XXIIL] AFRICAN OAK, ETC. 149 



We have no very extensive knowledge of the woods 

 of Western Africa, and that to which I have just referred 

 is probably the only useful tree known to commerce in 

 the markets of this country. At the Cape I obtained 

 specimens of the Else and Red Else wood, the light, 

 dark, and grey Stink wood, and the Yellow wood, and 

 understood that all these grew to moderate dimensions, 

 and were useful for building and domestic purposes in 

 the colony ; but as there were none within easy reach of 

 Cape Town, or then available for exportation, no oppor- 

 tunity was afforded of judging from any large parcel of 

 either as to their real merits. 



A few years since Mr. Macleod, formerly H.B.M. 

 Consul at the Seychelles Islands, procured a great many 

 specimens of woods from the district of the Zambesi, 

 and sent them to the Admiralty. 



Annexed is a list of twenty-six varieties, with their 

 names and the dimensions the trees are supposed to 

 attain, as also their uses as given by Mr. Macleod ; 

 observing that where an opinion of the quality is stated, 

 it is the best that I could form from small pieces of 

 3"x3"xi". 



Some few of these would certainly be fit for any 

 architectural or other works, but we have no informa- 

 tion as to their abundance or otherwise, or even whether 

 they could be easily brought out from the forests to a 

 port of shipment. 



