Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/179

XXIV.] Colonial Government of St. Laurent du Maroni. They were imported into Havre only recently (1874).

1. Angélique. A species of Teak. This tree is of straight growth, and yields timber 12 to 22 inches square, by 20 to 54 feet in length, clear of branches.

The wood is of a reddish-brown colour, clean and even in the grain, moderately hard, tough, strong, elastic, and not difficult to work, although it does not cleave readily. Occasionally a few logs are found with a waviness or figure in the grain, which would make them valuable to the cabinet-maker. There is little sap-wood. The timber is very sound and free from knots, and, except that a small percentage of the logs have a slight heart, or perhaps, star-shake at the pith or centre, there are no defects affecting the conversion of it into planks, boards, &c., as may be required. This wood, therefore, seems fit for employment in architecture for most of the purposes to which African, Mahogany, Oak, Teak, Sabicu, &c., &c., are used.

It is reported to have been used for some time in the French dockyards as backing to armour plates on ships, and as it does not appear to contain any acid, it might be employed in lieu of Teak for a similar purpose in the royal dockyards in England. It has been said that it does not rot in water, that it is proof against attacks from many insects to which other timber is liable, and that it is durable. The specific gravity is estimated to be about 770 to 820 when seasoned.