Vol. VIII. No. 92. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[August, 1902.] 
213 
47. KaUTA-balli, from tlie same district. There are two or three varieties of this 
tree, distinguished by the size of their leaves, Kauta-balli grows to its largest size on clay 
soil mixed with gravelly ironstone. It is abundant on hilly land, and attains to an average 
height of 80 feet, and can be had to square 14 inches. The wood is useful for house-framing, 
is hard and has a close straight grain. The fruit is not edible ; the bark, made into charcoal 
and ground to powder, is used by the Indian women to mix with the clay of which their 
pots, goglets, and other earthenware vessels are made. 
4S. Keritee, or Kretti, from the Aroua-pia-kooroo creek, Pomeroon river, British 
Guiana. The tree averages 80 feet in height, and will square 20 inches, being plentiful in 
some localities. The wood has a strong aromatic scent, is light, and in colour and 
appearance resembles satinwood. It is useful for partitions, and the upper planking 
of boats. 
49. Kooroobalt.i, or Trysil, from the Moraballi creek, where it grows plentifully. 
The average height of the trees in the forest on the upper parts of the Essequebo river is 
60 feet. On the coast lands and in the swamps at the back of estates, where large quantities 
are cut for firewood, it does not grow so large. The wood is dark, close grained, and suit- 
able for making furniture ; it can be had to square 10 inches free from sap. The bark is 
employed by the Indians in cases of dysentery. 
50. Kumara, or Tonkin bean ( Dipterix odorafa), from the Itoori-bisci creek, 
Essequebo river. The tree grows plentifully in some localities, especially above and on the 
islands in the rapids of the Essequebo river. The average height is 90 feet, and it will 
square 22 inches. Kumara is a close-grained, heavy, brown coloured wood, exceedingly 
tough and durable, and is useful for cogs, shafts, and any other purpose where a strong wood 
capable of resisting great pressure is desired. This tree yields the Tonkin beans, well 
known in the colony ; they are used by the Indians to perfume their hair-oil, and -when put 
among clothing are supposed to keep away moths and other insects. An oil can be extracted 
from the beans. 
51. Ivurahara, from the same place. The tree grows in sandy soil and on the edges of 
swamps ; it is very straight, with dark green leaves. 'The average height is 90 feet, and it 
will square 20 inches free of sap. The wood is red, light, and like cedar ; it is employed 
for making canoes, planking boats, and for spars. It has a resinous gum. 
52. KuRAROO, or Bat-seed, from the same place. It is a tree common throughout 
British Guiana, and may be seen growing in Georgetown, where it is known as Wild Olive. 
It does not grow very tall, but the diameter of the trunk is great in proportion to its height, 
which averages 60 feet, and it can be had to square 3 to 4 feet, in short lengths. The wood 
is hard but not very durable, and is little used ; it takes a fine polish and would be suitable 
for furniture. 
53. Lancewood. There are two varieties — Black Lancewood ( Bocagca virgata )> 
and White Lancewood ( Bocagea laurifolia). Found in Cuba, Ilayti, Jamaica, etc. A tall 
slim tree, growing straight to 30 feet high, and 12 inches diameter. The wood possesses 
great elasticity, and is much used in carriage building, for which purpose it is exported. 
Jamaica spars fetch higher prices in the home market than similar wood from other places. 
The export from Jamaica for twenty years has been valued at ,£31,275. 
54. Lauriers, or Laurel trees. Found in nearly all the islands. There are more than 
a dozen varieties, known by such names as Laurier Canelle, Laurier Cypres, Laurier Fourmis, 
Laurier Marbre, Laurier Piant, Laurier Sifrene, Laurier Zabel, etc. Of these the most 
important is Laurier Canelle, or Cinnamon Laurel. This tree is 30 to 35 feet high, and 
2 to 3 feet diameter. The wood is of a bright brownish colour, with a strong agreeable 
smell. It is plentiful, and used for telegraph posts, and is suitable for most purposes for 
which pitch pine is employed. Weight, 30 lb. per foot cube. Value about £7 per ton. 
