LOADING. CHIEF KINDS OF TIMBER 
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{Aucoumca klaineana) , the so-called false mahogany. 
The latter is softer than real mahogany, and is used 
mostly for making cigar-boxes, but it is employed also 
for furniture, and has a great future before it. Many 
species of it are almost more beautiful than the real 
mahogany. 
If the timber is left too long in the water it is 
attacked by the boring mollusc, the teredo navalis 
(French taret). This is a small worm-like creature, 
really a kind of mussel, which eats a passage for itself 
straight to the centre of the log. For this reason any 
timber that has to wait a long time for the ship is roUed 
on to the shore, and advantage is usually taken of this 
to hew off the sap wood, so that the trunk becomes a 
square beam. 
But besides the okoume and mahogany there are 
many other valuable kinds of wood on the Ogowe. 
I will mention the ekewasengo, or rosewood {pois de rose ) , 
and coralwood {bois de cor ail), both of which have a 
beautiful red colour, and the ironwood, which is so hard 
that in the sawmill at N’Gomo there are cog-wheels 
in use that are made of it. There grows here also 
a wood which, when planed, looks like white moire 
silk. 
The finest woods, however, are not exported, because 
they are not yet known in European markets, and are, 
therefore, not in demand. When they do become known 
and sought after, the Ogowe timber trade will become 
even more important than it is to-day. The reputation 
of being the best wood expert on the Ogowe belongs to 
Mr. Haug, one of the missionaries at N’Gomo, who has 
a valuable collection of specimens of every kind of it. 
At first I could not understand how it is that everybody 
