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DYEING AND CALICO PRINTING.

mentioned. Its transverse sedlion exhibits a starry form; its tindtorial valueis less than that of genuine Fernambuco wood, but it is generally consideredthe second best for dyeing purposes.

4. Nicaragua wood is probably the produce of the same tree as the last-named species. It is named from that region of Central America where itgrows.

5. Sapon, or sappan, wood is the produdt of the Cczsalpinia sappan, a treegrowing over a considerable portion of the warmer regions of Asia. Thiswood occurs in commerce in the form of billets, free from splinters, and ex-hibiting a medullary cavity, sometimes filled with a reddish yellow pith, butsometimes quite empty. The wood is very hard and compadt, fine grained,capable of a brilliant polish, while its colour is less deep than that of mostkinds of these woods. Two principal kinds are known, viz., that importedfrom Siam, in pieces free from splinters, and of the thickness of a man’sarm, the colour being rather deep red internally; the other variety is knownas Bimas, and occurs in sticks of from 27 to 33 millimetres thickness ; in-ternally its colour is yellowish, but where it has been exposed to the adtionof the air it is rose-red. The so-called Lima wood of commerce is a varietyof sapan, and the dye-woods imported from Manilla and the other PhilippineIslands, from St. Martin and Padang (Sumatra), are inferior qualities of thesame.

6. Bahamas, or Jamaica wood is, according to some, the produdt of theCcesalpinia vesicaria; but, according to others, is yielded by a shrub belongingto the genus Balsamodendron. It is known in trade by various names accordingto the place from which it is shipped, among which is Nickerie, Surinam, andespecially the Island of Jamaica. It is met with in the shape of sticks, freefrom bark, and about 54 millimetres thickness, covered by whitish splinters.Within its colour is red-brown with darker veins. It is the lowest in tindtorialvalue of all these woods.

7. Californian wood, the produdt of a hitherto unspecified Ccesalpinia, foundin the Californian forests, is as yet only met with in trade in the shape ofirregularly-sized knotty pieces. It is exceedingly hard, its colours ratherdark yellow when freshly cut, becoming first brown on exposure to air, and,lastly, violet-red.

8. Tierra Firma wood, the produdt also of an unspecified kind of Casalpinia,growing in some of the forests of Venezuela and New Granada. It occurs inthe shape of hewn blocks, serving for stowage, and is very hard, knotty, andcompadt, with longitudinal fibres. It is internally of a golden-yellow,exhibiting concentric circles of a yellowish red.

g. Bahia wood, so-called from being generally met with in the forests ofthe Brazilian province of that name, occurs in large square billets. Its colouris yellowish, but becomes darker on exposure to air. In tindtorial value itholds about the middle place between the best Fernambuco and the inferiorvarieties mentioned above.

The chemical history of these red woods is as yet in a very incompletestate. Nothing is positively known about the foreign substances occurringin the wood along with the colouring matter, and that substance itself hasbeen but incompletely studied. As far as the former are concerned, we mayreason by analogy and say that these woods contain saccharine matters,