Laurier Piant, or Puant, or Smelling Laurel, is also of considerable utility. The tree 
is likewise 30 to 35 feet high, and 2 to 3 feet diameter. The wood has a pleasant smell 
somewhat similar to cedar, and is said to be free from the attacks of wood-ants. Withstands 
the weather, but warps, and lasts in the ground without any protection of charring or tarring. 
Employed for inside and outside work, boards, furniture, telegraph or other posts, etc., and 
general purposes. Weight, 52 lb. per foot cube. 
55. Lignum VITAS, or Gaiac (Guaiacum officinale). Found in Jamaica, Trinidad, 
St. Lucia, etc. A low tree up to 20 feet high, and 18 inches diameter. It is slow-growing, 
thriving best in well-drained and dry districts, and stands drought better than many trees. 
The heartwood is of a dark greenish-brown colour, owing to the deposition of guaiacum 
resin ; the sapwood is nearly yellow. The wood is exceedingly dense, hard, heavy, and 
tough ; and will resist white ants. Weight, 7b lb. per foot cube. It is extremely useful for 
sheaves and blocks of pulleys, rulers, skittle balls, and other turnery purposes. Sometimes 
employed for machine bearings, where its qualities of hardness and durability render it 
preferable to metals. Crushing strength, 3‘S7 tons per square inch. The wood is used in 
the Bahamas for hinges and fastenings owing to the quick corrosion of iron. The gum-resin 
guaiacum is got from the tree and used as a medicine. This may be readily extracted from 
the wood by making an incision in the middle and then building a fire at both ends of a log. 
The bark is employed in Trinidad for preparing an effervescing drink, locally known as 
“ mawbee,” It is an official medicine of the British Pharmacopoeia, where its uses are 
fully described. 
56. Lizard Wood ( Vitex divaricaia, Szu). Grows in Trinidad, St. Lucia, etc. 
Termed “ Fiddle wood” in the former place. A large thick tree, about 30 inches diameter 
and 25 feet high. The wood is strong, and one of the best and most lasting for house 
building. It is employed for inside and outside work, for shingles, posts in the ground, etc., 
and is durable in water. Weight, 75 lb. per foot cube. 
57. LOCUST, or Simiri, or Courbaril (Hy?nencea Courbaril). Found in British 
Guiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, etc. It is abundant, and grows best in white sandy 
soil, to as much as 5 feet diameter. There are two varieties of the tree — Simiri and K’wanarri 
— distinguished by the size of their bean-pods. The wood is of a reddish-brown colour, 
streaked, close-grained, extremely hard and tough. It resembles mahogany, but is much 
harder, and is liable to rot in the ground. Suitable for cabinet work and furniture, as it 
takes a fine polish. On account of its freedom from splitting or warping it is well adapted 
for mill timbers, cogs of wheels, and engine work, and makes good trenails for fastening 
planks. Crushing strength 5*17 tons per square inch. Weight, 59 lb. per foot cube. 
Value, £12 per ton. The Indians make wood-skin canoes from the bark. A fragrant 
amber-like resin, known as West Indian copal, or the Gum Animi of commerce, exudes from 
the stem. This gum is found in large quantities where a tree has rotted away, and small 
amounts may be procured by tapping. When this Gum Animi is dissolved in highly rectified 
spirits of wine it makes one of the finest varnishes known. 
58. Logwood, or Campeche wood ( Heematoxylon Campechianum ). Found through- 
out the West Indies, sometimes in dense thickets in marshy places. It is a small bush-like 
tree, not unlike English hawthorn, and generally acquires in about twenty years a diameter 
of a foot, with a total height of 20 feet. The heartwood is of a dark red colour, hard, and 
used for posts and cabinet work. It is, however, solely exported for dyeing and colouring 
wines, for which it is, perhaps, the most important of all dyestuffs. Logwood grows best, 
and produces finer heartwood, on moist rich soils, where there is abundance of vegetable 
matter. It makes a strong and durable fence, but must be kept well pruned. There are 
several species of logwood, and the largest supplies come from Campeche and Yucatan. 
