Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/184

164, were found to have been cut from small trees, but so far as could be judged from their appearance, the timber was suitable for use in architecture, and would probably be useful in the domestic arts.

The wood of the Juba tree is yellow in colour, hard, heavy, strong, close in the grain, and apparently would work up well. The specific gravity is about 1072.

I have not been able to ascertain that it has ever been brought upon the London market, and think it likely its uses are chiefly confined to the island of Cuba.

THE SABICU TREE (Acacia Formosa)

is a native of the West Indies, and is plentiful in Cuba. Its growth is somewhat crooked and irregular, but it yields excellent timber of from 20 to 35 feet in length, and from 11 to 24 inches square.

The wood is of a dark chestnut colour, hard, heavy, strong, close in the grain, and is often twisted or curled in the fibres, which gives it a wavy, or, as it is technically termed, a figured appearance, imparting to it a rich dark colour, which resembles and is sometimes mistaken for Rosewood. It is often on this account of considerable value, and being capable of taking a high polish, is much prized by cabinet-makers and others, who employ it for furniture, &c.

The Sabicu has very little sap, and is a remarkably solid wood. It is characteristic of it that there is an almost complete absence of the heart, star, and cup-shakes. It seasons slowly, shrinks but little, and does not split, as do most other woods, while undergoing that process. It also bears exposure to the weather without being in any but the slightest degree a fleeted, even if left without either paint or varnish to