It Is Exceedingly Tough, And It Is Chiefly Used For
Making The Spokes Of Wheels.
The tamarind is a fine, dark red wood, mottled with black marks;
but it is not in general use, as the tree is too valuable to be
felled for the sake of its timber.
This is one of the handsomest
trees of the tropics, growing to a very large size, the branches
widely spreading, something like the cedars of Lebanon.
Jackwood is a coarse imitation of mahogany, and is used for a
variety of purposes, especially for making cheap furniture. The
latter is not only economical, but exceedingly durable, and is
manufactured at so low a rate that a moderate-sized house might
be entirely furnished with it for a hundred and fifty pounds.
The fruit of the jack grows from the trunk and branches of the
tree, and when ripe it weighs about twenty pounds. The rind is
rough, and when cut it exposes a yellow, pulpy mass. This is
formed of an infinite number of separate divisions of fleshy
matter, which severally enclose an oval nut. The latter are very
good when roasted, having a close resemblance to a chestnut. The
pulp, which is the real fruit, is not usually eaten by Europeans
on account of its peculiar odor. This perfume is rather
difficult to describe, but when a rainy day in London crams an
omnibus with well-soaked and steaming multitudes, the atmosphere
in the vehicle somewhat approaches to the smell of the
jack-fruit. The halmileel is one of the most durable and useful
woods in Ceylon, and is almost the only kind that is thoroughly
adapted for making staves for casks. Of late years the great
increase of the oil-trade has brought this wood into general
request, consequent upon the increased demand for casks. So
extensive and general is the present demand for this wood that
the natives are continually occupied in conveying it from certain
districts which a few years ago were utterly neglected.
Unfortunately, the want of roads and the means of transport
confine their operations to the banks of rivers, down which the
logs are floated at the proper season.
I recollect some eight years ago crossing the Mahawelli river
upon a raft which my coolies had hastily constructed, and
reaching a miserable village near Monampitya, in the extreme
north of the Veddah country. The river is here about four
hundred paces wide, and, in the rainy season a fine volume of
water rolls along in a rapid stream toward Trincomalee, at which
place it meets the sea. I was struck it the time with the
magnificent timber in the forests on its banks, and no less
surprised that with the natural facilities of transport it should
be neglected. Two years ago I crossed at this same spot, and I
remarked the wonderful change which a steady demand had effected
in this wild country. Extensive piles of halmileel logs were
collected along the banks of the river, while the forests were
strewed with felled trees in preparation for floating down the
stream.
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