CHAPTER XXIII 
AFRICA. 
THE African Oak tree, the African Teak, or Mahogany 
timber of commerce—for it is known under a variety 
of names—is probably the Szwietenia Senegalensis, or 
S. Khaya, the produce of which is brought from Sierra 
Leone, and appears to form a link between the Oak of 
Europe and America and the Teak of India, partaking 
largely of the characteristics of both species. 
The tree is of straight growth, and the height, as 
estimated from the logs imported, must be at least 30 to 
4o feet clear of the branches, with a circumference of 
from 7 to 8 feet. This wood is of a dark red colour, 
very hard, strong, rigid, and difficult to work or cleave ; 
it has a fine, close, straight grain, is of remarkable solidity, 
has no injurious heart-shake, and shakes of the cup or 
star kind are extremely rare in it; the centre wood, 
about the earlier concentric circles, is close and very 
compact, differing less from the outer layers in texture 
than in most other trees. In seasoning this timber 
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