WEST INDIA ISLANDS AND CENTRAL AMEEICA 153 
compact grain. It is of rosewood colour, becomes harder 
and darker with age, and when very old becomes almost 
black, and is very difficult to work. Good for piling, 
telegraph posts, sleepers, gate-posts, etc. 
Mahogany, a tree of the order of Cedraelacge, is found in 
various tropical and sub-tropical climates, in the West 
Indies, Central America, and West Africa. There is nlso 
the so-called Australian mahogany, some of which is 
eucalyptus, and of which only small samples come to the 
English market. Fifty years ago mahogany only came 
from Honduras and the West India Islands, Cuba and 
Hayti, or St. Domingo. The so-called Spanish mahogany, 
which was the most prized, came from the seaboard on the 
south of Hayti, and was hardly ever obtained in logs of 
more than 10 ft. long by 20 to 24 inches square. The 
Honduras mahogany was often called " baywood." The 
botanical name of the West Indian tree is given as 
Sivieteiiia maltogani, but this is a disputed point. 
Of late years the mahogany trade has quite changed, and 
now much the greater portion of the timber imported into 
Great Britain comes from the west coast of Africa — from 
Cape Lopez in French Congo to Cape Palmas. It is known 
by the names of the ports of shipment : Lagos mahogany, 
which in colour and silkiness is very like the Tobasco 
shipments of Central America ; Benin, of excellent texture ; 
Sapeli, which is scented like cedar. It also comes under 
the names of other ports, whilst under the name of 
"African mahogany" large quantities are brought from 
Assinee and Axim, which are of good colour but softer in 
texture than other African wood, and more or less liable to 
cross fractures, which are only seen when the wood is 
opened out ; Sekondi, Grand Bassam, and other places on 
the same coast. The logs of African mahogany are of 
