172 
TIMBER 
gum resin. It is used for doors and window frames, posts, 
beams, furniture, agricultural implements, carts, and in 
boat-building, and also for sleepers. It is largely used in 
Mysore. The heartwood is a yellowish brown with darker 
streaks, the sapwood is small, and the medullary rays are 
very fine and numerous. 
Weight averages about 55 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Satinwood is the most valuable of light-coloured furniture 
wood. There are two kinds known in commerce, both being 
somewhat similar in appearance. The satinwood of India 
and Ceylon is the produce of a moderate-sized deciduous 
tree {Chloroxylon swietenia). It is allied to the mahogany 
tree and might be called yellow mahogany. In India it is 
used for building and agricultural implements as well as 
for furniture, and sleepers of this timber have a life of 
twenty years in Ceylon. It is sometimes startling to hear 
of timber of this character, so valuable in other parts of 
the world, being used in their native districts as we use fir 
and pine in England and America. A bridge at Peradeniya, 
near Kandy, with a single arch of 205 ft. span, was built 
entirely of this timber, and it was used for piling at 
Colombo many years ago. The West Indian satinwood is 
considered the best and is most largely used; it comes 
from St. Domingo, Porto Rico, and the neighbouring 
districts in lengths up to 19 ft. and 12 to 20 inches a side, 
also in planks. Both East and West Indian varieties are 
much the same in aj)pearance, somewhat like box in their 
yellow or cream colour with inner wood darker than outer, 
and no distinct heartwood, and of a fine satiny lustre. The 
annual rings are distinct. If anything the West Indian 
wood has the smoother and finer grain, but both kinds are 
hard and close grained, take a fine polish, and can be cut 
into small mouldings better than most wood. Their 
