TIMBERS OF BRITISH GUIANA 131 



some from Guiana and other parts of tropical America, 

 and at one time it was very plentiful in the Mauritius. The 

 colour of the heartwood is dark green or greenish black ; 

 the sap, which varies a good deal in thickness, is of a 

 dingy yellow hue and very distinct. It is one of the 

 hardest, heaviest, and toughest timbers known ; strong, 

 close and wiry in grain, the annual rings are scarcely 

 distinguishable, and the fibres of each layer cross one 

 another diagonally, making it a very difficult matter to 

 split the wood, although it is easily planed. Mr. John 

 Calvert saw an old post of lignum vita3 in West Indian 

 waters in the shape of a cross, said to have been placed 

 there by the Spaniards hundreds of years ago ; it was not 

 decayed in the water and very little affected between wind 

 and water (Min. of Pioc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 24). The wood 

 contains about 25 per cent, of gum resin called guaiacum, 

 which is used as powder, pill, and tincture. The bark is also 

 used as a medicine. The amount of sapwood on the 

 timber is considerable, but is equally as good, tough, and 

 durable as the heartwood. There is nothing to equal 

 lignum vitae for block sheaves, cog wheels, shafts, and 

 footsteps for vertical shafting in pumps. Sheaves after 

 50 to 60 years' wear have been found to be perfectly good. 

 It is also much used for mallets, plumbers' mandrils, etc., 

 and in the Bahamas for hinges and fastenings of doors by 

 the sea shore, where ironwork quickly corrodes. The wood 

 is imported in the round state in lengths of 3 or 4 ft., 

 which are usually under 12 inches diameter, although in the 

 Isthmus of Darien it is said to grow 5 to 6 ft. in diameter ; 

 it is sold by the ton, and at a recent sale prices varied from 

 4 15s. to 7 15s. 



Its weight is with 12 per cent, of water about 731bs. 

 per cubic foot. An inferior substitute for lignum vitse, and 

 with which it has nothing in common and which is much 



K 2 



