ON THE MAHOGANY TRAIL. By Donald MacIntosh.

2001 1st edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). Ppx,212. Not illustrated, brief bibliography. Brown boards, spine titled in gilt.

The author "son of a Perthshire woodcutter, quit his home at an early age for the African rainforests, where he spent over 25 years surveying trees in the last great days of the regulated timber trade, before the chainsaw massacres of recent times. ...This book provides detailed information about all the important African timbers and describes their properties and particular application. For anyone interested in trees and timber, as well as for Old Coasters, it is a valuable reference, and a reminder of the frailty of the Earth's resources." A very readable account of the author's adventures in the timber trade in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, Liberia and the Ivory Coast. Donald MacIntosh is the author of "Travels in the White Man's Grave," and regularly writes angling articles in Waterlog magazine. Chapters include: And in the beginning; The water babes; Liberia's finest; The crooked man of Sapo; Iron woods; The ordeal tree; Man sticks; Walnut and the brimstone tree; The Khaya Kings; The big and the beautiful; Soft woods in sunlit places; The missionary tree; The farmer's mahogany; The realm of black afara; The Naga trees of Putu; Monkey can't climb; The grey men.