Shaped by a cruel past
QUESTION Gambia is an unusually shaped country, forming an indent into Senegal. How did it come into being? Gambia is the strip of land that runs 200 miles along the navigable section of the lower river Gambia. Near the mouth of the river, the country is some 30 miles (48km) wide, but further upriver it narrows to just 15 miles (24km).
it was important in the early 19th century for control of the slave trade as victims could be shipped downriver to the atlantic port.
by the time the british, who had built a fort on the coast in 1816, made Gambia a colony in 1843, they had banned the slave trade. it remained a colony until its 1965 independence under its current name of The Gambia.
it is ethnically, culturally, linguistically and geographically part of Senegal. France seized and colonised Senegal in the 17th century, mainly for its slave supply.
Peter Lack, London N10.
QUESTION Antique experts on TV often speak of tulipwood, satinwood, rosewood and pearwood. What exactly are these woods?
Teak, rosewood and satinwood are some of the most misused terms in the wood industry. Rosewoods belong to the genus Dalbergia, a fairly innocuous-looking genus of trees that conceal decorative and often fragrant wood, rich in aromatic oils.
Only a select few species yield rosewood, named for its rose-like smell which can persist for years. most rosewoods are a rich brown with a dark, straight grain.
The pre-eminent rosewood is brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), much prized for furniture and for acoustic guitars, not just for its colour, but for the glorious tone it produces. The huge demand for this wood has led to a drastic decline.
Since 1992, it has been on appendix i of the Convention On international Trade in endangered Species, the most restrictive category, under whose conditions even finished products may not cross borders.
because of these protective measures, several substitutes have been used, primarily east indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia), amazon rosewood (Dalbergia spruceana) and madagascar rosewood (Dalbergia madagascariensis).
many woods are sold as rosewood due to outward similarity, but they do not have the same quality of colour, density, workability and finish. These include bolivian rosewood, New Guinea rosewood and Northindian rosewood.
a similar situation exists with satinwoods, named for their smooth glossy texture, characterised by a golden lustre and glossy finish. Their veneers are highly prized in the furniture industry. Genuine satinwoods are West indian or Jamaican satinwood, and east indian satinwood, both of the citrus family, Rutaceae.
as with rosewood there are several imposters, the chief of which is pyinma or asian satinwood, which is significantly lighter than genuine satinwood and has a much coarser, uneven texture, being a semi-ring-porous wood. Pyinma veneer also darkens with age.
Others include movingui, known as Nigerian satinwood, and yellowheart, also called brazilian satinwood.
Genuine tulipwood is a distinctive pinkish-yellowish wood yielded from Dalbergia decipularis. it is found only in a narrow geographical area in brazil and is so named for its colour. it is a genuine rosewood, prized by wood turners.
To add confusion, there is a tulip tree, a North american native named for its tuliplike flower. The timber is fairly soft and light with an unremarkable grain.
Pearwood is the wood from the pear or Swiss pear tree Pyrus communis, planted throughout the world’s temperate regions. it is a pale pink hardwood that is very versatile. it is used as veneer, for architectural millwork, marquetry, inlay, carving, musical instruments, furniture, cabinetry and turned objects.
Neville Cowan, Ripponden, West Yorks.
QUESTION Why is Milk Stout, once drunk by Ena Sharples in the Rovers Return in Coronation Street, no longer allowed by law?
FuRTheR to the earlier answer, i remember when, in the early Fifties, my mother and her friend, both heavily pregnant, passed peaceful days in front of a coal fire, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and drinking milk stout. Theirs was made with equal measures of Guinness and sterilised milk which i bought for them at the off-licence across the road.
They were told it was good for them while pregnant and their babies would be healthier. Smoking was not an issue in those days, and the fact that i, as a fiveyear-old, was allowed to cross the road alone and buy their cigarettes and Guinness was never given a second thought. both had healthy babies who lived long lives and didn’t smoke or drink.
Ann Heys, Bury, Gtr Manchester
QUESTION Why is a police informer a ‘grass’?
iNFORmeRS are variously known as squealers, snitches, moles and stool pigeons. Grass is less easily explained.
One theory is that it was derived from ‘snake in the grass’, a Latin phrase taken from Virgil’s Third ecologue, the full quote being: ‘O herd-boys picking flowers and strawberries, beware of the snake lurking in the grass!’
by the 17th century it was used figuratively for one who pretends to be a friend while secretly doing you harm.
‘Grass’, as in snitch or informant, appears much later. Lexicographer eric Partridge’s a Dictionary Of The underworld: british and american, cites the earliest appearance in arthur Gardner’s novel Tinker’s kitchen (1932). he lists numerous similar examples from the era, for instance James Curtis in The Gilt kid (1936) has ‘turn grass’ and ‘you’re a grass’.
The timing lends credence to the other theory as to its origin, that it is a piece of cockney rhyming slang. Farmer and henley’s 1893 Dictionary Of Slang defines ‘grasshopper’ as ‘copper’, i.e. a policeman. The theory is that a ‘grass’ is someone who works for the police and so has become a surrogate ‘copper’.
Terry Rand, Twickenham, Middx.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also fax them to 0141 331 4739 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.