CHAPTER VI 
THE MAHOGANIES OF COMMERCE 
As Teak among hardwoods stands in a class by itself 
as representing the ideal wood for durability and 
strength, so mahogany holds the premier position in 
the same varieties of wood as a material for ornamental 
purposes. There are woods that are rarer, some few 
that are perhaps more beautiful, but none in the popu- 
lar estimation which, for general all-round qualities, 
can compare with this wood. Its popularity has not 
been confined to recent years, for it was known and in 
good repute under the name of Cedra or Cedrella to 
the Spaniards when they first occupied the West Indian 
Islands and the coast of America. It continued under 
the above name for a number of years, being men- 
tioned as an excellent wood for canoe or shipbuilding 
by Captain Dampier in 1681. Finding its way to 
England, probably from St. Domingo or some other 
West Indian Island, it became known as mahogany, 
being mentioned in 1730 under that name as an excel- 
lent wood for furniture. In 1750 Thomas Chippendale, 
with his beautiful but at times outrageous designs for 
furniture, put the seal upon its popularity and, with 
slight relapses, due to the ebb and flow of fashion, it 
has continued in favour until the present time. The 
consumption, in Great Britain and other countries, has 
shown an ever increasing expansion, and, while supplies 
have given out in some of the older districts, fresh 
areas have been found, not only in the Western hemis- 
phere but in the Eastern, and the volume of trade 
which year by year takes place is extensive, 
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