Page:Enquiry into plants (Volume 1).pdf/467

 Box and ebony seem to have the closest and heaviest wood; for their wood does not even float on water. This applies to the box-tree as a whole, and to the core of the ebony, which contains the black pigment. The nettle-tree also is very close and heavy, and so is the core of the oak, which is called 'heart of oak,' and to a still greater degree this is true of the core of laburnum ; for this seems to resemble the ebony.

The wood of the terebinth is also very black and close-grained; at least in Syria they say that it is blacker than ebony, that in fact they use it for making their dagger handles; and by means of the lathe-chisel they also make of it 'Theriklean' cups, so that no one could distinguish these from cups made of pottery; for this purpose they use, it is said, the heart-wood, but the wood has to be oiled, for then it becomes comelier and blacker.

There is also, they say, another tree which, as well as the black colour, has a sort of reddish variegation, so that it looks like variegated ebony, and of it are made beds and couches and other things of superior quality. This tree is very large and has handsome leaves and is like the pear.

These trees then, as well as the black colour, have close wood; so also have maple zygia and in general all those that are of compact growth; so also have the olive and the wild olive, but their wood is brittle. Of wild trees which are used for roof-timbers the wood of the silver-fir is the least