TIMBERS OF BRITISH GUIANA ' 127 



is excellent for house framing, and also used for making 

 ramrods for guns. It planes fast and well and takes a 

 good polish. The sapwood is a dirty white. It is too hard 

 for ordinary wood-turning tools. It is not so plentiful as 

 mora or bullet tree. The Indians use the bark for making 

 wood-skin canoes of considerable size, accommodating 

 fifteen or sixteen people, and " dug-outs " from the tree 

 itself. It would probably make satisfactory street paving. 

 Some purple-heart veneer is used in the cabinet trade. 

 The purple-heart of Trinidad (Peltoyyne paniculatd) is a 

 small tree producing timber of the same colour as, or 

 rather a browner tint than, that of Guiana, and is probably 

 one of the woods known as " Zapateri." Pao Eoxo or 

 Guarubu, of Brazil (P. macrocarpus) (which see), is a 

 similar timber. 



Weight about 61 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Houbooballi (Mimosa guianensis), a beautiful wood of light 

 brown colour variegated with vertical veins of black and 

 brown, grows plentifully in the Essequibo forests of 

 Guiana. It makes handsome furniture and panelling, 

 and in bottoms of boats will outlast most others. The 

 sapwood is about an inch thick, white and clearly defined. 

 Saws easily and well, turns well, and takes an excellent 

 polish, and is altogether an excellent material to deal with. 

 It can be obtained in logs up to 50 ft. long and 20 inches 

 square. It is probable that the " Zebra wood " used for 

 furniture is the produce of this amongst other trees. 



Weight about 56 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Crabwood (Carapa guianensis) is another of the excellent 

 timbers from this part of the world. The wood is reddish 

 brown, much resembling mahogany, takes a fine polish, 

 turns well, and makes durable furniture ; an excellent wood 



