260 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



all kinds of cabinet-work, until superseded by mahogany. 

 The knobs or excrescences of ancient trees, produced either 

 by time or accident, afforded beautiful and richly variegated 

 specimens, which often represented, in their natural con- 

 tortions, either birds or animals, and, when darkly veined 

 or spotted, were greatly valued by the Romans, and 

 purchased at enormous prices, chiefly for making tables. 

 Hence the proverbial saying, ' ' to turn the tables " upon 

 another, has been conjectured to owe its origin to this 

 extravagant taste, which afforded the Roman ladies an 

 opportunity of retaliation, when their husbands remon- 

 strated against the costliness of their jewels and attire. 

 Of such knobs and excrescences, which Pliny eulogized 

 and Ovid sang, were composed the celebrated Tigrine and 

 Pantherine tables ; and some in the possession of Cicero,, 

 Asinius Gallus, King Juba, and the Mauritanian Ptolemy, 

 are said to have been worth their weight in gold. Maple - 

 wood was also deemed suitable for purposes of state : 



