The Forests of British Guiana. 205 
tied on at about equal distances, by means of which the 
men yoke themselves in couples. A lad, with a sauce- 
pan filled with tallow, leads the way, and with his hands 
rubs a small quantity of grease on the side of the timber. 
Then, singing a chorus, the men stretch to the work with 
a will and make the huge log spin like a plaything along 
the timber path until it thunders down to the bank of the 
creek. The balahoo — or punt — men here lay hold of it, and 
taking advantage of the water in the creek, the ballahoo 
is canted, and the timber made fast. Then with a lever 
the balahoo is canted to the opposite side ; and the second 
log is made fast. The lever being now withdrawn, the load 
is equally divided. Balahoo and load are now poled 
down to the timber-landing, where ships from Europe 
take in the load. This is a brief outline of how the legi- 
timate wood-cutter manages his business. 
There are, however, others whose operations are of adif- 
ferentkind. Of these may be mentioned first the bovianders, 
who cut and square timber for local use, fellingyoung wood 
squaring as low as six inches. They also cut beams and 
spars down to 3 inches in diameter. Tacouba posts are also 
manufactured by them from young wood, by simply chip- 
ping the bark and a little of the sap wood to make it 
appear the true article or tacouba, which is really the 
heart of the tree. A tree 12 to 14 inches in diameter 
will only afford a tacouba 6 to 7 inches ; men of this class 
are the great destroyers of the forests. The Indians, too, 
have permission to cut such timber on Crown Lands as 
does not square above 12 inches; thus the law would 
seem to provide for these primitive sons of the soil to be 
as destructive as bovianders or small wood-cutters. 
CC 
