SOUTH AFBIGAN TIMBER 207 



Assegai Wood (Curtisca faginea), or Cape lancewood, is a 

 tough wood of light red colour, used for shafts, wheel spokes, 

 assegai shafts, turnery, etc. 



Weight 56 to 60 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Cedarboom (Widdringtoniajuniperoides),^ kind of cypress, 

 has a grain not unlike Havannah West Indian cedar, hut of 

 lighter colour. Used for floors, roofs, and other building 

 purposes ; it does not, however, stand exposure. 



Weight 48 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Kajatenhout (Pterocarpna angolensis) is much appreciated 

 in the Transvaal and Cape Colony for furniture. The 

 colour is a yellowish brown and it often has a pretty pattern. 



Ikusi or native teak is a most serviceable and durable 

 wood for mining purposes and impervious to the white ant. 



Weight about 57 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



The ikusi forests of Matabeleland cover some 2,000 

 square miles and are densest between the Umgaza and 

 Ingusa rivers. N'Ishibi resembles ikusi, but is not so heavy. 



The Mlange Cedar (Widdringtonia wliytei} is one of the 

 most valuable trees in Nyassaland and attains a height of 

 150 ft. It yields a valuable timber, easier wrought than 

 deal and much more beautiful. It is fragrant, close grained, 

 and stands damp well. Posts fixed in the ground for 

 thirty years, exposed to damp and drought, were taken up 

 practically intact. The supply of trees is being rapidly 

 exhausted. This is one of the few conifers indigenous to 

 South Africa. 



Mahogany, which is practically the only timber as yet 

 exported from Africa, has been referred to in another place, 

 but there is little doubt that in years to come, when the 



