The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-10-25
sANDALwooD AND ITS USES
Getting It Once Dangerous Calling
Sources of Supply.

The Department Of Agriculture at
| Washington has recently prepared a
bulletin describing the native trees and
plants of Hawaii. Special attention Is
paid to sandalWood, an article which
is comparatively little seen nowadays,
except in collections of curios or in
some cobwebbed garnet where are sto.-
ed treasures and relics of the days of
our grandfathers and grandmothrrs,
and where you may find u sandalwood
box or fan or some such thing.
Sandalwood, according to the au-
| thorities, dates as far back as the fifth
century before Christ, at least, and
appears to have been always one of
the most precious of woods. TO get it
men have suffered hardships and risk
| ed death at the hands of natives until
the search for sandalwood was consid-
cred as dangerous calling as whal-
| ing. On its account John Williams, a
celebrated missionary, and a compan-
| ion lost their lives in 1889. They had
| gone to Dillon's Bay on the island of
| Serromango, one of the New Hebrides
to plant a colony, and We're there TAX
en- by natives, who were angry at the
devastation of the insular forests b.
the whites and were killed.
| Thu authorities say that the wood Is
| a native of India, and that it was not
discovered generally elsewhere until
| inc illlule VI lIle tlSHteeIltn century.
| Then different varieties We're found in
the Hawaiian Islands, New Caledonia,
| Tahiti, Australia, and more recently,
II is said, even in Zanzibar and Venez-
uela. The trade in the wood became
so keen that in most of the places
where it grew the forests were prac-
| tically stripped. In New Caledonia
| the wood is now cultivated to some
extent, and in other places steps have
! ha,an a Enn 70 rni trna md
tect them from the wholesale depreda
| tons of INSCRIPTIONS traders
| The Hawaiian Islands at one time
had many forests containing the pre-
cious wood, but the demand for it In
Canton, China, for the making of in
cense and fancy boxes and similar ar
ticles, of which inlaid work was a fea-
ture. practically stripped the forests
AT the beginning of the last century
King kamehameha, of Hawaii, con-
ceived the plan of getting some profit
out of the wood, and eXacted a revenue
from all that was cut and taken away.
1t is said that he received an annual
| income amounting To about 100000 as
result of this measure.
| In India and China, and wherever
Buddhism prevails, sandalwood is still
extensively used. One of the main uses
to which it is put is that of incense
at funerals and religious ceremonies.
Even the poorest people spend COM
paratively large sums every year in
buying it. To a limited extent the wood
is used In the preparation of medicine
for diseases of the mucous membrane,
for perfume and for pigments.
The seedlings cannot be transplanted
with gain, according to most OF the
authorities on woods, and that feature
of the sandalwood tree makes II a
difficult one to raise. The trees must
be about twenty years old before they
are ready for cutting down. After
they are cut they are left on the
ground for several months while the
white ants and other industrious in
sects eat out the greater part of the
sap wood. leaving the valuable part
OF the wood untouched. After the
wood is cut up 1t has to be stored
in a warehouse for several weeks to
dry thoroughly. The price Of the wood
is high. Even as far back as 1925 II
brought from to 10 cents a pound
New York Sun.