5 



climbers. Roughly speaking woods with large pores are softer 

 than those with small ones. The pores are sometimes arranged 

 in groups, or lines, and their size, position and arrangements are 

 often very useful in determining woods. 



Medullary rays — appear in transverse sections as bars, radiating 

 from the centre of the tree to the circumference in longitudinal 

 section as broad bars, often shining and of a different tint from the 

 surrounding wood. In the Oaks and Chestnuts they are very con- 

 spicuous and form what is known as silver grain. 



Concentric lines — are very fine lines of soft tissue occurring in 

 many timbers. They are often wavy and sometimes very close 

 together. 



Weight. — The weights given in this paper are estimated from 

 the weight of hand specimens, and are the weights per cubic foot. 

 Where not otherwise mentioned or are marked S they are from 

 specimens in the collection of the Botanic Gardens. For com- 

 parison I have added weights from other publications where 

 obtainable. As the weights have been mostly taken from small 

 specimens they must be considered rather as comparative weights 

 than actual weights per cubic foot. 



Literature. — The only works published previously on the timbers 

 of the Peninsula are : — 



Notes and Experiments on the different kinds of timbers in 

 ordinary use in the Straits Settlements, by HOWARD NEWTON, 

 1884, and an article in the Kew Bulletin 1890, p. 112. 



The former of these papers deals with about twenty of the bet- 

 ter known woods, several of which, however^ are imported from 

 various islands in the Archipelago. 



Experiments were made as to their strength and stiffness. All 

 are mentioned by their native names, but a few scientific names 

 are given, several of which are incorrect. In the second paper, 

 based on MAINGW'S Manuscript and specimens, the Malay 

 names are much misspelt and often wrongly identified by some 

 confusion. There is a short description of the timber, its use and 

 weight. 



Besides these papers, I have referred to Gamble's Indian Tim- 

 bers, a most carefully compiled and useful work and Van EEDEX, 

 Hout Soorten Van der Nederlandsch Oost-Indie (1886.) 



There still remains a great deal of work to be done in the Malay 

 timbers, some of which have not yet been properly identified, 

 no adequate specimens of fruit and flowers having yet been ob- 

 tained of sonic species, so that it has been impossible to determine 

 to what trees the timbers belong. Malays in different places often 

 use different nanu s for the same plant, which causes some con- 

 fusion, and it is not always easy to find a native who knows the 

 correct names for various trees. The dealers in timber have at 

 times attempted to introduce English names such as rosewood, 

 Straits mahogany, Straits teak and the like. These useless names 

 even when identifiable are better dropped, as thev are apt to mis- 

 lead people into the idea that the timbers referred to are related 



