172 TIMBER 



gum resin. It is used for doors and window frames, posts, 

 beams, furniture, agricultural implements, carts, and in 

 boat-building, and also for sleepers. It is largely used in 

 Mysore. The heartwood is a yellowish brown with darker 

 streaks, the sapwood is small, and the medullary rays are 

 very fine and numerous. 



Weight averages about 55 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Satinwood is the most valuable of light-coloured furniture 

 wood. There are two kinds known in commerce, both being 

 somewhat similar in appearance. The satinwood of India 

 and Ceylon is the produce of a moderate-sized deciduous 

 tree (Chloroxylon swietenid). It is allied to the mahogany 

 tree and might be called yellow mahogany. In India it is 

 used for building and agricultural implements as well as 

 for furniture, and sleepers of this timber have a life of 

 twenty years in Ceylon. It is sometimes startling to hear 

 of timber of this character, so valuable in other parts of 

 the world, being used in their native districts as we use fir 

 and pine in England and America. A bridge at Peradeniya, 

 near Kandy, with a single arch of 205 ft. span, was built 

 entirely of this timber, and it was used for piling at 

 Colombo many years ago. The West Indian satinwood is 

 considered the best and is most largely used; it comes 

 from St. Domingo, Porto Kico, and the neighbouring 

 districts in lengths up to 19 ft. and 12 to 20 inches a side, 

 also in planks. Both East and West Indian varieties are 

 much the same in appearance, somewhat like box in their 

 yellow or cream colour with inner wood darker than outer, 

 and no distinct heartwood, and of a fine satiny lustre. The 

 annual rings are distinct. If anything the West Indian 

 wood has the smoother and finer grain, but both kinds are 

 hard and close grained, take a fine polish, and can be cut 

 into small mouldings better than most wood. Their 



