The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-15
CUTTING MAHOGANY TREES.
Only Experienced WOOdsmen Can
Find the Proper Timber.
from Sell CuIture.)

|
The mahogany hunter is the most i'm
portant and best paid laborer in the serv
| ice, for upon his skill and activity largel!
depend the success of the season. Mahoga
ny trees do not grow in clusters, but arr
scattered promscuously through the for
| ests and hidden in n dense growth of I'M
derbrush, vines, and creepers, and 1t re-
quires an experienced and skillful wood
man to find them. No progress can BIZ
made IN a tropical forest without the aic
of q machete, for the way must be cu
! step by step. The mahogany is one OF the
, largest and tallest of trees, and the hunter
seeking the highest ground, climbs to the
| top of the tallest tree and surveys the sur
rounding country. His practiced eye soor
| detects the mahogany by its peculiar foli-
age and he counts the trees within the
scope of his vision. notes the directions
| and distances and then descending cuts g
narrow trail to each tree, which he care
| fully blazes and marks, especially II there
be a rival hunter in the vicinity. The ak
men follow the hunter. and after them
come the sawyers and hewers
To fell large mahogany tree is ore day &
task for two men. On account OF the wide
spurs which project from the trunk at S
base scaffolds must be erected and the tree
cut of above the spurs, which leaves a
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 devise some means TO PEE
vent While the work OF telling and hew ne
is in progress other gangs are busy maxim
roads and bridges over which the logs may
be hauled 10 the river. One wide ''uu X
pass as 1t is called, is made through the
centre of the district occupied BY the works
and branch roads are opened from this
main avenue TO each tree. The trucks en-
ployed are clumsy and aniiquated affairs
which no American would think OF using.
The axles and boxes are imported from
England while the other parts are made
upon the ground. The wheels are of solid
wood, made by saving off the end of log
and fitting iron boxes in the centre, 70
spokes or tires being used. Now whee's
are in constant rcquisition. and repairs
cause frequent and expensive delays.
Most of the trucking Is done at night by
torchlights of pitch pine. The oxen are
fed on the leaves and twigs CT the bread
nut tree which gives them more stre1g h
and power of endurance than any other OBJ
taiaable food. The trucking being done
in the dry season. the logs are collected on
the bank of the river and made ready for
the floods. On the longest rivers these
begin in June and July and on others in
October and November. The logs are
ter are caught by means of booms Indian
loggers-usually Caribs-follow the logs
down the river in order to release those
which are caught by obstacles. No little
judgment and experience is required TO de-
termlne at what exact stage of the flood
the logs should be set adrift. Should the
water rise to what Is called "topgalant
food" before the logs reach the boom many
of them would be carried over the banks
and left high and dry in cane breaks and
thickets or covered up by sand and rub
tish. From the boom the logs are RATED
to the embarcadero and manufactured"
for shipment.
Mahogany trees give from two to five
logs each. measuring from ten TO eighteen
feet IN length and from twenty to forty
four inches in diameter after being hewed.
The manufacturing" process consists of
sawing off the log ends which have been
bruised and splintered in transit down the
river and in refining and relieving the logs
by skiliful workmen. who give them a
smooth and even surface. The logs are
then measured rolled back into the water
at the mouth of the river and made into
RATS, to be taken TO the vessel anchored
outside the bar.