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has been of large size. It is a very slow grower, and large sized 
trees may be reckoned to be a century old at least. 
The tree is very easily identified by its large leaves 6-8 inches 
long bearing from 8 to 12 rather stiff rounded leaflets ; the flowers 
in panicles white, the pods green about a foot long almost woody, 
and tough, rather thick though flattened, and about three inches 
across. 
rhe Merabau is readily raised from seed, and for afforestation 
owing to its large size the seed can be planted in situ. The seed 
germinates very readily as a rule, but some remain for months 
after planting before they germinate. The first growth is very 
J then the growth is much slower. Trees of about 15 years age 
in the Botanic Gardens have attained a height of about 30 feet and 
a girth of 2 to 2 f feet. These trees have not at this age begun to 
flower yet. A full grow n tree fruits very heavily, and produces 
great quantities of seed. 
Merabau occurs abundantly in Selangor and Perak, Malacca 
(scantily) and as far north as Siam. It is absent from Singapore 
and Penang, and rare or absent also from Johor, the Dindings and 
Pahang. 
In spite of its name it would appear that it does not occur in 
Sumatra, the I ntsia palembanica, Miq. from which Baker took the 
name Afzelia palembanica being a distinct plant and Dr. Prain 
proposes the name of Afzelia Baketi for our Merabau. 
The w r ood is hard and heavy very durable, dark brown, and tak- 
ing a good polish, the pores are rather large and corky scattered 
or more or less in lines, rays very fine, concentric lines usually 
conspicuous fine and distant. 
Weight 1 Trade sample Singapore 50 lbs. 5 ozs. 
Lingga ... ... ... 54 lbs. 4 ozs. 
Malacca ... 56 lbs. 4 ozs. 
Johor Sawmills ... 58 lbs. 3 ozs. 
Merabau is one of our most useful woods, and indeed the most 
important timber in the country. It is the best for sleepers, and 
excellent for building purposes and for furniture. For sleepers 
alone as the railways are being pushed on through the Peninsula 
the consumption of Merabau will probably be very large. The 
following calculation w'as made fora report on the Selangor forests, 
as to the amount required for railway sleepers. Each sleeper mea- 
sures 6 feet long by 9 inches wide and 4^ inches thick and contains 
approximately 2 cubic feet, one mile of railway requires 1,980 
sleepers. A large sized Merabau tree may be estimated to give 
a log of 60 feet long and four feet through, w'hich is the equivalent 
of 188.50 cubic feet, so that one mile of railway requires 21 trees 
of the largest size. Taking the average duration of the sleepers 
at 8 years, 42 trees of the largest size will be required for a mile 
of railway in 16 year&~ This is much under estimated as compara- 
tively few trees give as much timber as this and waste has not 
been allow-ed for, but it gives a fair idea of the deducted amount 
required for railway sleepers. 
