SOUTH AFEICAN TIMBER 
207 
Assegai Wood {Cniiisca faginea), or Cape lancewood, is a 
tough wood of light red colour, used for shafts, wheel spokes, 
assegai shafts, turnery, etc. 
Weight 56 to 60 lbs. per cubic foot. 
CedarlDOom {Widclringtonia juniperoide^),2k kind of cypress, 
has a grain not unlike Havannah West Indian cedar, but of 
lighter colour. Used for floors^ roofs, and other building 
purposes ; it does not, however, stand exposure. 
Weight 48 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Kajatenhout (Pterocarpiis angolensis) is much appreciated 
in the Transvaal and Cape Colony for furniture. The 
colour is a yellowish brown and it often has a pretty pattern. 
Ikusi or native teak is a most serviceable and durable 
wood for mining purposes and impervious to the white ant. 
Weight about 57 lbs. per cubic foot. 
The ikusi forests of Matabeleland cover some 2,000 
sqaare miles and are densest between the Umgaza and 
Ingasa rivers. N'Ishibi resembles ikusi, but is not so heavy. 
The Mlange Cedar {Widdringtonia ivltytei) is one of the 
most valuable trees in Nyassaland and attains a heiglit of 
150 ft. It yields a valuable timber, easier wrought than 
deal and much more beautiful. It is fragrant, close grained, 
and stands damp well. Posts fixed in the ground for 
thirty years, exposed to damp and drought, were taken up 
practically intact. The supply of trees is being rapidly 
exhausted. This is one of the few conifers indigenous to 
South Africa. 
Mahogany, which is practically the only timber as yet 
exported from Africa, has been referred to in another place, 
but there is little doubt that in years to come, when the 
