XXV.] AFRICAN OAK, ETC. 305 



able for fancy work ; one or two other species of the 

 genus are used at the Cape, of which the hard, brown, 

 beautifully-figured Quar is the most important. 



Other South African timbers of note are the White 

 Milkwood {Sideroxylon inerme), the Wild Olive [Olea 

 capensis), the Red-wood {Ochna arborea), and a kind of 

 Boxwood {Gonioma Kamassi), reported as valuable for 

 turnery work and engraving. 



We have no very extensive knowledge of the woods 

 of Western Africa, and that to which I have just referred 

 is probably the only useful tree known to commerce in 

 the markets of this country. At the Cape I obtained 

 specimens of the Els and Red Els wood, the light, 

 dark, and grey Stink-wood, and the Yellow-wood, and 

 understood that all these grew to moderate dimensions, 

 and were useful for building and domestic purposes in 

 the colony ; but as there were none within easy reach of 

 Cape Town, or then available for exportation, no oppor- 

 tunity was afforded of judging from any large parcel of 

 either as to their real merits. 



A few years since Mr. Macleod, formerly H.B.M. 

 Consul at the Seychelles Islands, procured a great many 

 specimens of wood from the district of the Zambesi, 

 and sent them to the Admiralty. 



Annexed is a list of twenty-six varieties, with their 

 names and the dimensions the trees are supposed to 

 attain, as also their uses as given by Mr. Macleod; 

 observing that where an opinion of the quality is stated, 

 it is the best that I could form from small pieces of 

 3"x3"xi". 



Some few of these would certainly be fit for any 

 architectural or other works, but we have no informa- 

 tion as to their abundance or otherwise, or even whether 

 they could be easily brought out from the forests to a 

 port of shipment. 



