THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. 47 



Jocust kind occurred of such enormous dimen- 

 sions, that fifteen Indians, with outstretched 

 arms, could only just embrace them. At the 

 bottom they were eighty-four feet in circum- 

 ference, and sixty-feet where the boles became 

 cylindrical. By counting the annual rings of 

 growth in such parts as were accessible, he 

 arrived at the conclusion that they were of the 

 age of Homer. The mahogany tree inhabits 

 this zone, and flourishes in most soils, but 

 that which grows on dry rocky ground is 

 most esteemed, as it has the richest colour, 

 takes the highest polish, and is the hardest 

 wood. 



The trees are felled at two seasons after 

 Christmas and towards Midsummer. The logs 

 are generally then conveyed to the rivers, where 

 they are precipitated into the stream, down 

 which they are floated to the " booms," which 

 are large cables stretched across the stream at 

 particular spots. Sometimes the boom breaks 

 with the pressure, and then more than a thou- 

 sand logs are hurried out to sea, and irrecover- 

 ably lost. Some years ago, Messrs. Broad- 

 wood, the pianoforte manufacturers, gave the 

 enormous sum of 3,000 for three logs of 

 mahogany, each about fifteen feet long and 

 thirty-eight inches square, and the produce of a 

 single tree. The wood was especially beautiful, 

 capable of receiving the highest polish, and 

 when polished reflecting the light in the most 

 varied manner, and from the wavy form of the 

 pores, offering a different figure in whatever 



