INDIA, BURMA, AND ANDAMAN ISLANDS 179 
is reddish brown like mahogany or jarrah. It is used for 
house-building, bridges, and railway sleepers, but is difficult 
to get, so much so that sufficient cannot be obtained for 
the requirements of the Burmese railways. It is hard 
to work and unless well seasoned is liable to split when 
exposed to the sun. The pores are filled with a thick 
glutinous substance which oozes out of the wood after being 
worked. In Siam it is called Mai deng. 
Weight 58 to 66 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Teak (Tectona grandis) (Fig. 29) grows in various parts 
of India, in Chittagong, Darjeeling, Terai, and Assam, 
whilst in Java there are extensive plantations ; it is also 
found in the French colonies of Cochin China and in the 
Dutch East Indies, but the chief supplies come from Burma 
and Siam. Latterly large quantities have been sent to the 
European market from Java. 
The best quality is got from the south-western slopes of 
the range of mountains on the Burma-Siamese frontier. 
The trunk is straight, and an ordinary full-grown tree in 
good soil may measure 90 ft. to the first branch and 18 ft. 
in girth 6 ft. above the ground, but these dimensions as a 
rule vary from 30 to 60 ft. to the first branch and 6 to 
12 ft. in girth. One of the tallest measured was 106 ft. to 
the first branch. Owing to the difficulties of transport 
timber of the above sizes is not often brought into the 
market, and it is exceptional to see logs in Eangoon over 
50 ft., and these are not of large girth ; for special purposes 
round logs 40 to 50 ft. long may be brought down, but the 
usual lengths are 25 to 27 ft. A few come occasionally over 
50 ft. to the English market. The bark is thin, of yellowish 
grey colour, and the leaves are large and round in shape, 
resembling a cabbage leaf, and about 10 inches in diameter. 
Teak occurs in small patches in large forests of other trees — 
N 2 
