300 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [chap. 



lensis, or S. Khaya, and is brought from Sierra Leone, 

 and resembles in properties the Oaks of Europe and 

 America and the Teak of India, largely the character- 

 istics of both species, but much heavier and harder to 

 work. 



The tree is of straight growth, and the height, as 

 estimated from the logs imported, must be at least 30 to 

 40 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. 



FIG. 27. 



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 

 shrinks very little, it rarely warps, and stands exposure 

 to the weather a long time without opening with surface 

 shakes, or sustaining any apparent damage. 



African timber, possessing, as it does, so many 

 good properties, is employed in ship - building for 

 beams, keelsons, riding bitts, stanchions, &c., and in 

 a variety of ways ; but in civil architecture, and in the 

 domestic arts, it is only sparingly used, on account of 

 its weight. 



This timber is brought upon the market in very 

 roughly-hewn logs, intended, no doubt, to be square, 



