56 ON THE HAKD WOODS OF COMMERCE. 



articles was shown in the British Guiana collection. Lignum vitce is a 

 common, well-known, hard, ponderous wood, the produce of two species 

 of Guaiacum obtained in the West Indies, which is used for a great 

 variety of purposes requiring hardness and strength. The Madagascar 

 red wood is as yet undescribed. Nutmeg-wood is another name for the 

 wood of the Palmyra palm (Borassus Jialelliformis), which is used in 

 turnery, for cabinet-work, and, from its mottled character, for umbrella 

 and parasol handles, walking canes, rulers, fancy boxes, &c. 



The stems or trunks of several palms obtained in the East and "West 

 Indies are imported, to a small extent, for fancy use. They furnish a 

 great variety of mottled, ornamental wood, black, red brown, and speckled, 

 and are used for cabinet and marquetry work, and for billiard cues. 

 Amongst those so used are the cocoa-nut, the betel-nut, Palmyra, &c. The 

 nuts of two South American pahns, the vegetable ivory nut {Pliytelephas 

 macrocarpa), and the dark coquilla nuts from Attalea junifera, are 

 largely used by turners for small fancy articles. Partridge-wood is a 

 name for the wood of several trees coming from South America, which 

 has usually, but erroneously, been ascribed to Heisteria cocclnea, but 

 is more likely to be from Andira inermis. It is used for walking-sticks 

 umbrella and parasol handles, and in cabinet work and turnery. The 

 colours are variously mingled, and most frequently disposed in fine 

 hair streaks of two or three shades, which in some of the curly specimens 

 resemble the feathers of the bird. Another variety is called pheasant- 

 wood. Prince's wood is a light-veined brown wood, the produce of 

 Curdia Gerascantlms, obtained in Jamaica, almost exclusively used for 

 turning. Purple-wood is the produce of Copaifera pubiflora and bracteata, 

 trees of British Guiana, which furnish trunks of great size, strength, 

 durability, and elasticity. The colour varies much in different specimens, 

 some being of a deep red brown, but the most beautiful is of a clear 

 reddish purple, exceedingly handsome when polished. It is used for 

 buhl work, marquetry, and in turning. Varieties of King-wood are 

 sometimes called purple and violet woods, but they are variegated, 

 while the true purple-wood is plain. Queen-wood is a name applied 

 occasionally to woods of the Cocus and Greenheart character, imported 

 from the Brazils. The wood of Laurus chloroxylon, of the West Indies, 

 furnishes some. Red Sanders wood is a hard heavy, East Indian wood, 

 obtained from the Pterocarpiis santallnus, imported from Madras and 

 Calcutta, chiefly as a dye-wood. It takes a beautiful polish, and some- 

 what resembles Brazil-wood. Rosewood is a term as generally applied as 

 iron-wood, and to as great a variety of trees, in different countries ; some- 

 times from the colour, and sometimes from the smell of the wood. The 

 rosewood imported in such large quantities from Brazil is obtained from 

 the Jacaranda Brasiliana, and some other species. The Physocalymnna 

 ftoribunda of Goyaz, in Brazil, is said to furnish one of the rosewoods 

 of commerce. It is the " Pao do rosa" of the Portuguese. The fragrant 

 rosewood, or " Bois de Palisandre," of the French cabinet-makers, has 



