WEST INDIA ISLANDS AND CENTRAL AMERICA 155 



(Fig. 27). Some of these big logs weigh 8 or 9 tons, and 

 many of the " figured " logs bring fancy prices. Last year 

 one log, 29| ft. long and 31 inches deep at the butt end, 

 was sold at 6s. lOrf. per square foot of 1 inch thick, realising 

 493. Another log was sold at 7s. 9d. per square foot, and 

 a few years ago three large logs from the same tree, 

 24 to 27 ft. long, the largest being 46 by 51 inches, fell 

 under the hammer at 1,600. 



Mahogany, like cedar and other timber of that class, 

 is sold by the square foot of 1 inch in thickness, a consider- 

 able allowance being made by the timber measurer from the 

 total cubic contents for waste in conversion, and the sale 

 measure is often 25 per cent, less than the 

 actual contents of the log. West Indian 

 mahogany, in order to get as much as 



possible out of the log, was often cut (see ^ , ., 

 Fig. 26) with the sides fairly squared, but 

 differing in dimensions. This is now not so often done, 

 as the logs are much smaller than formerly. 



The City St. Domingo wood is generally identified by 

 the btop adzing and small sizes, while the wood from Puerto 

 Plata, on the north side of the island, is usually of larger 

 size. Both are subject to serious heartshakes, but the colour 

 is darker than the Cuba wood. The Cuba wood is known by 

 the white chalk-like substance or white specks which fill the 

 pores ; it is of firm, silky texture, not too hard, and is very 

 cold to the touch, and both it and the St. Domingo wood 

 are decidedly superior to African, and also to the Honduras 

 wood for finished work ; but little is now obtainable, and 

 only in small sizes, seldom over 12 to 14 inches a side, 

 whilst the great widths of the African wood make it 

 appreciated by the cabinet-maker or other user owing to the 

 fewer joints required, and although coarser in grain, the 

 French polisher, by the help of " filling, " works up the 



