This variety, grown on the rocky soil of Cuba and Hayti, is much darker in colour, harder, heavier, and more beautiful than the Honduras, but not so strong or stiff.

The beauty of this wood is remarkable, the variety in the form of the figuring being greater than in any wood, and this characteristic, added to its fine rich colour, makes the best quality the most highly prized wood for ornamental purposes.

Mahogany is sometimes darkened with a solution of bichromate of potash, to give the finer colour of age.

This process is attended with a fairly satisfactory result, but does not produce such a good tone as the natural effect of long exposure.

The difference between the spring and autumn wood in the annual rings is rather more distinct than in most of the Honduras variety, but the fact that the latter is so very varied in colour and figuring makes it sometimes difficult to distinguish Spanish. The one reliable point of distinction between Spanish and Honduras mahogany is the white chalky substance with which the pores of the former are invariably choked.

This kind of mahogany is much more difficult to work, owing to its dense and twisted fibres.

All mahogany possesses the general characteristic of comparative freedom from the ravages of worms and from dry rot.