It is a powerful astringent. The yearly export from Jamaica varies from 22,000 to 115,000 
tons. The quantity exported from St. Lucia in 1S96 was 1,904 tons, valued at £4,284. 
The average annual export from Honduras is 17,000 tons. 
59. Mahogany ( Swientenia mahogani). This celebrated timber comes chiefly from 
Central America as “Honduras” or “Bay” mahogany, or from the West Indies as 
“ Spanish mahogany.” The tree is of comparatively rapid growth, reaching maturity in 
about 200 years, the trunk exceeding 40 to 50 feet long and 6 to 12 feet diameter. It is very 
handsome, with enormous branches of solid timber ; and, rather strangely, when it springs 
from low levels and rich soil the wood is most inferior, being poor in colour, soft and spongy, 
and consequently almost valueless. That, however, which has been grown without 
nourishment on high levels, save what it derives from the atmosphere, is hard, figured, 
densely close in texture, as well as rich and deep in colour, all qualifications which enhance 
its worth. It is also a curious fact that the tree does not seem to have any partiality, as it 
will flourish in low marshy ground, or in a deep alluvial soil, or even on rocks to all appear- 
ance barren of earth ; in fact, wherever the seeds chance to drop. Its development is more 
rapid in the shade than in the open. 
The following extract is from a well-known authority on timbers : — “ Mahogany attains 
it? greatest development and grows most abundantly between io° N. lat. and the Tropic of 
Cancer, flourishing best on the higher crests of the hills, and preferring the lighter soils. It 
is found in abundance along the banks of the Usumacinta, and other large rivers flowing into 
the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in the larger islands of the West Indies, such as Cuba, Jamaica, 
Bahamas, etc. British settlements for cutting and shipping the timber were established so 
long ago as 1638-40, and the right to the territory has been maintained by Great Britain, 
chiefly on account of the importance of this branch of industry. The cutting season usually 
commences about August. It is performed by gangs of men, numbering twenty to fifty, 
under the direction of a “ captain ” and accompanied by a “huntsman,” the duty of the 
latter being to search out suitable trees and guide the cutters to them. The felled trees of a 
season are scattered over a very wide area. All the larger ones are “ squared ” before being 
brought away on wheeled trucks along the forest roads made for the purpose. By March or 
April felling and trimming are completed ; the dry season by that time permits the trucks to 
be wheeled to the river banks. A gang of forty men work six trucks, each requiring seven 
pair of oxen and two drivers. Arrived at the river, the logs, duly marked, are thrown into 
the stream ; the rainy season follows in May and June, and the rising current carries them 
seawards, guided by men following in canoes. A boom at the river mouth stops the timber, 
and enables each owner to identify his property. They are then made up into rafts, and 
taken to the wharves for a final trimming before shipment. The cutters often continue their 
operations far into the interior, and over the borders into Guatemala and Yucatan. Bahama 
mahogany grows abundantly on Andros island and others of the Bahama group. It is not 
exceeded in durability by any of the Bahama woods. It grows to a large size, but is generally 
cut to small dimensions, owing to the want of proper roads and other means of conveyance. 
It is principally used for bedsteads, etc., and the crooked trees and branches for ship timber. 
It is a fine, hard, close-grained, moderately heavy wood, of a fine rich colour, equal to that 
of Spanish mahogany, although probably too hard to be well adapted for the purposes to 
which the latter is usually applied. Honduras is best for strength and stillness, while 
Spanish is most valued for ornamental purposes. Honduras mahogany is found in the 
country round the bay of Honduras, the trees being of considerable size. The average 
annual export is 3,000,000 feet. It is of a golden or red-brown colour, of various shades and 
degrees of brightness, often very much veined and mottled. The grain is coarser than that 
of Spanish, and the inferior qualities often contain grey specks. This timber is very durable 
when kept dry, but does not stand the weather well. It is seldom attacked by dry-rot, 
contains a resinous oil which prevents the attacks of insects, and is untouched by worms. 
