The most valuable production of the forests of this part of the world is
the mahogany-tree of Honduras, well-deserving, from its magnificent
foliage and vast size, to be called the king of the forest. It is
remarkably slow of growth, its increase during half a century being
scarcely perceptible.
The life of the mahogany-cutter is wild in the extreme, yet he carries
on his occupation in a systematic manner. Parties, or gangs, are
formed, consisting of fifty men, with a captain, or hunter, attached to
each. The business of the hunter is to search out the mahogany-trees
fit for cutting. To do this, he makes his way through the thick forest
to the highest ground in the neighbourhood he can find, and then climbs
one of the tallest trees. From thence he surveys the surrounding
country in search of the foliage, which presents a yellow, reddish hue,
assumed by the mahogany--tree at that season of the year--about August.
Having thus discovered a spot on which a number of the sought-for trees
grow, he descends, and as rapidly as possible leads his party to it,
lest any others on the search should be before them. Huts are now
built, roofed with long grass, or the branches of the thatch-palm. His
furniture consists of a hammock swung between two posts, and a couple of
stones on which his kettle is supported. Stages, on which the axemen
stand, are erected round the trees, which are cut down about ten or
twelve feet from the ground. The trunk is considered most valuable, on
account of the size of the wood it furnishes; but the branches are also
of value, from their grain being closer and more variegated.
While one party is employed in cutting down the trees, another is
engaged in forming a main road to the nearest river, with others from
the various spots where the axemen are at work leading to it. This
operation is concluded by the end of December. The trees are now sawn
into logs of various lengths, and are squared by the axe, in order to
lessen their weight, and to prevent them from rolling in the truck.
When the dry weather sets in--about April or May--trucking commences.
The trucks are drawn by seven pair of oxen. Each is accompanied by two
drivers, sixteen men to cut food for the cattle, and twelve to load the
trucks. In consequence of the hot sun during the day; trucking is
always carried on at night. A wild scene is presented while the trucks
are moving from the forest, each accompanied by several men carrying
torches, the drivers cracking their whips and uttering their shouts.
Thus they go on till they reach the river's brink, when the logs--each
marked with the owner's initials--are thrown into the water, and the
trucks return for a fresh load. When the rains commence, the roads are
impassable, and all trucking ceases.
As the rivers are swelled by the rains, the mahogany-logs are floated
away, followed by the gangs in flat-bottomed canoes, called pit-pans.
Their crews are employed in liberating the logs from the branches of the
overhanging trees and other impediments, till they are stopped by a beam
placed near the mouth of the river. The logs of each owner are now
collected into large rafts, in which state they are floated down to the
wharves of the proprietors. Here they are newly smoothed, and made
ready for shipping to England.
Many other valuable woods come from this region. Rosewood is common on
the northern coast of Honduras. The bushes which produce gum-arabic
abound in all the open savannahs on the Pacific slope. In the forest is
found the copaiba-tree, producing a healing liquid. Here also are found
the copal-tree, the palma-christi, the ipecacuanha--the root of which is
so extensively used in medicine--the liquid amber, as well as
caoutchouc. Here the vast ceiba, or silk-cotton-tree, is abundant, from
which canoes are frequently hollowed out. Indeed, a considerable number
of the trees found on the banks of the Orinoco and Amazon here also come
to perfection.