CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 127 



other woods 5delded by members of the same family : namely the 

 Chittagong wood (Chickrassia) of India, and East Indian satinwood 

 (Chloroxylon). It is therefore evident that the woods of only certain 

 members of the Meliaceae deserve the najne mahogany. 



Mahogany, African. — Tropical Africa now supplies the greater part 

 of the enormous quantity of mahogany which of late years has been 

 imported into England. It is a wood of such beautiful appearance and 

 fine qualities that it has found a ready market, and has indeed been 

 employed all over the civilised world. The total imports into Liverpool 

 alone, during 1913, amounted to 64,579 logs, out of which 33 million feet 

 were sold in Liverpool ; apart from this, 20,000 odd logs were tran- 

 shipped. To this has to be added over 21,000 tons, approximately over 

 10 mDlion feet, imported into London, making the total for London 

 and Liverpool amount to over 43 million feet. 



The increase to Liverpool is shown as follows : 



Perhaps it is hardly realised from what a vast area these supplies 

 are obtained. From Senegal to the present known limit in Angola, the 

 timber is available throughout a country extending along a coast-line 

 of approximately 5000 miles, and from nearly 10 degrees south of the 

 equator to nearly 15 degrees north. Having this in mind, very much 

 more emphasis should be laid upon the names of the districts whence 

 the timber is obtained, and which to soine extent regulate its character. 

 No one would confuse, for instance, the produce of Honduras with that 

 of Cuba. Yet in practice, as far as the public is concerned, the supplies 

 from this immense tract of country are grouped together under the one 

 inclusive term of " African mahogany." In some specifications the 

 terms " Lagos " or " Benin " are used, but in many more cases no such 

 precise designation is found. Yet the distinction in character and quality 

 is very great, and in tendering for a supply which merely stipulates 

 " African mahogany," a wide field is open for conjecture as to what 

 class and how far down in the scale of quaUty the buyer will accept. 



One of the advantages of these African supplies is that they furnish 

 an abundance of wood of greater length and width than any other kind 

 of mahogany. The greatest fault is the prevalence of heart-shakes, 

 cross-breaks, wind-shakes, and thunder-shakes, which are the various 

 names given to cross fractures. These are liable to occur at intervals 

 ranging from 6 inches to 10 feet apart, and extend across the longitudinal 

 grain more or less extensively, so that actually in some cases the log 



