TIMBERS OF BEITISH GUIANA 
123 
in Lloyd's List for shipbuilding timbers. When freshly cut 
and for some time after, the wood has a peculiar sour smell, 
somewhat like the smell of a brewery, or as some would say 
like cheese. The colour is a yellowish green, the older 
timber being of a darker colour ; the sapwood is lighter and 
is excessive compared to many other kinds of timber, is 
often difficult to determine, but is not considered so dele- 
terious as sapwood generally is. In the sawn logs the sap- 
wood is of course much minimised, and although the price 
is 50 per cent, more, it is probably quite as economical if only 
short lengths are required, because one gets the exact 
scantling wanted, whereas in the hewn logs larger sizes 
have to be bought to enable them 
to be cut down. The annual rings, 
which near the heart are often regular, 
afterwards spread out on one or both 
sides and running into one another 
give a darker shade to the wood and 
become indistinct. The pores are very 
distinct. This wood burns readily, and 
is called by the natives " torchwood." 
Sometimes there are flaws in the timber which are only 
noticeable when cut up, and it is also subject to a charac- 
teristic flaw across the heart (see Fig. 24), but which does 
not open wider and does not affect large scantlings ; it is 
remarkably free from knots, and clean and straight in the 
grain. Greenheart sometimes gives way suddenly when the 
ultimate breaking stress is attained with but little indication 
beforehand. Care should be exercised in working it owing 
to the poisonous character of the wood ; splinters are very 
dangerous if they get into the hand, and there has been 
more than one death recorded due to this. The wood is 
much prized by fishermen for rods. Sir Edward Grey, in 
his book on fly fishing, says, "Nothing throws a better line 
Fig. 24. 
