AM PEL IDEA!. 1/7 
blance. From its groat hardness also, it takes the highest 
polish of which any wood is susceptible. 
Although the Spaniards were, in all probability, the earliest 
to apply the wood to use, and although the French must be 
allowed to excel in producing the most highly finished and or- 
namental work from it, it is into England that the greater 
proportion of it is imported, and where it is most extensively 
employed. There is very little at present exported from this 
Island. The principal supply is from Honduras ; hut it is of a 
very inferior description, the grain being open, and the wood 
of a light and porous texture, and of a paler colour. Trees, 
indeed, which have grown in low alluvial situations, never give 
a rich and hard wood. Hence the Mahogany of St Domingo, 
and that of the Bahama Islands, are considered superior to what 
is at present exported from Jamaica. 
Mahogany was formerly employed by the Spaniards in ship- 
building. Captain Franklin took with him, to the Arctic Sea, 
boats constructed in England of this wood ; the planks being 
thin and light, and, in consequence, very portable. It is said to 
be almost indestructible by worms, or in water, and to be bul- 
let-proof. 
The Bark of the Mahogany is astringent, and has been re- 
commended in decoction for diarrhoea. The proportions are, 
an ounce of the bruised bark to 2 pints of water, and to be 
boiled down to one half. The late Dr Wright remarked, that 
the bark of the boughs resembles Puruvian Bark in colour and 
taste, although with a somewhat more intense bitter. Infused 
in wine or spirits, it makes a very elegant tincture. It has 
also been given with success in powder, as a substitute for Pe- 
ruvian Bark. 
ORDER XL V. AMPELIDEiE. 
Calyx small, with the margin subentire. Petals 
4 or 5, inserted on the outside of the disk which 
surrounds the ovary. Stamens of the same number as 
the petals, and inserted before them on the disk. 
Ovary superior, 2-celled : style 1, very short : stig- 
ma simple. Berry round, often by abortion 1 -celled. 
Seeds 4-5, or fewer by abortion, long : albumen 
hard : embryo erect : cotyledons lanceolate. 
VOL. I. N 
