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 | For furniture. |
| Koko | Albizzia Lebbek | |
| Chuglam, Black | Myristica Irya | |
| Marble wood | Diospyros Kurzii | |
| Padouk | Pterocarpus Indicus | For building. |
| Gangaw | Mesua ferrea | |
| Toung-peingne. | Artocarpus Chaplasha | |
| Pyimma | Lagerstrœmia hypoleuca | |
| Thingan | Hopea odorata | |
| Lakuch | Artocarpus Lakucha | |
| Thitmin | Podocarpus bracteata | |
| Gurjan | Dipterocarpus sp. | |
| Mohwa | Mimusops littoralis | |
| Bombway | Careya arborea | Probably useful for paving-blocks. |
| Gangaw | Mesua ferrea | |
| Mohwa | Mimusops littoralis | |
| Pyimma | Lagerstrœmia hypoleuca | |
| Lakuch | Artocarpus Lakucha | |
| Gurjan | Dipterocarpus sp. | |
| Thingan | Hopea odorata | |
| Gurjan | Dipterocarpus sp. | For tea-boxes, indigo boxes, and packing-cases. |
| Didu | Bombax insigne | |
| Toung-peingne | Artocarpus Chaplasha | |
| Thitmin | Podocarpus bracteata | |
| And numerous other woods | Barringtonia sp. | |
| Padouk | Pterocarpus Indicus | For gun-carriages and carriage work. |
| Pyimma | Lagerstrœmia hypoleuca | |
| Thingan | Hopea odorata | |
| Padouk | Pterocarpus Indicus | For shafts. |
| Gangaw | Mesua ferrea | |
| Lakuch | Artocarpus Lakucha | Probably useful for oars. |
| Thitmin | Podocarpus bracteata | |
| 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.