The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-05-03
MAHOGANY FORESTS.
WlTH THE CARIB LUMBERMEN
OF HONDURAS.
An Account of Mahogany Cutting
and Transportation Skele-
ton-lined Forest Trail
Rude Implements.

no more than fifty feet long is often SD
feet in diameter at the base. Tit
finest variety grows on the hard rocky
soil, and is of such slow growth that thu
grand ones, still standing in isolated
spots, far from rivers, are estimated Il
be over 1000 years old; by their side
are rOtting trunks Of still larger dmen-
sions, and who can guess their age
Along the Ulua most of the good fizec
trunks have been cut, because the IttiVt
wood-cutter is very lazy, and if he car
cut tree and have it topple over into I
stream to be floated to market, he vii
not trouble himself with finer wood thai
grows at a greater distance from TIT
stream.
When the superintendent has decided
upon the valley in which he will work he
constructs shelters, where the stream
reaches the ocean, for the necessary sup
plies, and builds rude dams at the same
point to secure the cut logs as they float
down. Constant communication and
transportation of rations are maintained
between this home station and the
branch establishments up the river BY
nlsans of canoes or ''pitpans' owed
ma LID lNy- natives. Pihs5 Il SIN
tbs Beginning also carry up the heavy
Log chains, which cannot always be
taken overland through thick virgin for
ests where the oxen have to be forced
through, not with the usual lash, but the
cruel spike or prod. The branch stations
are huts with ''cahoon" leaf roofs, with
upright poles to swing hammocks, and
few iron pots for kitchen utensils.
The cutting season commences in
August-the beginning of the dry season
because at that period the wood seems
to be more compact in texture and less
liable to split in falling, and gives the
drivers time to haul it to the river be-
fore the rains make the roads impossible.
The lRborers are divided into gangs of
from thirsy to fifty each, and under the
command of some trusted hand who as
signs the daily tasks, fning and reward
ing his men according to their work.
Besides this, each gang has a hunter,
who starts out very early to spy out trees,
and carries horn or ''conch, which he
sounds from time to time 20 enable his
gang to follow. He usually goes to
some high point, or climbs some tall pine,
and his accustomed eye quickly detects
the almost imperceptible reddish tinge,
which many mahOnanY leaves together
present. One tree at time is sufficient,
and he quickly makes his way TO it,
marks it, and blows his horn for the cut
tiers. When they are in sight he again
searches as before. 1t is often the case
that different hunters may be working
in the same locality for rival firms, and
after hours of toll one may reach his dis
covered treasure only to find it in the
hands of another party. Hunters pride
themselves much on their skill, and many
cover their tracks in true Apache style
by strewing leaves and moss behind
them, by walking backward in soft
ground, and by many other articles well
known by those skilled in wood craft to
deceive pursuers, and not seldom the
very means they take TO elude, furnish
their equally skillful trailers with all the
information they desire.
The tree Is usually cut at about ten or
twelve feet from the ground, the men
working on rude platform. temporarily
built for the purpose The trunk below
the cut then decays, and is lost. Tie
cut is made so high from the ground;
because at that point the tree IS 49,
ally cylindrical and below huge1-<ds
pass down to tbs ground. which are very
difficult to cut. The Wretehed axes which
the Carib cutters use woald bring a smile /
to the face OF Nevada chopper. They
are sharp but Light; the handles. sasbut
two feet long, to which the bladf y, St
ened with ra-..,ss ,srfv=rIr1U-cOuld, a.
-, - - -a@hide throng. H. zen
seat themselves tailor-fashion oneIhe
platform and cut necessarily, until danI,
yerously near the falling point, when ifh
-etiIe from the platform but one cooI-t
headed native, who finishes by gentle
trokes, until warned by those watching
he tree, at the instant it begins To i'm
Zine, when this last one Jumps to the
ground in an opposite direction. This
rue giant OF the forest seems to gather
tut little speed in the fall, but the crash.
when he brushes through the surround.
ng timber. may be heard for miles.
The tree is then stripped of its heavy
lmbs, which furnish those beautifully.
ralned varieties seen in tho handsomest
1rniture, after which the trunk is sawed
lto sections ten feet long, and the bark
ewn off to make square timber. All the
len not engaged in cutting have mean
'hile been building e road from the ,
ver through the center of the cutting
istrict, from which main path MANI
ranch roads are built to the individual
ees:: Through the low country, where ,
arshes must be filed in and small
'eeks bridged, the road building be- :
'mes by far the most arduous work and I
higher lands this labor is vexatious !
Tough, when it is understood that cut
ng away 100 yards of tough underbrush /
a good days work :
Near the coast, and among the old
fittings, carts are used to carry ont tbe +
uare timber; but in the interior moth C
& but drags can be employed; and +
ry often, when desirable to get out e
ie large log, the chains are simply b
Stoned to it, and it takes its chances u
lille being hauled by eight or len u
en-, to be marked and dumped into the il
Ter. Trees are seldom cut more than d
n or twelve miles from the river. owing Ell
the immense labor of road building: d
d the logs are always hauled at nieht. o
cause OF the intense damp heat of day. Il
abaut P, n the drivers start the
en- for the logs. reaching abouf 10 =. N.
4 lnsfaptiy load up their days to Yc-
n EAe way is lighted By nnsn carry
! huge pine torches, and IN many ST
ICES they are stuck IN the ground atthe v
Idside. The Hash and glare OF the m
ches, the yells of the drivers, forcing ell
ng their unfortunate beasts, the crack m
of the lashes and clanking of the ah
'ins make weird picture. Helpless 20
mails are left on the roadside to die, WI
h their Threats cut, to bleed them, &c
1t is the rear guards duty to bring II
ng sufficient of their meat TO supply z?
camp, which by morning would be dll
'lown or devoured by prowling Eq
mails. The old road over which we fee
sed was well lined with the skeletons an
the poor oxen who were unable to TN
lggle along. 1t is nearly the middle NH
May before all the cut logs are mi
tucked" TO the rivers bank, and as IN
erent firms often use the same roads an
logs are branded with a hot iron, ha'
that when they arrive at the home mi
ion, or mouth of the river, there can per
10 dispute as to ownership. I'M
hoving the wood out into the stream ing
ipies nearly a week, and this is done cul
before the rainy season. The tor
a Of wafer roured dourn fror, ths