In China this elegant wood, when cut into large planks, is sometimes made into coffins for the principal persons; and such coffins are said to resist the effects of air and moisture for many years. The Chinese also reduce the wood to powder, and, with the addition of water, convert it into a paste, which they apply to their bodies, their furniture, and about their houses, as a perfume. The powder of sandal wood is likewise employed as an incense in their idolatrous temples. Hence it is that a considerable trade in this wood exists between the East Indies and China.
Besides the logs, the chips and cuttings of the roots of sandal wood are an article of commerce. From these chips, and from the waste wood, an odoriferous oil is sometimes prepared, which is considered nearly equal in fragrance to oil of roses.
Sandal wood is at present seldom used in medicine; though, from its powerful qualities, it might probably be applied to many medicinal purposes with success. It has a bitterish aromatic taste, accompanied by a degree of pungency which is by no means unpleasant,
TETRAGYNIA.
56. HOLLY (Ilex aquifolium) is a small evergreen tree, with shining, irregular, and spinous leaves, and white flowers which grow in clusters round the branches, and are succeeded by small red berries.
In those parts of the country where hollies are very abundant they afford a cheerfulness to the scenery in winter which is extremely pleasing. It is on this account principally that they are planted in gardens and shrubberies. The barbarous taste of our ancestors was such that they frequently clipped them into the shape of birds, quadrupeds, and other fantastic representations of nature.
As a fence, holly is eminently serviceable. When formed into hedges, it admits of being cropped, and retains its verdure and beauty, without injury, even through the severest winters. Its growth is slow, and its duration longer than that of most other trees. The wood, which is hard and close-grained, is much used in veneering, and is frequently stained black, to imitate ebony. It is likewise advantageously used in making handles for knives, cogs for mill-wheels, and other articles. The leaves in winter afford a grateful food to sheep and deer; and the berries yield a subsistence, during this inclement season, to the feathered tribes. In some places, particularly in the island of Corsica, the inhabitants employ the seeds of holly for making a beverage somewhat similar, but much inferior, to coffee.
The bark of the holly is smooth, and replete with a strong mucilaginous substance, from which the article called bird-lime is made. For this purpose it is boiled ten or twelve hours; and, when the green rind is separated, it is covered up in a moist place, to stand for a fortnight. It is afterwards reduced to a tough paste, and washed in a running stream until no impurities are left. The next part of the process is to suffer it to ferment for four or five days; after which it is mixed, over the fire, with a third part of nut-oil ([241]), or some other oily fluid, and is thus rendered fit for use.
Bird-lime has a remarkably adhesive quality, particularly to feathers and other dry substances. It is, on this account, employed for the smearing of twigs to ensnare birds. In its elasticity and inflammable nature it has much resemblance to Indian rubber; and, if any means could be adopted to harden it, there is little doubt but it might be substituted for that article.
Holly deserves to be much more extensively cultivated than it is. Some years ago a person who purchased a holly wood in Yorkshire, sold the bird-lime prepared from the bark to a Dutch merchant, for nearly the whole sum of his original purchase.