Hods and Rod Material. 185 



vorite bow-wood. Almost all travellers in these colo- 

 nies mention and describe the powerful bows carried 

 by the natives, and the skill with which they are used. 

 These accounts extend at intervals for over one hundred 

 years, beginning with Captain Stedman's narrative of an 

 expedition to Surinam, in 1772-1776. From these it ap- 

 pears the natives use for this purpose either purpleheart, 

 washiba, or snakewood. Captain Stedman thus de- 

 scribes this tree: 



" The bourra-courra or brazil grows to between thirty 

 and forty feet high, but not very thick, with a reddish 

 bark. The heart only of this tree is valuable after the 

 white pithy part is cut away, though then much reduced. 

 The wood is as truly beautiful as it is useful, the color 

 being a fine crimson, variegated with irregular and fan- 

 tastical black spots, from which by the French it is 

 called bois-de-kttres. It is heavy, hard, and capable of 

 taking a brilliant polish." 



The name of snakewood arose from the resemblance 

 this wood bears to the skin of the more highly-colored 

 snakes, just as the French name was given because of 

 the fancied resemblance of the irregular black spots to 

 letters. It is not unfrequently called "Letterwood" by 

 English writers. Captain Stedman's description cannot 

 be improved, except that the ground-tint of the wood, 

 as seen in this country at least, is a reddish brown rather 

 than crimson. It has been well known in this country 

 for a long time, and is esteemed to be the most beautiful 

 of all the fancy woods, as it is the most expensive. It 

 is imported in billets of various lengths and up to about 

 nine or ten inches in diameter, the sapwood having 

 been first removed. The market price is from sixteen to 

 twenty cents a pound, being sold by weight and not by 



