168 TIMBEE 



of bringing other timber to the site at considerably 

 greater expense. 1 Logs can be obtained 30 ft. long. The 

 timber has a fair life, the first bridges built with it stood 

 for sixteen years without repair, and in favourable situations 

 Mr. Byrne considered their life to be twenty-five years. 

 Some trees contain much less pith than others, and some 

 have absolutely none for 20 ft. of their length. In a good 

 specimen the woody portion is about one-third the diameter 

 at half the height ; it is very hard and almost black. 



This Palmyra palm and the T. paroijiora of Jamaica, the 

 trunks of which are said to be suitable for piles and marine 

 work and to stand well in water, are, so far as the author 

 knows, the only palms which have been used for construc- 

 tive work, but it is probable that many others might be 

 used for similar purposes if required. 



Weight 63 to 72 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Palms in hundreds of varieties are to be found in tropical 

 and sub-tropical regions ; but except that they are often used 

 for light construction work and for basket work, etc., few of 

 them produce timber of commerce, although most of them 

 yield products useful to man. 



The Kiziuba Palm (Ceroxylon exorrhiza), a native of 

 Central and South America, yields wood in small quantities 

 which is used for flooring, umbrella sticks by the natives, 

 and musical instruments, whilst the Raplda ta'digcra, one of 

 the most beautiful and singular of palms, which is found on 

 the banks of the Amazon, is made into wooden blinds and 

 baskets by the Indians; and the Attalea funera furnishes the 

 whalebone-like fibre much used for making brooms and 

 brushes. The so-called malacca canes are furnished by the 

 stems of the Calamis seipionum, which grows in Sumatra, 

 from whence the canes are exported to Malacca. 



1 Min. of Proc. Inst. C.E., Vol. XXII. 



