40 



THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 



It furnishes a black paint and 



railway sleepers owing to its durability, 

 its sap is medicinal." 



Baterden speaks of it as being " a tawny or grey wood, exceedingly 

 strong, nearly three times as strong transversel}-' as pitch pine, good for 

 uprights and wall-plates of framed houses, stands wet and dry weather, 

 and is much used for timbering in mines. It can be had in logs 60 to 70 

 feet long and up to 40 inches square. A first-class sleeper wood." 



Brazil-wood. Cacsalpinia echinata, Lam. The West Indies. 



Wdiile the true brazil-wood is, correctly, of the above-named species, 



Some of the Government E 



more than one botanical species has been supphed and some confusion 

 has resulted accordingly, Holtzapffel gives brazil-wood as above, sappan 

 wood as C. sappan, and brazillctto as C. braziUensis. Messrs. J. Gardner 

 & Sons, who probably ha\'e the best available information at present, 

 say that brazil, brazillctto, and Pernambuco wood ha\-c always been 

 regarded as the same. 



The wood of these varieties is of a rich, bright-red colour, and is mosth' 

 used as a dye-wood, while the best pieces are selected for turning and for 

 viohn bows. For this last purpose, although many different kindsof timber 

 have been tried, there is nothing that will yield the same result as the 

 Pernambuco or brazil-wood, and many players will use no other kind on 

 account of the peculiar strong, resihent spring only to be found in this 



