Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/150

130 not extensively known then, it was a favourite wood in the East for works requiring strength and durability, and without doubt the samples I met with all looked remarkably well, and seemed fit to be employed in any work of construction where great strength is required.

It is interesting to note that, subsequent to this, Lieut.-Col. H. W. Blake, the Commissioner at Moulmein, brought this wood to the notice of the Home Government. He says; "It is one of the largest trees in Burmah, and is called Ingazylocarva, a species of Acacia, which combines in itself the properties of wood and iron, and is therefore very appropriately called Iron-wood by us and Pyengadu by the Burmans. It is heavier than water and more indestructible than iron. There is a piece of this wood which supported a Teak figure of 'Godama' taken from Rangoon in 1826, standing in a lake near. The Teak figure has long since mouldered away into dust, but at the pillar I fired a rifle shot, at 20 yards' distance; the ball was thrown back, making no penetration whatever. The wood seems hardened by time and exposure, and it is also a fact that the teredo will not touch it. The Burmans do not girdle and kill this tree as they do the Teak, but fell and saw it up at once, and refuse to work it in a dry state."

Dr. Hooker says: "It is found, not universally in India, but in widely distant parts. Throughout Tenasserim and the Malay peninsula it is called 'Peengado.' It is abundant in the Bombay Presidency, where it is called 'Jambea' and 'Yerool;' in the Godavery forests it bears the name of 'Boja;' it is common at Singapore, and I have ascertained that it is plentiful in the Philippine Islands. Everywhere the wood bears a high character