INDIA, BUEMA, AND ANDAMAN ISLANDS 183 
acting as a preventative against rust. Teak is the chief 
timber used in most parts of India for engineering structures, 
temples, and heavy work, and is one of the few timbers 
which resist the white ant. It lasts fairly well in sea 
water, and the teredo will not choose it in preference to other 
timber in the same neighbourhood. Its durability in tropical 
climates is extraordinary ; instances are known of teak beams 
having lasted a thousand years, and it is one of the few really 
durable Indian timbers. It is a good deal used for sleepers, 
and half-round timbers of jungle teak have been in the track 
after at least twenty-five years' service in Bombay and 
Gujarat. The Burmese use it a good deal for carving, but 
owing to the grain it cannot be very finely worked. Some 
of the internal woodwork of Truro Cathedral is of teak ; it 
is largely used for ships' decking, handrails, exposed doors 
and fittings all over the world, for boat and house building 
and for furniture in India, and for doors, windows, and 
first-class joinery work in Great Britain. It is too costly 
for use out of India except for special work, being the 
dearest timber with the exception of mahogany imported 
in any large quantities into Great Britain. It is stronger 
and stiffer than Enghsh oak, although the structure of the 
wood is somewhat similar. The price of Kangoon logs in 
the English market varies from ^6 10s. to ^69, flitches or 
slabs from £9 10s. to ijl2, and planks from £14 5s. to 
£19 15s. per load of 50 cubic ft., and for good ships' decks 
it will sometimes run up to nearly £30 a load. 
From what has been said as to the risk in cutting up 
teak logs it will be evident that for planking or thin stuff it 
is advisable to buy teak cut as required and not in the log. 
A large quantity of Java teak is now imported, but it is 
not nearly of such good quahty as Rangoon teak. It is not 
such a mellow wood, being softer, more coarse and open in 
grain, and in the log as imported is much more burrowed 
