THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 387 
with two or three main limbs from the bole. It reaches a 
girth of about 6 feet and a bole length of 12 feet. 
The sapwood is wide and white and the heartwood black. 
The tree is occasionally attacked by a large borer, which makes 
large holes nearly ? inch in diameter. The timber is very hard, 
but if the tree is killed by fire it becomes a little more brittle 
than is usually the case. In old trees which may be left lying 
in the forest, the middle of the heartwood often decays away 
with ground-rot. It planes well and saws well. Nails often 
split it. It splits moderately well, especially when free of 
knots. 
It is a very slow-growing, shade-bearing, soil-protecting 
and soil-improving tree. On the whole, it is more exacting as to 
soil than most other trees, being usually found on a good loam 
rich in humus, which is moist and with fair drainage. Natural 
regeneration is none too good. Stump shoots are very weak, 
and often do not occur. It has not yet been planted. It is very 
susceptible to fire—in fact, more so than perhaps any other tree. 
The timber has been exported for many years from Calabar, 
but of late in decreasing quantities, owing to the exhaustion 
of the nearer sources of supply, and to the fact that only small 
billets under 3 feet in length, not square, and only 3 or 
4 inches in cross-section were cut. The usual native method 
of procedure is very curious. On making a clearing for a farm, 
any ebony standing there gets killed with the fire, and having 
comparatively few roots and being very heavy, the tree falls 
down. Before abandoning the farm the native may put a mark 
on this tree, or at any rate make a mental note of its existence. 
After a year or two, if he is in need of money to buy clothes, or 
wishes to purchase anything, he goes back to this old farm, finds 
this tree, perhaps externally somewhat charred, and perhaps the 
centre of the heartwood rotted away; he proceeds to cut it 
into lengths of about 10 or 12 feet. These he then splits length- 
ways into segments with a rounded side of about 5 inches, 
the two split sides about 4 inches, and the inner surface about 
3 inches. In order to get these long pieces of suitable dimension 
to carry to the nearest factory or trading station, he cuts them 
into three or four billets ; two or three of these, according to 
weight, are tied together and carried to the factory. It is sold by 
weight, and sometimes 200 billets go to the ton, though a smaller 
quantity of a larger size would be better and secure a better 
price. This method should be compared with the superior 
one adopted by the natives of the Cameroons. Compared 
to the usual price of £6 or £7 per ton for Calabar ebony, 
Cameroon wood usually fetches £10 to £12. 
