

HI 



nffUgpa wptfwpt^ii:«**j 



■ 





m ■ 



64 



I'AO FERUO. 



building was to be constructed of wood and 

 mud, — that is, of thick posts supporting the 

 roof and smaller posts at fixed distances between 

 the principal ones, and the openings between 

 each of them were to be filled up with mud. I 

 could not help regretting that such beautiful 

 woods as those which were used should be em- 

 ployed in purposes so much beneath their worth. 

 The paoferro or iron wood, which is also called 

 the coragam de negro or the negro's heart # , was 

 the most valuable of those which I employed. 

 The outward coat of the wood of this tree is not 

 particularly hard, but the heart destroys many 

 hatchets. I have seen some of this timber 

 taken out of the ground, after standing for 

 many years as a supporter to the roof of a house ; 

 and though the outward coat was crumbling into 

 dust, the black heart seemed to be literally of 

 iron, or to have increased rather than decreased 

 in hardness.! This wopd admits of consider- 

 able polish j but the black wood, which is most 

 esteemed for furniture, is the jacaranda; this is 



* I once asked an African negro the name of this tree, and 

 he answered coracam dc homem or man's heart ; thus he did 

 not choose to use the name of negro's heart. The man 

 knew the usual name perfectly well. 



f The iron wood is mentioned by Bolingbroke in his voyage 

 to the Demerary ; and the bois de Jer, by Labat, in the 

 Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais a Cayenne, &c. he says, 

 " Le bois de Jer se trouve par-tout en qiiantiti" torn. iii. 

 p. 240. 



