Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/201

XXV.] be considered a very fair substitute for the plainest Honduras or Mexican Mahogany. Some few years since several cargoes of Santa Maria timber were brought to the royal dockyards, and employed there for beams, planking, &c., in ships; and although it would seem never to have been much in favour as a building wood, there is good reason to think that in the absence of Mahogany it might very well be used for cabin fitments, for furniture, and many other purposes.

This wood stands exposure to the weather remarkably well, and is, I think, durable, since a parcel of about 150 loads which I inspected after it had been left in the open in a moist country for about ten years, showed scarcely any signs of deterioration either at the centre or at any other part, and had but few shakes on the external surfaces.

The specific gravity is about the same as Honduras or Mexican Mahogany.

Southwards from Central America there are to be found in the forests of the Brazilian Empire great varieties of timber trees, many of which are no doubt of good quality and fit for architectural purposes, but little or nothing is known of them in this country. I therefore take the present opportunity to place before the reader a brief description of some twenty-four of them, with their uses; observing that specimens of these woods, 3″ × 3″ × 1″ were sent to the Admiralty in 1858, by H.B.M.'s Consul at Rio de Janeiro, with the view to the introduction of some of them for employment in ship-building.

THE ANGELIM-VERMETHO TREE.

The wood is reddish-brown in colour, and moderately heavy. It is probably of crooked growth, as it is used for