The Teak (Tectona grandis), which is superior to all others, is not a native of this island, and although largely planted, has not been altogether successful.  But the satin-wood[1], in point of size and durability, is by far the first of the timber trees of Ceylon.  For days together I have ridden under its magnificent shade.  All the forests around Batticaloa and Trincomalie, and as far north as Jaffna, are thickly set with this valuable tree.  It grows to the height of a hundred feet, with a rugged grey bark, small white flowers, and polished leaves, with a somewhat unpleasant odour.  Owing to the difficulty of carrying its heavy beams, the natives only cut it near the banks of the rivers, down which it is floated to the coast, whence large quantities are exported to every part of the colony.  The richly-coloured and feathery pieces are used for cabinet-work, and the more ordinary logs for building purposes, every house in the eastern province being floored and timbered with satin-wood.

[Footnote 1:  Chieroxylon Swietenia.]

Another useful tree, very common in Ceylon, is the Suria[1], with flowers so like those of a tulip that Europeans know it as the tulip tree.  It loves the sea air and saline soils.  It is planted all along the avenues and streets in the towns near the coast, where it is equally valued for its shade and the beauty of its yellow flowers, whilst its tough wood is used for carriage shafts and gun-stocks.

[Footnote 1:  Thespesia populnea.]

The forests to the east furnish the only valuable cabinet woods used in Ceylon, the chief of which is ebony[1], which grows in great abundance throughout all the flat country to the west of Trincomalie.  It is a different species from the ebony of Mauritius[2], and excels it and all others in the evenness and intensity of its colour.  The centre of the trunk is the only portion which furnishes the extremely black part which is the ebony of commerce; but the trees are of such magnitude that reduced logs of two feet in diameter, and varying from ten to fifteen feet in length, can readily be procured from the forests at Trincomalie.

[Footnote 1:  Diospyros ebenum.]

[Footnote 2:  D. reticulata.]

There is another cabinet wood, of extreme beauty, called by the natives Cadooberia.  It is a bastard species of ebony[1], in which the prevailing black is stained with stripes of rich brown, approaching to yellow and pink.  But its density is inconsiderable, and in durability it is far inferior to that of true ebony.

[Footnote 1:  D. ebenaster.]