Chapter XXVI: Appendix: C

NOTES ON THE PRODUCE OF THE ANDAMANESE FORESTS

The following is a list of some of the more useful and valuable woods:--

Padouk } Pterocarpus Indicus }
Koko } Albizzia Lebbek } For furniture.
Chuglam, Black } Myristica Irya }
Marble wood } Diospyros Kurzii }

Padouk } Pterocarpus Indicus }
Gangaw } Mesua ferrea }
Toung-peingne } Artocarpus Chaplasha }
Pyimma } Lagerstroemia hypoleuca }
Thingan } Hopea odorata } For building.
Lakuch } Artocarpus Lakucha }
Thitmin } Podocarpus bracteata }
Gurjan } Dipterocarpus sp. }
Mohwa } Mimusops littoralis }

Bombway } Careya arborea }
Gangaw } Mesua ferrea }
Mohwa } Mimusops littoralis } Probably useful for
Pyimma } Lagerstroemia hypoleuca } paving-blocks.
Lakuch } Artocarpus Lakucha }
Gurjan } Dipterocarpus sp. }
Thingan } Hopea odorata }

Gurjan } Dipterocarpus sp. }
Didu } Bombax insigne } For tea-boxes,
Toung-peingne } Artocarpus Chaplasha } indigo boxes, and
Thitmin } Podocarpus bracteata } packing-cases.
And numerous } Barringtonia sp. }
other woods

Padouk } Pterocarpus Indicus } For gun-carriages and
Pyimma } Lagerstroemia hypoleuca } carriage work.
Thingan } Hopea odorata }

Padouk } Pterocarpus Indicus } For shafts.
Gangaw } Mesua ferrea }

Lakuch } Artocarpus Lakucha } Probably useful
Thitmin } Podocarpus bracteata } for oars.

Satin wood } Murraya exotica } In place of boxwood.

Mangrove } sp. } For firewood.

The Madras and Bombay Government gun-carriage factories are supplied with Andamanese timber, which, so far, is understood to have given them satisfaction. Such timber has been sent to Roorkee for the Military Gymnasium, as being the best suited in India for its purposes. The Indian Marine Department also takes it regularly. Andamanese timber has also been supplied to Woolwich Arsenal. These facts show that Andamanese timber is of value to such establishments as gun-carriage factories, arsenals, gymnasia, and ship-building yards.

For various reasons, most of the Andamanese timbers will probably be found to be best marketable in a converted form. It is believed that such converted timbers will be found useful for six large trades at least, viz., paving wood-blocks, gun-stocks, pianoforte manufacture, furniture, organ building--for which _Padouk_ is pre-eminently suitable--and electric light and telephone fittings. If _Gurjan_ should turn out, as is believed to be probable, to be of use for paving wood-blocks, then the supply would be very large.

Two forms of converted timbers may be specially noticed as probably marketable in large quantities, viz., railway sleepers, and tea shooks. It is believed that there are several timbers which would stand the strain of railway traffic; and as regards tea shooks, _Gurjan_ is used for this purpose in some mills in Assam, and of this particular wood there is an unlimited supply all over the Andamans, which could probably be delivered locally at a price which would enable it to compete well in Indian markets with other timbers used for tea-boxes.

The supply of mangrove billets for firewood, at points where it can be easily and cheaply shipped, is very large in the Andamans, and it is thought possible that a very profitable and lasting Indian trade might be established in firewood.

At present, no trade exists at all in gurjan oil, and, as above stated, the supply of _Gurjan_ trees is unlimited. It is believed that the supply of _Gurjan_ in India has largely been worked out, therefore that in the Andamans should become valuable. A small quantity of gurjan oil is extracted in the Settlement and used chiefly for mixing with earth oil for application to shingle roofs. The uses to which this oil is put are so many that the possibility of a profitable trade in the Andamanese supply seems to be beyond question.

For the construction of houses, bridges, and jetties, the following species are chiefly used in the Settlement:--

_Padouk._--Posts, trusses, purlins, common rafters, battens, floor and wall planking, shingles, doors, and windows.

_Koko._--Joists, common rafters, battens, fillets, floor-planking, doors, and windows.

_White Chuglam._--Floor and ceiling planking.

_Pyimma._--Posts, joists, common rafters, purlins, frames, floor and wall planking, shingles.

_Lakuch and Mowha._--Posts, girders, beams, and purlins.

_Gangaw._--Posts, girders of bridges, 3-inch planking over sluices, and sluice-gates.

_Thitmin._--Inside walling and jambs, shelves, and any light work.

* * * * *

In boat-building the following species are used by the Marine Department:--

_Padouk._--Hull planks, keel, stem and stern posts, ribs of large boats, and thwarts.

_White Chuglam._--Oars.

_Pyimma._--Thwarts.

_Thitmin._--Masts and spars.

_Chooi._--Ribs of small boats.

For furniture, _Padouk_ and _Koko_ are chiefly used. _Didu_ is the only species utilised for the manufacture of tea-boxes at Port Blair. Bark for tanning purposes is obtained from various species of _Mangrove_ and from _Terminalia procera_. _Mangrove_ also gives the most suitable wood for use in the furnaces of the Settlement steam-launches.

Firewood for ordinary purposes is obtained from all hard-wood species other than those in demand for timber.

Gurjan _oil_ is obtained from three species of _Dipterocarpus_. The tapping operations extend from 1st January to 30th April. The daily outturn averages 7 lbs. per man, the greatest flow of oil taking place in the month of March. The mixture used for steeping house-shingles consists of 3 lbs. of gurjan oil to 1 lb. of earth oil and 1 lb. of Alford's metallic paint.

The minor produce of the Andamans comprises several useful species of bamboo and cane, used in house-building and in the construction of furniture, rattan roots for walking-sticks, and two species of palm (_Nipa fruticans_ and _Licuala peltata_), the leaves of which are used for thatching.

The inner bark of _Sterculia villosa_ is used for making ropes for timber-dragging purposes.

With regard to the capabilities of the forests for export purposes, there is an abundance of mature and over-mature _Padouk_ throughout the Andamans. Gurjan oil trees, _Gangaw_ (the Assam "Ironwood"), suitable for sleepers, and _Didu_, suitable for tea-box planking, are extremely abundant. For the extraction of these species labour alone is required.

The forests are situated, in most cases, on the coast, or on or near to navigable creeks leading to the sea, and are capable of easy and economical working.--_Andaman and Nicobar Gazette._