Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/134

114 from the pith, forming there a hard concrete substance, which no edge-tool can touch without losing its keenness. The oil also acts as a preventive against rust when iron is in contact with it, and for this reason it is preferred to all other known woods for the backing to the armour-plates of iron-clad ships of war. It possesses, indeed, so many valuable properties, that it has long been held in great esteem as a material for construction, while its economical uses are so great, that there is no carpenter, or other worker in wood, who does not, after having once tried it, fully appreciate its value.

In favourable situations the Teak tree grows to a sufficient height to furnish the lower masts for ships of 2,000 tons burthen, and it is commonly employed for this purpose in the East Indies. It is naturally a tall tree, and I am of opinion that greater lengths of timber might be produced from it than we generally receive, if only a little more care were taken to prevent waste in the forests. Ordinarily the practice is to cut off the bole or stem below the branches; whereas, in many cases, it would be easy to include in it the knots of some of the lower ones, and thus gain a foot or two more of length in the log, which the ship-builders and many others would consider to greatly enhance its value.

In the late contracts for this description of timber for the royal dockyards, it was stipulated that the minimum length of the log should be 24, and the average 28 feet, but as of late it has been found difficult to obtain this average from the Moulmein district (whence nearly all our supplies have been drawn for many years past) the minimum and average length has been reduced respectively to 23 and 27 feet.

The Burmese assign two reasons for not aiming to produce a better average length of log; one is, that