14'2 WOODS OF COMMERCE. 



often beautifully mottled with a waved and twisting grain, 

 heavier than water, hard, tough, strong, rigid, its pores filled with 

 a thick, oily resin, which renders it clammy until completely 

 seasoned, difficult to cut, causing sneezing in working, taking a 

 good polish, shrinking -| in. per foot in seasoning, "more inde- 

 structible than iron," being both termite and teredo-proof, but 

 having sometimes extensive heart-shakes which unfit it for con- 

 structive purposes. The Burmese wood contains more resin than 

 that from the Deccan. It is used for piles and beams of bridges ; 

 in Bengal and Burma for telegraph-posts ; in Southern India for 

 posts, railway-sleepers (for which purpose it ranks next to Teak), 

 carts, etc. ; in Burma for agricultural implements ; and for house 

 and boat-building in the Philippines, and is probably the best 

 hardwood in India for paving. 



African (Oldfieldia africdna Benth. and Hook. : Order 

 Euphorbidcece). Western Tropical Africa. Known also as 

 " African Oak, African Teak," though not connected Avith Oak 

 or Teak. Height upwards of 30 or 40 feet, girth 78 feet, S.G. 

 9341086, c 7052, fc 4-9, c' -931, v 1-341,;? 15,000, E 855 Ibs. 

 Dark red, very hard, strong, rigid, fine close and straight in 

 grain, free from shakes, shrinking and warping little, very 

 durable ; but difficult to work, and shipped from Sierra Leone in 

 logs so badly hewn as to yield little more than 50 per cent, of 

 well-squared timber. Used in ship-building for keelsons, beams, 

 etc., and classed in the second line in Lloyd's Register. 



Ah-pill (Eryihroplild'um Laboucherii F. v. M. : Order Legumindsce). 

 Northern Queensland and North Australia. Probably the 

 "Leguminous Ironbark" of Leichhardt, and also named 

 Labouchtria, chlorostdchys F. v. M. A medium-sized tree. Wood 

 red, close-grained, very durable, and the hardest in Australia. 

 Used by natives for spear-heads. 



Ailantus (Aildnthus glanduUsa Desf. : Order Simarubece). 

 Molucca "Ailanto," French " Ailante," Germ. "Gotterbaum," 

 Itcil. "Albero di paradiso," Russ. " Pajasan," Span. " Barniz 

 falso de Japan." Height 5060 feet; diam. 12 ft. 



Sapwood broad, yellowish. Heartwood not dissimilar, greyish- 



