Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/178

158 The island of Trinidad also produces the Carapo and the Balata trees, both of which attain moderate dimensions.

Sample logs of the Carapo timber were a few years since sent to Woolwich Dockyard, with a view to their introduction for ship-building purposes. The wood was red in colour, straight in the grain, of moderate weight and hardness, and somewhat resembled inferior mahogany.

It had, however, a strong tendency to split and tear to pieces in seasoning, and in only a few months it was so far deteriorated by shakes as to be unfit for almost any purpose in carpentry.

The wood of the Balata tree was dark red in colour—fine, close, and straight in the grain—hard, heavy, strong, and somewhat resembled the African timber of commerce, except that the centre of the logs was very shaky. Decay, with hollowness, had set in about the pith in some of the logs, indicating that it had commenced while the trees were still young, and otherwise strong and vigorous.

When the logs referred to had been kept for only a few months to season, the ends split open very much, and as these splits or shakes crossed each other at nearly right angles, and extended rapidly, they seemed likely soon to separate the pieces into four quarters, a serious defect which disqualified them for use in large scantlings, and rendered them only fit for some inferior purposes. Judged by the samples of Carapo and Balata, it seems that neither are suitable for important works of construction; it is therefore doubtful whether any supplies will be now imported.

The following woods, the growth of French Guiana, were selected under a commission appointed by the