GREENHEART. 7 
tend more than 2 or 3 feet from the end. This defect, though serious, 
is to some extent compensated for by the fact that the logs do not 
split and form deep shakes along the side in seasoning as do the 
majority of other woods, so that there is not, after all, more than the 
ordinary amount of waste in conversion. The wood, moreover, is 
remarkably free from knots, and generally sound. In addition to 
its use as timber, great quantities of greenheart are made into char- 
coal. | 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Greenheart inhabits parts of British, Dutch, and French Guiana, 
Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Santo 
Domingo. It is the most important tree of British Guiana, the only 
place where it is being cut. There it is found most abundantly along 
the Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice Rivers. Much of the best 
quality of greenheart now marketed comes from Morabelli Creek, a 
tributary of the Essequibo River, where the tree attains its greatest 
size and produces the best grade of wood. Greenheart grows along 
the seacoast and watercourses, seldom extending more than 50 miles 
inland and never more than 100 miles. It is most plentiful and 
reaches its best development on a strip between 2 and 3 miles wide 
just back of the deposit of alluvial soil along the coast and rivers. 
Tt seldom grows on sites much above sea level or on clay soil. It can 
not thrive on rocky soil or on moist hillsides. In British Guiana the 
southern limit of distribution is marked by the elevated regions. 
Invariable associates of greenheart are the mora (Dimorphandra 
mora Benth.) and wallaba (ELperua falcata Aubl.), though these 
spread over a much larger area. 
LOGGING AND TRANSPORTATION. 
The present cost of placing greenheart timber on the market is 
high. This is the result chiefly of (1) the great expense of logging. 
due to antiquated methods of extracting the logs and the high cost 
of hauling them; (2) excessive waste in logging: and (8) high 
transportation charges. ) 
The present methods of logging greenheart are antiquated, labo- 
rious, and expensive. All hauling in the forest is done either by 
gangs of men or by oxen. Hand labor is employed exclusively in 
cases where the timber is within a short distance of the place of ship- 
ment. Where it is cut on the slopes of hills fronting a navigable 
stream oxen are used in getting the logs out. Both methods are 
crude, slow, and wasteful at best. 
The timber is not hewed in the careful manner that mahogany, 
cedar, and many other woods are when prepared for shipment, but 
goes to market only partially dressed. To facilitate snaking the 
butts of logs are invariably tapered for 3 or 4 feet from the end, and 
go to market in this condition instead of being cut off square. | 