It is strong, tough, and flexible when fresh, but becomes brittle when dry. It contains a 
very small proportion of sap, and is very free from shakes and other defects. The wood 
requires great care in seasoning, does not shrink or warp much, but if the seasoning process 
is carried on too rapidly it is liable to split into deep shakes externally. It holds glue very 
well, has a soft silky grain, contains no acids injurious to metal fastenings, and is less 
combustible than most timbers. It is generally of a plain straight grain and uniform colour, 
but is sometimes of wavy grain or figured. Its market forms are logs 2 to 4 feet square and 
12 to 14 feet in length. Sometimes planks have been obtained 6 to 7 feet wide. Mahogany 
is known in the market as “ plain,” “ veiny,” “ watered,” “ velvet-cowl,” “ bird's eye,” and 
“ festooned,” according to the appearance of the vein formations. The weight varies from 
35 1 ° 53 lh. per foot cube. The cohesive force is 1 1,475 lb* 
“ Cuba or Spanish mahogany, from the island of Cuba, is distinguished from Honduras 
by a white, chalk-like substance which fills its pores. The wood is very sound, free from 
shakes, with a beautiful wavy grain or figure, and capable of receiving a high polish, when 
it is of a lighter yellow colour than Honduras. It is used chiefly for furniture and ornamental 
purposes, and for shipbuilding. The logs as imported are 20 to 26 inches square and 10 feet 
long. The cohesive force is 7,560 lb., and the strength, stiffness, and toughness are 
respectively 67, 73 > and 61 in Spanish, and 96, 93, and 99 in Honduras. 
“ Mexican mahogany show's the characteristics of Honduras. Some varieties of it are 
figured. It may be obtained in very large sizes, but the wood is spongy' in the centre, coarse 
in quality, and very liable to star -shakes. It is imported in balks 15 to 36 inches square, and 
1 S to 30 feet long. 
“ St. Domingo mahogany and Nassau (Bahamas) mahogany are hard, heavy varieties, 
of a deep red colour, generally well veined or figured, and used for cabinet work. They are 
imported in very small logs, 6 to 12 inches square, and 3 to 10 feet long.” 
Jamaica mahogany is very fine, but the supply is almost, if not quite, exhausted, as the 
proprietors of estates, knowing that the tree must be about 200 years old before it is fit 
lor felling, will not attempt to make plantations. In the great houses of West Indian estates 
there are many specimens of beams and rafters of mahogany, very' old and in good condition ; 
but at the present time it is very seldom employed, only those trees being cut which are 
found on waste pastures and in forest near cultivation, and they rarely give more than 10 
inch planks. At no time has mahogany been largely exported from Jamaica, and recent 
trial shipments have been made at a loss. As a timber, the present stock is undoubtedly 
inferior to the Honduras varieties, having neither the ornamental grain and toughness of the 
one, nor the splendid dimensions acquired by the latter. With age it becomes of a good 
colour, and is always a handsome wood. Formerly the w'ood from Jamaica was specially 
reputed for its mottled grain. 
The builder uses mahogany for handrails, furniture, joinery, cabinet and ornamental 
work, etc., but it is not fit for external work. It has been extensively employed in machinery 
for cotton mills, and has been largely used in shipbuilding, for beams, planking, and in many 
other ways as a substitute for oak, and found to answer exceedingly w'ell. The wood is very' 
durable in the dry, and not liable to worms. On the whole it is remarkably free from defects, 
converts easily and wfith little loss, and w arps and twists less than any other wood. Taking 
everything into consideration mahogany is the most highly prized of all ornamental woods, 
and still holds the field. 
( This article will he concluded in the September JOURNAL . ) 
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