EBONY.
Yendike, Tai, . . BERM. Ebenus, . . . • LAT. Wuh-mu, Wu-pi, CHIN. Kayu-arang, . MALAY. Ebben-hout, . . Dum. Ebenowoederewo, . Ens. Ebene . . . . FR. Kalu yere, . . SINGH.
Ebenh'olz, . . . GER. Ebon, SP.
Ebenos, . . . . GR. Kaka tatee, . . TAAL Hobnem. . . . HEB. Atcha maram, . „ Tendua,'Abnus, . HIND. Atcha mann, . TEL.
Ebeno, • . . . IT. Toomi-ehaya kara, - „ A black wood, exceedingly hard and heavy, of great durability, and susceptible of a high polish. It is exported from Upper Egypt, Abyssinia Zan zibar, Madagascar Mauritius, Ceylon, Inda, and Jamaica. The eb'onies of South-Eastern Asia are obtained from several species of Diospyros, Dal bergia, and Bauhinia, growina in the Mauritius, Ceylon, in several parts of thel'eninsula of India, as Coimbatore, Malabar, Cauara, the Dekhan, in the Circars, Ganjam, Cuttack, and Gurnsur •, also in Assam, the Malay Peninsnla, in Penang, Siam, and eastwards through the Asiatic Archipelago to the Philippine Islands. True ebony is of so deep a black, as to be used to personify blackness. But woods sold under this name have also red dish, greenish, or yellowish hues, and are distin guished in commerce as red, green, and yellow ebonies, though these are in much less esteem than the ebonies which are jet black, free from veins, and close-grained. Mottled ebony is fur nished by some species of Exececaria, Nectandra, and Jacaranda. The jet black kinds are employed for ornamental furniture, e,abinet and turnery work, for rulers handles for doors, knives, piano forte keys, philosophical, musical, and surgical instruments, mosaic work and inlaying, though cheaper woods, dyed black, are frequently sub stituted. It is much affected by the weather, on which account it is seldom used in the plank solid. It is mentioned in Ezekiel xxvii. 15, but in the plural, when the men of Dedan are described as bringing horns of ivory and ebony. Herodotus (a 97) mentions ebony as part of the presents brought in considerable quantities to the king of Persia by the people of Ethiopia ; and Dioscorides describes two kinds, one Ethiopian, which was considered the better, and the other Indian, which was intermixed with whitish stripes and spotted. Diospyros ebenum Retz affords the most valuable ebony of Ceylon ; 'but o'ther allied Indian species, as D. melanoxylon, afford excellent cabinet wood. D. qumsita of Ceylon affords the beautiful cala mander wood. Other Indian spees, however, yield ebony; characterized by its extremely (lark colour and hardness, the heart-wood (duramen) of the tree ; the sap-wood (alburnurn) being white and not durable.
The ebonies of the Mauritius, Ceylon, and the south and east of Asia are equal to those of any other part of the world. The ebciny in the south of the Peninsula of India is chiefly obtained from Coorg and Canara, from various species of Dios pyros, and is of a superior description, being perfectly black in colour. SUialler pieces are
procured from Cuddapah, Salem, Nuggur, etc., but there is no steady demand, though for orna mental cabinet work it is peculiarly fine-veined.
That of Ceylon, from the Diospyros ebenaster, is of great value. And another heart-wood, that of the Kadoem beriye, or bastard ebony of western Ceylon, also from species of Diospyros, is occasion ally met with of extraordinary beauty. The ebonies of the Palghat and Coimbatore districts are supposed to be from species of Diospyros, ebeuaster, and Bauhinia. In none of the trees is the entire bole black, only the heart-wood, the outer and white wood being the tendua of the Mahrattas. The ebony tree of the Malabar forests, Diospyros rnelanoxylon, is also found sparingly in those of N. Canara below the Woolwa Ghat, and near Meerjan inland. Ebony is procur able of a very superior quality in the hill zamin daries of the Northern Circars, particularly in the Ganjam district ; also inland from Ellore in the Masulipatam district. Logs of Diospyros ebenaster yield an ebony richly variegated with bright brown stripes and mottled, similar in appearance to calatnander wood, which also is from species of Diospyros. The Karens have distinctive names for four different species of Tenasserim ebony trees,— the salt water swamp ebony, the water ebony, the yellow ebony, and the true ebony. Under the Bur tnese term yendaik, the wood of two different trees is sometimes seen,—one a species of ebony, and the other a leguminous tree, which, according to the descriptions of the Karens, is a species of dalbergia, and the wood resembles the blackwood of Hindu stan. There is an inferior kind of ebony often seen at Moulmein, from a species of Diospyros. A similar wood at Tavoy is often denominated iron-wood. The Burmese ebouy, known as tai, is found in the direction of Shooay-Geen, but is very scarce.
The ebony used in China is chiefly imported from the Straits, but Diospyros melanoxylon and D. ebenus grow in the island of Hainan, Yung-peh ting in Yunnan and in ICwang-si. An inferior kind of ebony, known as camagon in the commerce of China, is supposed to be a product of the D. tomentosa. West Indian ebony is furnished by l3rya ebenus ? A. de C., a small tree of Jamaica. It takes a beautiful polish, and is used for making walking-sticks, inlaying, etc. Bastard ebony of the Brazils is the Jacaranda mirnosifolia. Ebony sells in England at £5 to 110 ft ton. The exports of it from India from 1874-75 to 1879-80 ranged in value from Rs. 3558 to Rs. 15,817.—Mat. Med.; Smith, Chin.; Drs. Gibson, TVight, Mason, Tredgold, Holtzappfel, Faulkner, Crawfurd, Thwaites, Voigt ; Captain Dance; Mr. Rohde ; Eng. Cyc.; F. v. Mueller.