Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/151

XXI.] for hardness and durability; the white ant will not touch it; it shrinks in seasoning one-eighth inch per foot of surface, and the density is 5 lbs. 10 oz. per foot superficial. It is one of seven or eight species of trees which Dr. Falconer, in his report of the Teak forests of Tenasserim, earnestly requests the Indian Government to preserve.”

Five specimen logs of the Pyengadu, each about 20 feet in length, and 20 to 24 inches square, were sent to Woolwich Dockyard in 1863, for trial experimentally in ship-building; but, as they were found to have extensive heart-shake, they were scarcely fit for constructive purposes. If, therefore, the heart-shake defect seen in these logs fairly indicates the character of this wood, its value as building timber would be seriously affected. I am, however, of opinion that this is not the case, and that these were probably some chance pieces which happened to be in the way when specimen logs were required. Three of the logs here referred to were kept for several years at Woolwich without any good opportunity offering for their employment, and after this lapse of time they did not appear to have undergone any change, or to be in the slightest degree deteriorated.

The specific gravity of these logs was about 1176, while that given by Dr. Hooker is 1080; the difference is therefore not very important.

I found in the Commissariat Stores at Moulmein, besides the Teak and Pyengadu, many other valuable woods of building sizes, and the following are especially worthy of notice, namely, the Padouk (Pterocarpus) of a deep red colour; the Parewah, and the Penthityah, both of a dark reddish-brown colour; the Kammone; the Annan (Fagræa fragrans), and the Kamonpew, each