INDIA, BURMA, AND ANDAMAN ISLANDS 169 
Padouk is a majestic evergreen which grows in India and 
Burma, and is the most valuable timber found in the 
Andaman Islands. It is generally known as Andaman red- 
wood. Pterocarpus indicus is the Burmese tree and 
P. dalbergioides the Andaman tree. The timber of the 
Burmese tree is of lighter colour, and though this is 
the more ornamental tree, the Andaman tree furnishes 
the better timber and is what is known in commerce. 
It is a wood of rich red or crimson colour, streaked 
with black, of great beauty, close grained, moderately 
hard, and takes a fine polish ; there are soft bands running 
through it, making it rather difficult to work. The sapwood 
is of a straw or yellowish brown colour, and in some trees 
there is a good deal of it. The timber may be had in 
lengths up to 25 ft. and 4 ft. square ; it is stronger than teak 
in every direction, lasts longer, is much handsomer as a 
furniture wood, and does not warp in seasoning. It is 
much appreciated for railway sleepers, but is expensive, and 
in some districts has taken the place of sal ; in the Andamans 
it is used for boat-building. For gun wheels and carriages 
and for ordinary carriage-building it is a material of the 
finest quality, is the rival of mahogany for cabinet work, and 
can scarcely be distinguished from it when polished. It is 
more costly to work than mahogany, and has, owing to this, 
been abandoned by one well-known firm of English shop- 
fitters, but in one establishment in the Bigg Market, New- 
castle-on-Tyne, it has been in j^lace for fifteen years, has 
weathered very well, and looks handsome. The Burmese 
padouk is used chiefly in that country or exported to 
India, but quantities of Andaman padouk are regularly 
brought into the London market, generally in planks 3 
to 8 inches thick, and are used for furniture, internal 
fittings, and railway carriage work. It has been laid as 
a ball-room floor in the house of a member of the Council 
