CHAPTER IV. History of the Mahogany Tree.-First used by Cortez, for Shipbuilding, about the year 1521-By Sir W. Raleigh, in 1597-By Captain Dampier, in 1681-First used in England, for Cabinet-making, in 1754—Account of it in Catesby's Natural History, 1754, and in St. Pierre's Studies of Nature. Description of the Mahogany Tree, and its Botanical characters-mode of cutting and collecting in British Honduras, and Cuba. The Mahogany Tree, from an early period, was used by the Spaniards for Shipbuilding. The first mention of it occurs shortly after the discovery of the New World, when Cortez and his companions, between the years 1521 and 1540, employed it in the construction of the ships which they built for prosecuting their voyages of discovery, after their conquest of Mexico.-See the Letters of Cortez to the Emperor Charles V. In 1597, it was used in the repairs of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, in the West Indies; and Capt. Dampier, in one of his voyages, in 1681, speaking of Mahogany, or, as it was then called Cedrela or Cedar, says, "it was concluded to go with all our ships to St. Andreas, near the Isle of Providence, and besides, at this Island, we might build canoes, it being plentifully stored with large Cedars, and for this reason, the Jamaica men come hither frequently to build sloops,-Cedar being very fit for building. We reckon the pereagos and canoes, which are built of Cedar, the best of any." In St. Pierre's "Studies of Nature," it is stated "that on the shores of the Antilles, grows the Mahogany, there called Cedar, on account of its incorruptibility. It grows to such a bulk, that with the trunk of a single tree, they make a boat capable of carrying forty persons." Catesby, in his work on Natural History, published in 1754, speaks of the excellency of Mahogany for all domestic E |