SOUTHERN AFRICA. 83 
poses, but will not bear exposure to weather. Next to the 
yellow wood is the yzer hout, iron-wood, (a sideroirjlon,) 
growing to the size of three feet in diameter, the trunk straight 
and very high. The wood of this tree is close-grained, pon- 
derous, and of great hardness. Ilassagai hoiit (the cwtesia 
faginea of the Hortus Kewensis) is a beautiful tree, which 
o-rows to the size of the iron-wood, and is used for naves, 
fellies, and spokes of waggon wheels, and for most imple- 
ments of husbandry. The grain of this wood is somewhat 
closer and the color darker than those of plain mahogany. 
Stink hout, or stinking wood, takes its name from an offensive 
excrementitious odor, which is exhaled from it while green, 
and which it retains till perfectly seasoned. It grows to the 
size of the geel Jiout, and is by many degrees the best kind of 
wood that is produced in the colony. The grain and the 
shades are not unlike those of walnut ; and many specimens 
from old trees make exceedingly beautiful furniture. It ap- 
pears to be well calculated for use in ship-building, either as 
knees, beams, timbers, or plank. The stink liout is the native 
oak of South Africa, and I believe the only species found 
at least in the southern part of that continent. It may 
therefore not improperly be called \\\e.Quercus Africana. Se- 
veral other timber-trees of vast size were growing here, and 
in other places along the southern coast, the number of which 
procured by us amounted to more than forty different kinds, 
of which a list will be given in a future Chapter ; yet in Cape 
Town there is a general complaint of a want of wood ; and the 
extravagant demand of six hundred per cent, profit has been 
made there for European deals. 
