Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-31
soon detects the mahogany b.
its peculiar foliage. and b.

SOuutp bu0 bfeeb Wlb0lu Lue scope VI III
vision. notes directions and distances
and then descending, cuts marrow
trail to each tree, which he carefully
blazes and marks, especially if there ii
a rival hunter in that vicinity. Th'
axeman follows the hunter. and after
them the sawyers and hewers.
To fell large mahogany tree
Is one days task for two men
On account of the wide spurs
which project from the trunk at itf
base, scaffolds must be erected and the
tree cut off above the spurs, which
leaves stump from ten to fifteen feet
In height-a sheer waste of the very
best part of the tree, and one which
American ingenuity would certainly de-
vlse some means to prevent. While the
work of telling and hewing is in pro-
gress, other gangs are busy in making
roads and bridges over which the logs
are to be hauled to the river. One wide
truck pass, as it is called, is made
through the center Of the district occu-
pied by the works, and branch roads are
opened from this main avenue to each
tree. The trucks employed are clumsy
and antiquated affairs, which no Ameri-
can would think of using; the axles
and boxes are imported from England,
wnile the other parts are made upon
the ground. The wheels are OF solid
wood, made by saving off the end of a
log, and fitting iron boxes in the center,
no spokes or tire being used. New
wheels are in constant requisition,
and repairs cause frequent and
expensive repairs. Most OF the
trucking is done at night by torch
lights OF pitch pine. The oxen are fed
on the leaves and twigs of the breadnut
tree, which gives them more strength
and power Of endurance than any other
obtainable foods. The trucking is done
in the dry season; the logs collected on
the bank of the river, and made ready
for the floods which occur on the
longest rivers in June and July, and on
all in October and November - and
turned adrift loose, and caught below
near tide-water, by means of booms.
Indian loggers, usually Caribs. follow
the logs down the river in order to
release those which are caught by fallen
trees or other obstacles in the river. No
little judgment and experience is re-
quired to determine at what exact stage
of the food the logs should be let loose.
Should the water rise to what is called
"top-gallant food" before the logs reach
the boom, many of them would ne car
ried over the banks and left high and
dry in canebrakes and thickets, or COW
cred up by sand and rubbish. From
the boom the logs are RATED to the en-
barcadere, and manufactured" for
shipping.
Mahogany trees give each from two
to five logs, ten to eighteen feet long
and from twenty to forty-four inches in
diameter after being hewed. The
manufacturing" process consists in
saving off the log ends which have been
bruised and splintered in transit down
th .t-re., nd i-A -sii~>;ssss -s,-sa ~ei-eriuE
the logs by skillful workmen, who give
them smooth and even surface. The
logs are then measured and rolled back
into the water at the mouth OF the river
and made into RATS, to be taken to the
vessel and anchored outside the bar.
This is laborious and risky operation,
often resulting in serious losses to the
shipper or the owners of the vessel, &C.
cording to the conditions of the bill of
lading. Irresponsible natives construct
and conduct the RATS to the vessel, and
it frequently happens in bad weather.
or by gross careleesness, that logs
break away from the RATS and are car
ried away out to sea, to be deposited
finally on the shores of thoee islands
in the vicinity, or the mainland, where
they are eagerly appropriated by, the
natives to be auilized for ship building
or for making furniture.
Immense quantities OF bamboo grow
spontaneously on the margins of all of
the rivers which flow into the bay OF
Honduras. These beautiful trees, many
of them eixty feet high, four to seven
inches in diameter, and straight as
an arrow, bend gracefully from either
side of the stream, their beautiful foli-
age interlaced with Towering creepers
and vines, forming archways under
which man and beast find grateful re-
treat from the sun. The Joints are in
demand by the gold and sarsaparilla
diggers and by the india-rubber
gatherers, for buckets, kegs, troughs,
and for the construction of ranch build
ings, fences, etc. In the East Indies,
bamboo is an article of prime necessity,
and its uses are almost innumerable.
Perhaps in China, more than in any
other country, it is most utilized, for
there the roots are utilized into fan
tastic images, into divining blocks to
guess the will of the gods, or cut into
lantern handles and into canes. The
tapering culms are used for all purposes
that poles can be applied to in carrying,
supporting, propelling and measuring
for the props of houses; the frame
work of awnings; for the ribs of sails,
and shafts Of rakes; for fences and
every kind of frames, coops and cages,
and the handles and ribs of umbrellas
and fans. The leaves are sewed into
rain coats and thatches, plated into inn
mense umbrellas to screen the huckster
and his wares on the stall, or into carv-
ings for theaters and sheds. The wood,
cut into splints of various sizes, ia woven
into baskets of every form and fancy
sewed into window curtains and door
screens, plated into awnings and
and curled threads furnish ma
terial for stuffing pillows, while other
parts supply the beds for sleeping; the
mattrass to lie upon, the chairs to sit
upon, the table to eat on, the chop
sticks for eating with, the pipe for
smoking, and the broom for sweeping
with. The food to eat and the fuel to
cook it with, are also derived from it,
the ferule to govern with, the book to
study from, the tapering plectrum for
the Tyre, and the reed-pipe of the sanz
or organ, the shaft Of the soldiers
spear, and the dreaded instrument
of the Judge, the skewer to
pin the hair, and the hat to
screen the head, the paper to write
on, and the pencil to write with, and
the cup to put the pencil in, the rule to