112 TRINIDAD. 



already stated, are scarce, and thrive only in certain localities. 

 The Mora and Mangrove, as also the Timite, Carat, and Sword- 

 grass are perhaps the only indigenous plants which grow grega- 

 riously : the Cedar thrives in the best lands, whether level or 

 mountainous ; the Guatacare and Carapa in damp clay soils ; the 

 Cyp and Laurier-cyp in the mountain districts. 



Durability is the main characteristic of nearly all our timber- 

 woods : a few only are light and soft, the generality solid and 

 heavy ; the hardest of all is the Poui, as also the heaviest. These 

 qualities of extreme solidity and weight are, to a certain extent, a 

 defect ; because they exact a larger amount of labour to render the 

 timbers marketable, or even render them unfit for indiscriminate 

 use in ordinary buildings, and for certain purposes in many con- 

 structions, such as the lighter roof-work. 



Generally speaking, popular opinion and practice do not dis- 

 tinguish or prescribe any fitness or unfitness of seasons for the 

 felling of timber trees : this I pronounce to be a very serious 

 error. In Europe and other temperate climates, trees are felled 

 in autumn, when the sap is deficient or dormant. It cannot be 

 said that such a season really prevails in tropical regions : there is, 

 however, a period during which vegetative life in general may be 

 said to be at a minimum, particularly in certain trees : the cedar, 

 for instance, remains for several months completely denuded, and 

 the poui and roble lose their foliage immediately before flowering. 

 After the dry season has set in, the vegetation becomes every- 

 where more or less languid, for the space of two months, or two 

 months and a half, thus showing a deficiency of sap in its organs : 

 this period commonly embraces a part of February, the months of 

 March and April, with part of May, but is more or less extended, 

 according as the dry season itself is more or less protracted. This 

 is the proper time, in fact the only season in which trees can 

 advantageously be felled for industrial purposes. Any wood 

 thrown down during the rainy season, but especially during June, 

 July, and August, when there is a renewed vigour in the vegeta- 

 tion, becomes liable to rot, or to the ravages of insects, viz., the 

 termite or white ant, and the mite. 



There exists a popular opinion that the phases of the moon 

 exercise a marked influence on the durability, if not of the harder 

 timber, at least of the softer wood and thatch covering. Accord- 

 ing to that opinion, wood cut during the crescent of the moon 



