176 
TIMBER 
rather wide, clearly defined, and of straw colour. The heart - 
wood is nut brown or dark purple with white or dark 
longitudinal veins or streaks and small whitish specks. 
May be had in logs up to 20 inches square and is used for 
sleepers in Mysore. Found over a considerable range, it 
is abundant in Southern India and shipped from Cochin, 
Calicut, and other places on the west coast to Great Britain. 
It also grows in Burma. When fresh sawn the wood has 
an agreeable smell. The sawdust of rosewood is manu- 
factured into the substance called hois-durci of which 
beautiful ebony-like medallions and other ornaments are 
made. 
Weight 50 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Mutti {Terminalia coriacce) is a common tree in Central 
and Southern India, producing a heavy, hard, tough, fibrous, 
close-grained, dark brown and beautifully variegated wood, 
difficult to work, but durable and unaffected by white ants. 
It is used for beams and telegraph posts, sleepers, and the 
solid wheels of bufi'alo carts. 
Weight about 60 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Neem or Margosa {Melia indica), a large tree common 
throughout India and Burma, produces a hard, close- 
grained, fibrous and durable wood, very like mahogany in 
colour, scented and beautifully mottled, which makes 
excellent furniture, especially that obtained from old trees. 
It is very durable, equal indeed to camphor wood, and so 
bitter that insects will not attack it. Practically imperish- 
able trunks and chests are made of it. As neem is only a 
small tree, about 20 ft. high, long beams are not available. 
The bark and leaves are used medicinally. Eesistance to 
shearing along the fibres 1,326 lbs. per square inch, 
resistance to crushing 2*9 tons, coefficient of transverse 
