C H AP , manner, the poor fellow could hardly walk at all ; till
xxviii. declaring to Fourgeoud that I muft roll him along like a
hogfhead, he got leave to be difengaged from a part of
his unweildy encumbrances.: if
Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now
faced, to the right, and out, .with Colonel Fourgeoud
at their head’, .for the river Marawina:t and while I muft
here acknowledge that this, chief w ik how {become to my-
felf as civil as I could expect: or dehre^yet juftLcdcompels'
me to add, that .to all othersihe remained juft, as inflexible
a tyrant;as ever I had known him ; which /gharadtenhe
unhappily fecmed to,-think in^dmpatibl^with his rank. ;
During their abfence, I eroded'the water, and cut down
a cabbage-tree on ;the,Other fide o f the riverrC,éf#ça, not
only for the cabbage, but for the. fake- of. the groe-groe
worms, with which}!; knew it would fwanii in- ‘about a
fortnight. 01 , ; , j - ^ , no; ft. it ,
Straying here through the wpads- with my black boy
Quaco, il met. with, the following trees, ftill left? for de^
feription, viz. the 'cedar?, the<’ brown-hearty and the bullet
tree. The firft, though /it hears that name, isodifferent
from the cedars o f Lebanon^ which grow in a pÿrami-
dical form. The Surinam cedar, howévef,. grows alfolta
a great height, but is, principally jefbeepaed: becaufe the
wood is never eaten .bÿ.the worms, or other infedts,’ on.
account of its'great bittern efs ; it -has alfo a mod agreeable
fiinell, and is therefore ufed in preference to. raoft
others for making chefis,.cupboards, lockers, and all forts
-of
lt is employed in making the CHAP,
tent-barges and other boats. The colour of the timber ,XXVm‘.
is a1pale '9r'ange :I-it ;is both hard and light, -arid from the
trunk exudes a gum (not unlike- the gum Arabic) which
,is tranfpareiit, and diffufes a raoft agreeable flavour.
T h e fbr&wh-hmrt issin hardnefs o f the feme confiftency
■ as the purple-hearty and the green-heart already men-
$tfj|>ned, j^and is_ ihapfed into, heavy timber fo r ‘ the «fame
iptfopofo^nfudh asxöhftrtiéting fugaf-rnills, Séc;': theco-
•loür óf this woöd is a beautiful brown.—‘■ The other is the
•b^latrtfcmi, ‘this tree, grows’fometimes to lixty feet, but
.-ieftnot fothickyin .proportion , as many others r the bark
is grey 'and ftnooth, thé timber brown, variegated or. pow-
-deted with white fpecks. ft No wood in the foreft is equal
tó this in weight, being heavier than fea-water, ’ and fo
very durable, that when expofed to the open air neither
rain or fun have any effect on- i t ; for this reafon, befides
its other various .ufes, it is fplit into Jlnngles to roof the
houfes, inftead of flates or tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned,
would be too heavy and too hot. Thefe fhingles
.are fold for X* 4 fterling a thoufand at Paramaribo, and
.continue' fometimes ’ twenty-four years before they are
renewed.
!ft I ought to mention alfo a kind of mahogany, which is
found in the woods of Guiana, called the ducOlla-bQÜa^
and which is of a fuperior quality to any which is imported
here, being of a deeper red colour,, arid of a finer,
more equal, and compact grain; alfo o f greater hardnefs
and