kinds of timber, is 

 often difficult to determine, but is not considered so dele- 

 terious as sapwood generally is. In the sawn logs the sap- 

 wood is of course much minimised, and although the price 

 is 50 per cent, more, it is probably quite as economical if only 

 short lengths are required, because one gets the exact 

 scantling wanted, whereas in the hewn logs larger sizes 

 have to be bought to enable them 

 to be cut down. The annual rings, 

 which near the heart are often regular, 

 afterwards spread out on one or both 

 sides and running into one another 

 give a darker shade to the wood and 

 become indistinct. The pores are very 

 distinct. This wood burns readily, and 

 is called by the natives " torchwood." 

 Sometimes there are flaws in the timber which are only 

 noticeable when cut up, and it is also subject to a charac- 

 teristic flaw across the heart (see Fig. 24), but which does 

 not open wider and does not affect large scantlings ; it is 

 remarkably free from knots, and clean and straight in the 

 grain. Greenheart sometimes gives way suddenly when the 

 ultimate breaking stress is attained with but little indication 

 beforehand. Care should be exercised in working it owing 

 to the poisonous character of the wood ; splinters are very 

 dangerous if they get into the hand, and there has been 

 more than one death recorded due to this. The wood is 

 much prized by fishermen for rods. Sir Edward Grey, in 

 his book on fly fishing, says, "Nothing throws a better line 



