Common Spanish fustic which in September, 1852, was only £3 10s. per ton, now fetches £6 10s. in the Liverpool market; and there is a great demand for all kinds of dyewoods. Tampico and Puerto Cabello fustic are now worth £6 10s. to £7 the ton, Cuba ditto, £9 10s. to £10.
Sappan wood is £4 higher than last year; barwood has risen cent per cent; logwoods are £2 per ton higher.
The following were the prices of the different dyewoods in the Liverpool market, on the 1st September, 1853, per ton:—
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| FUSTIC, common Spanish | 5 | 10 | 0 | to | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| Tampico | 6 | 10 | 0 | " | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Puerto Cabello | 6 | 10 | 0 | " | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Cuba | 8 | 0 | 0 | " | 9 | 10 | 0 |
| LOGWOOD, Jamaica | 5 | 0 | 0 | " | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| St. Domingo | 5 | 5 | 0 | " | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Campeachy, direct | 7 | 12 | 6 | " | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| I ndirect and Tobasco | 6 | 10 | 0 | " | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| NICARAGUA. WOOD. | |||||||
| Rio de la Hache, solid | 9 | 0 | 0 | " | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| Rio de la Hache, small | 6 | 0 | 0 | " | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| Lima | 12 | 0 | 0 | " | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| BARWOOD, Angola Gaboon | 7 | 0 | 0 | — | |||
| CAMWOOD | 25 | 0 | 0 | " | 30 | 10 | 0 |
| RED SANDERS WOOD | 5 | 15 | 0 | " | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| SAPPAN WOOD | 10 | 0 | 0 | " | 15 | 0 | 0 |
RED SANDERS WOOD (Pterocarpus santalinus), which is hard and of a bright garnet red color, is employed to dye a lasting reddish brown on wool. It only yields its color to ether or alcohol. The tree, which is a lofty one, is common about Madras and other parts of India; it is also indigenous to Ceylon, Timor, and other Eastern islands. The exports of this wood from Madras in one year have been nearly 2,000 tons.
The imports of red Sanders wood from Calcutta and Bombay chiefly into London are to the extent of 700 or 800 tons a year, worth £6 to £9 per ton.
Of FUSTIC we import from 1,500 to 2,000 tons annually. We derive our supplies from Brazil, Tampico, Puerto Cabello, Cuba, and Jamaica. The best is obtained from Cuba; for while the common white fustic from Jamaica and the Spanish Main fetches only £5 10s. to £6 10s. the ton, that of Cuba realizes from £8 to £9 10s. the ton.
SAPPAN WOOD (Cæsalpinia Sappan) is an article of considerable commerce in the East. It is the bukkum wood of Scinde, and is procured in Mergui, Bengal, the Tenasserim Provinces, Malabar and Ceylon. In 1842 as much 78,000 cwts. were shipped from Ceylon, but the export from thence has decreased. This island, however, ships dyewoods annually to the amount of £2,000. A large quantity is exported from Siam and the Philippine Islands; as much as 200,000 piculs annually from the former, and 23,000 piculs from Manila. 3,524 piculs were shipped from Singapore in 1851, and 4,074 piculs in 1852. The picul is about one cwt. and a quarter. Sappan wood yields a yellowish color, like that of Brazil wood (C. brasiliensis) but it does not afford of dye matter so much in quantity or so good in quality.
It forms a large export from Ceylon: the shipments from thence were, in 1842, 77,694 cwt.; in 1843, 1,692; in 1844, 2,592; in 1845, 2,854. I have no detailed returns at hand, but in 1837, 23,695 piculs of sappan wood, and 2,266 piculs of roots of ditto were shipped, and in the first six months of 1843, 22,326 piculs were exported from Manila; a large portion of this comes to Europe, but some goes to China, the United States, Singapore, &c. 15,500 piculs were shipped from Manila in 1844, 5,250 ditto in 1845; and 1,210 tons in 1850. About 3,000 piculs of sappan wood and the same quantity of other dye-stuffs are annually imported into Shanghae. The price of straight sappan wood at Shanghae in July, last year, was thirty dollars per picul.
In Calcutta, in June last year, 4,000 piculs of the root of Manila sappan wood sold freely at about 7s. 6d. per factory maund, Siam ditto 6s.