AND THE COLOUR OF WOODS. 99 



penetrates equally through the whole mass. The fibres are thick and 

 straight, the specific gravity is less than that of water, and it is easily 

 worked and polished. There appears to be no connection between this 

 wood and that which M. Guibourt in his ' Histoire des Drognes,' vol. iii, 

 p. 322, describes as red wood of amaranth, and which, according to him, is 

 a nissolia, tribe of the Dalbergii ? 



The violet wood of Cayenne is of a less intense, more yellowish red. 

 The colour is more violet in the interior than the outside. The colour 

 is not, however, equally distributed, but fibres of a rich red intertwine 

 with others of a smaller size and orange hue ; the grain of this wood is 

 coarser, and its specific gravity greater than that of the Pao Colorado. 

 The specimen which I examined was procured from the Museum of 

 Natural History, Paris, and formed part of the collection of woods, from 

 Cayenne, sent over by M. Ducier. I also found some specimens in 

 the museum of the ministry of the Colonies. This wood is used at Paris 

 for the manufacture of furniture, and is said to be fitted for shipbuilding 

 purposes, and M. Noyer bears witness as to its efficiency for the latter 

 object. This gentleman is ex-deputy for Guiana, and has published 

 a work entitled ' Des Forets vierges de la Guyane,' in which he says, 

 that the violet wood belongs to a tree very common to the forests of that 

 country. 



The Mariwayana ox purple heart, called courabarel by the Arawaak 

 in British Guiana. The specimen experimented upon, which I owe 

 to the kindness of M. A Brogniart, was taken from the collection of 

 Sir R. Schomburgk. According to the opinions of that learned man, and 

 of the committee for British Guiana, in their Exhibition catalogue, this 

 wood belongs to the Copaifera pubiflora and bracteata, Benth. This wood 

 has a yellowish white, light and almost spongy exterior ; the heart is of a 

 purple colour, less vivid than that of the Pao Colorado, a little richer at 

 the outside than in the interior. Its fibres run equally, and it is easy to 

 work. It is esteemed superior to all other wood for artillery carriages, 

 and is used in the colony for windmill shafts, rollers, and machinery. 

 If better known it would be likely to take the place of rosewood in the 

 ornamental work of the cabinet-maker. The Indians of the Berbice con- 

 struct of its bark canoes called " wood-skins," able to contain twenty -five 

 persons. 



The Tananeo or Tanane, of New Granada. The specimen I examined 

 was brought from Carthagena in 1853, by M. Fontainier. According to 

 information obtained from M. Jose Triana, a learned botanist of Santa 

 Fe de Bogota, the Tananoe belongs to the family of Bignoniacea, and 

 will be comprised in the genus Tecoma. This wood is heavier than the 

 preceding, and its specific gravity is superior to that of water. Its fibres 

 are slender, close, and irregularly disposed, one forming an angle with 

 another. This causes the wood to be as difficult to work as the quebracho 

 and sandal woods, and to show the same variations of reflection exhibited 



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