122 
TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [chap. 
of the fibres of Moulmein Teak in a length of 3 feet 
under certain strains. Three pieces, each 2 x 2 x 48 
inches, were thus tested, at one of the royal dockyards, 
and it was found that the mean elongation was nearly a 
quarter of an inch. (See Table L.) 
The Teak tree is subject to a wasting away of the 
early annual layers long before it reaches maturity ; and 
the number of young trees found thus affected in the 
rafts brought from the forests to the shipping port is 
very remarkable. The surveyor judging only from the 
deliveries of Teak in this country would hardly be aware 
of this, as hollow trees would not be selected for the 
European market. 
Teak timber is also subject to heart-shake, as before 
observed, and in many logs, especially if they are 
procured from old trees, it is found to extend to one- 
half, and sometimes to two-thirds the diameter of the 
tree, and stretching along the entire length of it. If 
this shake is in one plane throughout, the conversion of 
the log involves no greater difficulty or loss than that 
occasioned by dropping out a piece large enough to 
include it. When, however, as in other instances, the 
cleft or shake at the top is at right angles, or nearly so, 
to that at the butt end, it is rather more serious, as the 
log must either be used in its greatest bulk, or worked 
up for small scantlings, such as could be obtained if it 
were cut into two or more lengths. 
If the shake extends only a few feet up from the 
butt end, the most profitable way of converting the log 
would be by cutting it into plank or board, taking care 
to work from the outside instead of the centre, and thus 
waste only a tapering or wedge-like piece, sufficient to 
include the defect. 
Many Teak logs are worm-eaten ; holes from a 
