208 
TIMBER 
country is opened out, great supplies of other timber will 
be brought from West Africa. The great Congo Forest, 
the " dark forest " so ably described by Stanley, covers a 
compact square area of over 320,000 miles and contains 
immense supplies of all kinds of valuable timber. 
Amongst the timbers of Nigeria and the Gold Coast are 
the following, none of which are as yet exported to any 
extent : — 
Iroko, a dark brown timber of uniform colour ; the grain 
is straight, but coarse and open. It will not take a fine 
finish, as there is a tendency for it to " pick up " under 
the plane. A good-sized log of this timber, containing 
78 cubic ft., was recently sold at 10(7. per cubic foot in 
Liverpool. This is probably Odorophora exceJsa. 
Weight about 39 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Opepe is an excellent wood to work and easy to polish. 
Weight about 47 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Oganwo is a kind of cedar, very like Axim mahogany. 
Ekki {Ijopliira procera) is the African oak, some of which 
has come in small parcels to the English market. It is 
very hard, dense, and deep red in colour. The pores are 
filled with a white deposit. It is a first-class fancy wood. 
There is a timber called greenheart which comes from 
Sapoli, in colour something like mahogany. 
