336 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



stems of trees which he passes, in order that he may safely 

 retrace his steps. With immense labour and patience he 

 fells the trees and lops and squares them, after which he 

 has to cut roads through the forest to the nearest stream, to 

 which the enormous logs of mahogany have to be drawn by 

 timber-carriages and horses, and are there collected into 

 large rafts ; or each log is marked, and allowed to swim 

 down the stream to some place where its progress is arrested 

 by persons employed for that purpose. The quantity of 

 mahogany imported is immense, but the statistics of the 

 timber-trade are so unsatisfactory that the author prefers 

 omitting to give definite quantities, to the risk of pro- 

 pagating error. It is chiefly imported from Honduras 

 and Cuba, but several of the West India Islands furnish 

 mahogany. 



Lignum Vit^e. Guaiacum officinale (Nat. Ord. Zygo- 

 phyllacea). (Plate XX. fig. 103.)— This very important 

 wood comes chiefly from Jamaica ; its chief use is in mak- 

 ing blocks and pulleys for ships' rigging, and it is much 

 used by turners for various articles requiring a hard close- 

 grained wood ; it also has some medicinal properties, and 

 finds place in our pharmacopoeia. It is imported in billets 

 about three feet in length and a foot in diameter; the 



