MAHOGANY TREE. 
103 
'I o show the present extensive use of Mahogany in Eng- 
land, it may be sufficient to mention that in 1829, the im- 
portation amounted to 19,335 tons. 
In Cuba and Honduras, it becomes one of the most 
majestic of trees, growing and increasing for some centu- 
ries. Its gigantic trunk throws out such massive arms, 
and spreads the shade of its shining green leaves over 
such a vast surface, that all other trees appear insignifi- 
cant in the comparison. A single log not unfrequently 
weighs 6 or 7 tons, and a tree has been known to contain 
as much as 12,000 superficial feet, and to have produced 
upwards of 1000/. sterling. The largest log ever cut in 
Honduras, was 17 feet long, 57 inches broad, and 5 feet 4 
inches in depth; measuring 5,168 superficial feet, or 15 
tons weight. 
The Mahogany of Honduras* is cut about the month of 
August, by gangs of men of from 20 to 50 each. The 
woods are penetrated and surveyed from the summit of 
some lofty tree, and the leaves at this season having ac- 
quired a yellow reddish hue, are discerned by an accus- 
tomed eye at a great distance. The trees are commonly 
cut 10 or 12 feet from the ground, a stage being erected 
for the purpose. The trunk from the dimensions of the 
wood it furnishes, is deemed the most valuable ; but for 
ornamental purposes, the limbs, or branches, are generally 
preferred. 
A sufficient number of trees being felled to occupy the 
gang during the season, they commence cutting the roads 
upon which they are to be transported. This may fairly 
be estimated at two-thirds of the labour and expense of 
Mahogany cutting. Each mahogany work forms in itself 
a small village on the bank of a river, — the choice of situ- 
# Supposed by Mr. R. Browne to be a peculiar species, on the authority 
of Brown’s Hist, of Jamaica. 
