Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/149

 CHAPTER XXI.

BURMAH.

Pyengadu, or Iron-wood tree, the Ingazylocarva of the botanists, is a species of Acacia, of straight growth, found in the Burmese forests, and also in the countryoccupied by the Karens, towards Western China, where it is often seen rising to 70 or 80 feet clear of branches, and of very large circumference. It yields timber in the log 12 to 24 and even 30 inches square, and of great lengths.

The wood is of a reddish-brown colour, hard, heavy, tough, strong, rigid, and frequently possesses some figure in the grain, which has the appearance of being both waved and twisted; its pores are filled with a remarkably thick glutinous oily substance, which oozes out upon the surface after the wood has been worked, leaving a clamminess which cannot be completely got rid of until the piece is thoroughly seasoned. This oily substance has probably a preservative property about it, and may be conducive to the durability of the timber.

The Pyengadu was highly spoken of by the officers at Moulmein, who supplied considerable quantities of it to the Madras Government for the manufacture of gun-carriages, and also for other purposes. Although it was